Hydrophobic silica aerogels were successfully preparation by an ambient pressure drying method from sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with different pH values (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). In this study, acidic HCl (1M), a basic NH4OH (1M) were selected as a catalyst to perform the surface modification in a TMCS (trimethylchlorosilane) solution. The surface chemical modification of the aerogels was assured by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies. Other physical properties, such as pore volume and pore size and specific surface area were determined by Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) method. The effect of pH values on the bulk density of aerogel. The sol–gel parameter pH value in the sol, have marked effects on the physical proper

Experimental study on the effect of cylindrical hollow cathode, working pressure and magnetic field on spatial glow distribution and the characteristics of plasma produced by dc discharge in Argon gas, were investigated by image analyses for the plume within the plasma. It was found that the emission intensity appears as a periodic structure with many peaks appeared between the electrodes. Increasing the pressure leads to increase the number of intensity peaks finally converted to continuous form at high pressure, especially with applied of magnetic field, i.e. the plasma is more stable with the presence of magnetic field. The emission intensity study of plasma showed that the intensity has a maximum value at 1.07 mbar pressure and decre

The influence of sensing element length of no-core fiber strain sensor has been studied and experimentally demonstrated, four different lengths of 125 μm diameter no-core fiber is fused between two standard single-mode fibers and bi-directionally strained, the highest obtained sensitivity was around 16.37 pm με -1 which was exhibited in the shortest no-core fiber segment, to the best of our knowledge this is the first study of the influence of no-core fiber strain sensors length on sensor sensitivity. The proposed sensor can be used in many opto-mechanical applications such as, structural health monitoring, aerospace vehicles and airplane components monitoring.

Objective: The present study investigates whether the exposure to low-power diode laser induces denaturation in red blood cell (RBC) membrane protein composition, and determines the irradiation time for when denaturation of membrane protein process begins. Background: A low-energy laser has been used extensively in medical applications. Several studies indicated significant positive effects of laser therapy on biological systems. In contrast, other studies reported that laser induced unwanted changes in cell structure and biological systems. The present work studied the effect of irradiation time of low-power diode laser on the structure of membrane proteins of human RBCs. Materials and methods: The RBC suspension was divided into five equa

Background: Poly (methylmethacrylate) is the most widely used material in denture fabrication. The characteristics of acrylic resin which support microorganism development can threaten the oral health of denture users. This study was assigned to prepareand incorporate Ag-Zn zeolite powder into heat cured denture base material as antimicrobial material and to investigate its effect on some properties of heat cured acrylic denture base materials. Materials and methods: Sliver –zinc zeolite was prepared by ion exchange method and characterized then incorporated into poly (methylmethacrylate) powder in0.5% by weight. Specimens were constructed and divided into 6 groups according to the using tests; each group was subdivided into 2 groups

Background: Energy drinks are non alcoholic beverages which contain stimulant drugs chiefly caffeine and marketed as mental and physical stimulators. Consumption of energy drinks is popular practice among college students as they are exposed to academic stress. Caffeine which is the main constituent of energy drinks could become an addictive substance or cause intoxication. Objectives: This study aims to assess the prevalence of energy drinks consumption among medical students of alkindy college of Medicine.Type of the study: A cross sectional study.Methods: It was performed at alkindy medical college on March 2016. A total number of 600 students were contacted to participate in this study. A self administered questionnaire was used to c

Wet granulation method was used instead of conventional pan coating  or fluidized –bed coating technique to prepare enteric-coated diclofenac sodium granules, using ethanolic solution of Eudragit^TM L100 as coating, binding and granulating agent .Addition of PEG400 or di-n-butyl phthalate as a plasticizer was found to improve the enteric property of the coat.

Part of the resulted granules was filled in hard gelatin capsules (size 0), while the other part was compressed into tablets with and without disintegrant.

The release profile of these two dosage forms in 0.1N HCl (pH 1.2)for 2 hours, and in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) for 45 minutes as well as the release kinetic were compared with that of the en

Heat treatment by solid solution method in the ?+? phase region was used at 970°C for Ti-5Al-2.5Fe alloy. The specimens cooled under different cooling media [water quenched (WQ), air cooled (AC) and furnace cooled (FC)], and subsequently aged at 550°C for 4 hours. Five specimens from each treatment were immersed in simulated body fluid SBF for a period of time (3 months). The dependence of corrosion rate on compositional variation in the phases resulted from various type of cooling rates are discussed based on immersion tests. The EDXA results show the precipitation of phosphate and calcium compounds on the alloy after 3 months of immersion in blood plasma solution forming a bone-like apatite, which enhanced the alloy biocompatibility ma

Giardia lamblia is the worldwide most common intestinal protozoan parasite. It was indicated that Giardia is the most important agent that causes acute and chronic diarrhea in infants, young children and travelers. The aim was to detect the influence of host HLA alleles on the susceptibility to infection with G. lamblia in a sample of Iraqi patients. A total of (40) patients with giardiasis aged (14-39) years were registered. All of them were symptomatic and (40) healthy individuals matched age and sexes were included as controls. All patients were prepared to stool examination to detect G. lamblia and eliminated other pathogens, as well as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles (DRB1) typing. The most common detected alleles in pat