This study aims to evaluate the biocompatibility of a novel filler material intended to improve the longevity of polymer systems used in prosthetics in respect of cytotoxicity and skin irritation. RTV50F silicone elastomer incorporated with various percentages of hexagonal boron nitride (H-BN) (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1 wt%) have been tested. Silicone without H-BN was utilized as the control for comparison. The in vitro cytotoxicity test includes specimens (n=18) with 10 mm in diameter and 2 mm in thickness applied directly to the normal human fibroblast cell line (NHF) and incubated for 72 hours, then 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to determine the cell viability. The skin irritation test was conducted in vivo, in which specimens (n=12) with 25 mm × 25 mm dimensions were applied on the back of 5 different rabbits for 4 hours, then the skin response was evaluated after 24, 48, and 72 hours. The acquired in vitro data were statically analyzed using one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s tests with GraphPad Prism 8, where P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The H-BN powder and silicone specimens were studied via field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The results revealed a negligible effect of maxillofacial silicone on cell viability after 72 hours of incubation, only one group (1wt%) showed a significant difference compared to the control group but the toxicity percentage didn’t exceed 30% of cell viability and there was no skin irritation during the in vivo test.
The rapid sprawl in urban areas caused by excessive production and consumption of goods (as driven by local poor social choices) has inevitably resulted in a major burden due to environmental degradation worldwide. Unfortunately, these traditional models of urban planning fail to properly account for the intricacies that permeate a modern city and are deficient in terms of their approach as they shape themselves within an environment largely divorced from natural systems, resulting in vast mismanagement of resources, guiding cities down trajectories where growth destroys both physical and cultural landscapes. As cities suffer from increasing scarcity, we advocate for regeneration and resilience to be embedded in advanced urban design approa
... Show MoreEncasing glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) beam with reinforced concrete (RC) improves stability, prevents buckling of the web, and enhances the fire resistance efficiency. This paper provides experimental and numerical investigations on the flexural performance of RC specimens composite with encased pultruded GFRP I-sections. The effect of using shear studs to improve the composite interaction between the GFRP beam and concrete was explored. Three specimens were tested under three-point loading. The deformations, strains in the GFRP beams, and slippages between the GFRP beams and concrete were recorded. The embedded GFRP beam enhanced the peak loads by 65% and 51% for the composite specimens with and without shear connectors,
... Show MoreSilybum marianum, from which silymarin (SM) is extracted, is a medicinal herb. In the Biopharmaceutics Classification System, it is of the class II type, meaning it is almost completely insoluble in water. It has a number of therapeutic properties, including anti-inflammatory as well as properties that promote wound healing.
This research target is to promote the dissolution and solubility of SM by employing a technique called solid dispersion and then incorporating the formula of solid dispersion into a topical gel that can be used for wound healing.
Solid dispersion is a technique used to enhance solubility and dissolve pharmaceuticals that are not water-soluble. This method is widely used because of its low cos
... Show MoreIn this study, the flexural performance of a new composite beam–slab system filled with concrete material was investigated, where this system was mainly prepared from lightweight cold-formed steel sections of a beam and a deck slab for carrying heavy floor loads as another concept of a conventional composite system with a lower cost impact. For this purpose, seven samples of a profile steel sheet–dry board deck slab (PSSDB/PDS) carried by a steel cold-formed C-purlins beam (CB) were prepared and named “composite CBPDS specimen”, which were tested under a static bending load. Specifically, the effects of the profile steel sheet (PSS) direction (parallel or perpendicular to the span of the specimen) using different C-purlins c
... Show MoreStrategies to reduce obesity have become main priority for many health institution and health staff around the world, as the prevalence of obesity has risen and exacerbated in most of the world mainly because of the modern life style which tend to be more sedentary with an increase eating unhealthy fast western food. Many years ago, the lipid-lowering drug simvastatin; and omega-3 were considered as a traditional lipid-lowering drug that have been well-documented to possess anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and triglyceride-lowering properties; and their co-administration may demonstrate a complementary effect in lowering patients' triglycerides and total cholesterol to treat atherosclerosis. Many previous studies have
... Show MoreThis study presents a novel, custom‑built fluorescence detector for the precise determination of chloride and iodide ions based on their quenching effect on fluorescein. The detection system incorporates eight blue LEDs irradiation sources arranged at 0–90° angles relative to twin solar cell detectors connected. Two fluorescence quenching strategies were developed. The injected‑mixture mode (IMFQ) exhibited linear ranges of 0.00–1.00 mM for Cl⁻ and 0.00–1.25 mM for I⁻, with detection limits of 20 µM and 10 µmol L⁻¹, respectively. The continuous‑flow mode (CFFQ) demonstrated superior sensitivity with a dispersion factor of 1.33, wider linear ranges (0.1–6.0 m
This project presents an enhanced Iraqi vehicle plate identification system, incorporating digital processing technologies and the XOR Auto-Associative Memory advanced associative memory algorithm, towards a fast and efficient performance under diverse conditions of imagery. The system consists of three major stages: identification of the panel area, or localization, using edge transformations and morphological operations; symbol segmentation, or segmentation, based on horizontal and vertical projections for the exact extraction of numbers and letters; and finally, recognition use of XOR operations and a binary distance criterion known as Hamming Distance. The model was tested on 420 images of panels in different scenarios of lighting
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