BACKGROUND: The degree of the development of coronary collaterals is long considered an alternate – that is, a collateral – source of blood supply to an area of the myocardium threatened with vascular ischemia or insufficiency. Hence, the coronary collaterals are beneficial but can also promote harmful (adverse) effects. For instance, the coronary steal effect during the myocardial hyperemia phase and that of restenosis following coronary angioplasty. OBJECTIVES: Our study explores the contribution of coronary collaterals – if any exist – while considering other potential predictors, including demographics and medical history, toward the left ventricular (LV) dysfunction measured through the LV ejection fraction (LVEF). METH

This study aimed to assess orthodontic postgraduate students’ use of social media during the COVID-19 lockdown. Ninety-four postgraduate students (67 master’s students and 27 doctoral students) were enrolled in the study and asked to fill in an online questionnaire by answering questions regarding their use of social media during the COVID-19 lockdown. The frequency distributions and percentages were calculated using SPSS software. The results showed that 99% of the students used social media. The most frequently used type of social media was Facebook, 94%, followed by YouTube, 78%, and Instagram, 65%, while Twitter and Linkedin were used less, and no one used Blogger. About 63% of the students used elements of social media to l

Background: White spot lesion is the first visible sign of dental caries that is characterized by demineralized lesion underneath an intact surface. Several studies demonstrated that they could be treated using noninvasive techniques like the use of fluoride or casein phospho-peptide and amorphous calcium phosphate. Improvement in aesthetic outcomes by covering the demineralized enamel is one of the advantages of the use of resin infiltration and opal-ustre microabrasion, which are two new techniques that had been used for treatment of white spot lesion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of resin infiltration and microabrasion in the microhardness of the artificial white spot lesions at various depths. Material and method

This study investigates the impact of agricultural investment policy—represented by agricultural loans and investment allocations—on rice crop production in Iraq over the period 2003–2023, employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Using time-series econometric analysis, the study confirms a short-term positive and statistically significant effect of financial support on rice output, while revealing statistically insignificant long-term effects. The presence of a cointegration relationship suggests long-term equilibrium between agricultural policy variables and rice production. However, the absence of causality in the Yamamoto-Toda test implies that structural and institutional inefficiencies may dilute the long-term i

The 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.

Anti-tumor necrosis factor treatments for inflammatory bowel disease face challenges like primary nonresponse and secondary loss of response, often due to antidrug antibodies that increase drug clearance. The Fc-gamma receptors type3A (FCGR3A) (rs396991) polymorphism affects infliximab pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity. This study investigates its influence on trough levels, anti-infliximab antibody development, and clinical outcomes in Iraqi ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. This single-center study involved patients on maintenance infliximab therapy who were enrolled. Serum infliximab trough levels and anti-infliximab antibodies (antibodies to infliximab) (free and total) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Genotyping

This study uses an environmentally friendly and low-cost synthesis method to manufacture zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) by using zinc sulfate. Eucalyptus leaf extract is an effective chelating and capping agent for synthesizing ZnO NPs. The structure, morphology, thermal behavior, chemical composition, and optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles were studied utilizing FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDAX, AFM, and Zeta potential analysis. The FE-SEM pictures confirmed that the ZnO NPs with a size range of (22-37) nm were crystalline and spherical. Two methods were used to prepare ZnO NPs. The first method involved calcining the resulting ZnO NPs, while the second method did not. The prepared ZnO NPs were used as adsorbents for removing acid black 210