Background: The genetic polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR) have an association with thalassemia development, additionally to the environmental elements that elicited the disorder in the genetically predisposed individuals. As well, VDR functions responsible for the regulation of bone metabolism, such its part in immunity. Aim: The sitting study intended to inspect the association between thalassemia disease and the genetic polymorphisms of VDR among the Iraqi population then compared these findings to other findings of thalassemia patients in other different ethnic populations. Materials and methods: The restriction enzymes Bsm-I and Fok-I were applied to determine the genetic polymorphisms frequencies of VDR by a Polymerase Chain Reaction – Random Fragment Length Polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) techniques of the targeted parts (rs2228570 and rs1544410) in 70 Iraqi patients suffering from thalassemia (18 males and 52 females) and 75 Iraqi healthy participants as a control group (18 males and 52 females). Also, the comparison between the present findings of VDR genetic polymorphisms in Iraqi thalassemia patients and other previous findings for thalassemia patients in different ethnic populations for the selected VDR Bsm-I and Fok-I sites were done. Results: The present findings manifested a significant difference of VDR Bsm-I and Fok-I genetic polymorphisms frequency (rs2228570 and rs1544410) in the thalassemia patient's group contrasted to the healthy control group. In VDR rs2228570, the AA genotype and A allele frequency were significantly increased in the patients' group contrasted to the healthy control group (44.29 vs. 8.0%, OR: 9.14, 95% CI: 3.53–23.68, p: 4.1 × 10−7; 69.0 vs. 27.0%, OR: 6.02, 95% CI: 3.27–11.06, p: 3.9 × 10−9, respectively). while, the results of VDR genetic polymorphisms rs1544410 manifested that the CC and CT genotyping and C allele frequency were significantly increased among the patient's group contrasted to the healthy control group (28.75 vs. 6.67%, OR: 5.60, 95% CI: 1.98–15.81, p: 7.2 × 10−4; 57.14 vs. 24.0, OR: 4.22, 95% CI: 2.08–8.55, p: 8.1 × 10−5; and 57.0 vs. 19.0%, OR: 6.39, 95% CI: 3.0–10.66, p: 3.9 × 10−9, respectively). Also, it manifested the genetic polymorphisms variance of VDR rs2228570 and rs1544410 between the Iraqi thalassemia patients and other ethnic thalassemia patients. The results showed different variants among the Iraqi thalassemia patients' polymorphisms and other ethnic thalassemia patients' polymorphisms. Conclusions: The present results demonstrated a significant association between the genetic polymorphisms of VDR and thalassemia disease, the AA genotype and A allele frequency was significantly increased among the thalassemia patients' group compared to the controls in VDR Bsm-I polymorphism (rs2228570). While the CC and CT genotypes and C allele frequency were significantly increased among the thalassemia patients' group compared to the controls in VDR Fok-I polymorphism (rs1544410). As well, it indicates the variance of VDR Bsm-I and Fok-I genetic polymorphisms frequencies between the Iraqi thalassemia patients and other thalassemia patients from different ethnic populations.
Denture cleansing is an essential step that can stop cross‑contamination and adds to the health of the patient, denture durability, and the general quality of life. A disinfection technique must be practical and devoid of damaging effects on the material's properties used to construct the denture base. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of three concentrations of electrolyzed water denture cleanser on heat cure acrylic and polyamide after immersion in electrolyzed water. The evaluation is based on their efficacy on surface hardness, wettability, and color stability compared with one submerged in distilled water as a control group. The method consists of eighty samples of heat-cured acrylic and polyamide material.
... Show MoreThe efficient behavior of a low-concentrating photovoltaic-thermal system with a micro-jet channel (LCPV/T-JET) and booster mirror reflector is experimentally evaluated here. Micro-jets promote the thermal management of PV solar cells by implementing jet water as active cooling, which is still in the early stages of development. The booster mirror reflector concentrates solar irradiance into solar cells and improves the thermal, electrical, and combined efficiencies of the LCPV/T-JET system. The LCPV/T-JET system was tested under ambient weather conditions in the city of Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, and all data was recorded between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Parametric studies were conducted to compare the performance of the LCPV/T-JET system
... Show MoreSpray pyrolysis technique was used to make Carbon60-Zinc oxide (C60-ZnO) thin films, and chemical, structural, antibacterial, and optical characterizations regarding such nanocomposite have been done prior to and following treatment. Fullerene peaks in C60-ZnO thin films are identical and appear at the same angles. Following the treatment of the plasma, the existence regarding fullerene peaks in the thin films investigated suggests that the crystallographic quality related to C60-ZnO thin films has enhanced. Following plasma treatment, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images regarding a C60-ZnO thin film indicate that both zinc oxide and fullerene particles had shrunk in the size and have an even distribution. In addition
... Show MoreBackground: The roles of AI in the academic community continue to grow, especially in the enhancement of learning outcomes and the improvement of writing quality and efficiency. Objectives: To explore in depth the experience of senior pharmacy students in using artificial intelligence for academic purposes. Methods: This qualitative study included face-to-face individual interviews with senior pharmacy students from March to May 2023 using a pre-planned interview guide of open-ended questions. All interviews were audio-recorded. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The results were obtained from 15 in-depth face-to-face interviews with senior pharmacy students (5th and 4th years). Eight participants were male, and seven
... Show MoreIn this golden age of rapid development surgeons realized that AI could contribute to healthcare in all aspects, especially in surgery. The aim of the study will incorporate the use of Convolutional Neural Network and Constrained Local Models (CNN-CLM) which can make improvement for the assessment of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (LC) surgery not only bring opportunities for surgery but also bring challenges on the way forward by using the edge cutting technology. The problem with the current method of surgery is the lack of safety and specific complications and problems associated with safety in each laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedure. When CLM is utilize into CNN models, it is effective at predicting time series tasks like iden
... Show MoreMedicine is one of the fields where the advancement of computer science is making significant progress. Some diseases require an immediate diagnosis in order to improve patient outcomes. The usage of computers in medicine improves precision and accelerates data processing and diagnosis. In order to categorize biological images, hybrid machine learning, a combination of various deep learning approaches, was utilized, and a meta-heuristic algorithm was provided in this research. In addition, two different medical datasets were introduced, one covering the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain tumors and the other dealing with chest X-rays (CXRs) of COVID-19. These datasets were introduced to the combination network that contained deep lea
... Show MoreAbsence or hypoplasia of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is a rare congenital anomaly that is mostly unilateral and highly associated with other intracranial vascular anomalies, of which saccular aneurysm is the most common. Blood flow to the circulation of the affected side is maintained by collateral pathways, some of which include the anterior communicating artery (Acom) as part of their anatomy. Therefore, temporary clipping during microsurgery on Acom aneurysms in patients with unilateral ICA anomalies could jeopardize these collaterals and place the patient at risk of ischemic damage. In this paper, we review the literature on cases with a unilaterally absent ICA associa
Antibiotic resistance is the major growing threat facing the pharmacological treatment of bacterial infections. Therefore, bioprospecting the medicinal plants could provide potential sources for antimicrobial agents. Mimusops, the biggest and widely distributed plant genus of family Sapotaceae, is used in traditional medicines due to its promising pharmacological activities. This study was conducted to elucidate the antimicrobial effect of three unexplored Mimusops spp. (M. kummel, M. laurifolia and M. zeyheri). Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying such antibacterial activity were studied. The Mimusops leaf extracts revealed significant antibacterial activities against the five tested bacter
... Show MoreIn this research, the Williamson-Hall method and of size-strain plot method was employed to analyze X- ray lines for evaluating the crystallite size and lattice strain and of cadmium oxide nanoparticles. the crystallite size value is (15.2 nm) and (93.1 nm) and lattice strain (4.2 x10−4 ) and (21x10−4) respectively. Also, other methods have been employed to evaluate the crystallite size. The current methods are (Sherrer and modified Sherrer methods ) and their results are (14.8 nm) and (13.9nm) respectively. Each method of analysis has a different result because the alteration in the crystallite size and lattice strain calculated according to the Williamson-Hall and size-strain plot methods shows that the non-uniform strain in nan
... Show More