Background: Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is common in different age groups in both genders especially among pregnant women and neonates where it is associated with several adverse outcomes including preeclampsia and preterm delivery. Objectives: To assess the extent of vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency among mothers and their neonates and some factors related to it and identify some adverse outcomes of the deficiency/ insufficiency on neonates (preterm birth and low birth weight). Subject and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 Iraqi pregnant women and neonates admitted to “Al-Elwiya teaching hospital for maternity” in Baghdad- Al-Rusafah from 1st of June 2019 to 31st of August 2019. Data about maternal age, mode of delivery, sex, weight, and gestational age were obtained. Vitamin D levels of mothers and their neonates were measured by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Results: In a total of 88 mothers and neonates, 96.6% of mothers had Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency compared to (86.4%) of neonates. There was a statistically significant difference between maternal and neonatal vitamin D levels. Neonatal Vitamin D levels were positively correlated with maternal vitamin D levels. Neonatal weight was positively correlated with maternal Vitamin D levels. The mean maternal and neonatal vitamin D levels were (12.16 ng/ml ± 7.06) and (20.25 ng/ml ± 10.97) respectively. Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency was prevalent among mothers and neonates; with a higher prevalence among mothers. Maternal Vitamin D levels and neonatal weights were associated with neonatal Vitamin D levels.
The effects of nutrients and physical conditions on phytase production were investigated with a recently isolated strain of Aspergillus tubingensis SKA under solid state fermentation on wheat bran. The nutrient factors investigated included carbon source, nitrogen source, phosphate source and concentration, metal ions (salts) and the physical parameters investigated included inoculum size, pH, temperature and fermentation duration. Our investigations revealed that optimal productivity of phytase was achieved using wheat bran supplemented with: 1.5% glucose. 0.5% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% sodium phytate. Additionally, optimal physical conditions were 1 × 105 spore/g substrate, initial pH of 5.0, temperature of fermentation 30˚C and fermentation dura
... Show MoreActivated carbon prepared from date stones by chemical activation with ferric chloride (FAC) was used an adsorbent to remove phenolic compounds such as phenol (Ph) and p-nitro phenol (PNPh) from aqueous solutions. The influence of process variables represented by solution pH value (2-12), adsorbent to adsorbate weight ratio (0.2-1.8), and contact time (30-150 min) on removal percentage and adsorbed amount of Ph and PNPh onto FAC was studied. For PNPh adsorption,( 97.43 %) maximum removal percentage and (48.71 mg/g) adsorbed amount was achieved at (5) solution pH,( 1) adsorbent to adsorbate weight ratio, and (90 min) contact time. While for Ph adsorption, at (4) solution pH, (1.4) absorbent to adsorbate weight ratio, and (120 min) contact
... Show MoreThis paper aimed to investigate the effect of the height-to-length ratio of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls when loaded by a vertical load. The finite element (FE) method was implemented for modeling and analysis of URM wall. In this paper, ABAQUS, FE software with implicit solver was used to model and analysis URM walls subjected to a vertical load. In order to ensure the validity of Detailed Micro Model (DMM) in predicting the behavior of URM walls under vertical load, the results of the proposed model are compared with experimental results. Load-displacement relationship of the proposed numerical model is found of a good agreement with that of the published experimental results. Evidence shows that load-displacement curve obtained fro
... Show MoreThe Khabour reservoir, Ordovician, Lower Paleozoic, Akkas gas field which is considered one of the main sandstone reservoirs in the west of Iraq. Researchers face difficulties in recognizing sandstone reservoirs since they are virtually always tight and heterogeneous. This paper is associated with the geological modeling of a gas-bearing reservoir that containing condensate appears while production when bottom hole pressure declines below the dew point. By defining the lithology and evaluating the petrophysical parameters of this complicated reservoir, a geological model for the reservoir is being built by using CMG BUILDER software (GEM tool) to create a static model. The petrophysical properties of a reservoir were computed using
... Show MoreThis work presents a novel technique for the detection of oil aging in electrical transformers using a single mode optical fiber sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The aging of insulating oil is a critical issue in the maintenance and performance of electrical transformers, as it can lead to reduce insulation properties, increase risk of electrical breakdown, and decrease operational lifespan. Many parameters are calculated in this study in order to examine the efficiency of this sensor like sensitivity (S), signal to noise ratio (SNR), resolution (refractive index unit) and figure of merit (FOM) and the values are for figure of merit is 11.05, the signal to noise ratio is 20.3, the sensitivity is 6.63, and the resolution is 3
... Show MoreThe largest use of x-ray in medical by dentists, employers or persons that needed by patients with specific conditions, lead to higher exposure of x-ray that may cause many diseases. In the present work radiography films have been used in evaluating the efficiency of using unsaturated polyester polymer reinforced with lead oxide (PbO) as shield material for medical x-ray devices, many parameters studied like concentration and thickness that they are increasing the attenuation of x-ray in them. The results show that the attenuation of X-ray increasing with concentration of reinforced material and with thickness, and the optical density decreases with increasing concentration from 0% to 50%, we chose 30% as suitable concentration to increase
... Show MoreThe aim of this article is to solve the Volterra-Fredholm integro-differential equations of fractional order numerically by using the shifted Jacobi polynomial collocation method. The Jacobi polynomial and collocation method properties are presented. This technique is used to convert the problem into the solution of linear algebraic equations. The fractional derivatives are considered in the Caputo sense. Numerical examples are given to show the accuracy and reliability of the proposed technique.
Abstract: Background: Staphylococcus aureus is Gram-positive bacteria that lives as a normal flora in living organisms but can be pathogenic to humans. Although a relatively unspectacular, nonmotile coccoid bacterium, S. aureus is a dangerous human pathogen in both community-acquired and nosocomial infections. Due to the increasing emergence of new strains of this antibiotic-resistant bacteria, it has become essential to approach different methods to control this pathogen. One of these methods is the antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation process using a low-level laser, in this paper, the Photodynamic effects of Rose Bengal and LLLL on the virulence factors of S.aureus were evaluated.