This study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From

The present study aimed to determine the serum sex hormone levels among Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) patients before and after 3 months of oral administration of 5-α reductase inhibitor(finasteride). Forty BPH patients and 40 healthy men from Amara city were involved in this study, their ages were between 40-59 year. They were all subjected  to direct estimation of hormones by MinVidas method including Testosterone (T), Estradiol (E2), Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing Hormone (LH), Prolactin (PRL), and Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) before and after 3 months of treatment with 5α-reductase inhibitor (finasteride) (the healthy individuals didn’t take finasteride).The results showed that T level was significantly lo

The aims of study is to detect the inhibitory effect of Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus acidophilus on Escherichia coli that has been isolated from recurrent urinary tract infection in women. The sensitivity of E.coli isolates to antibiotics had been studied and the most resistant E.coli isolate to antibiotics had been studied .The cup assay was used on nutrient agar and Muller-Hinton agar to detect the inhibitory activity for each S.boulardii yeast grown on YEGP media and L.acidophilus grown on MRS media in which the result showed a high inhibition activity for each of them .Also in this study the adhesion property of E.coli had been evaluated in the presence of S.boulardii at concentration of 1×109 and L.acidophilus at conc

Background: Menopause can bring oral health problems and also associated with significant adverse changes in the orofacial complex. After menopause, women become more susceptible to periodontal disease due to deficiency of estrogen hormone. Current study aimed to evaluate the periodontal health status in relation to salivary constituent including pH, flow rate and some elements (Magnesium, Calcium and inorganic phosphorus) of pre and post-menopause women. Materials and Methods: Periodontal health status of 52 women aged 48-50 years old (26 pre-menopause and 26 post-menopause) were examined including (gingival index, plaque index, calculus index, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level). Salivary sample was collected for two women

Background: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G)and Toll-like receptor-9 (TLR-9)play a role in the regulation of autoimmune diseases and inflammatory processes. Aim of the study: To detect the HLA-G + 3142G > C gene polymorphism that associated with the susceptibility to SLE patients and associated with Hepatitis B infection and TLR-9 serum level. Patients and methods: This study was done on 75 SLE patients and 75 healthy control groups. Genotyping of HLA-G + 3142G > C were detected by PCR and PCR-RFLP methods. In addition to the estimation of Hepatitis B surface (HBs)antigen status by immunochromatography technique and TLR-9 serum level by ELISA technique. Results: The HLA-G + 3142G > C gene polymorphism between the SLE patients and controls

Cumulative lifetime lead (Pb) exposure has been associated with accelerated declines in cognition through the free radical generation and epigenetic effects. Several pieces of literature have identified a correlation between exposure to lead and neurodegenerative disorders. Harwich strain Drosophila melanogaster was exposed to lead acetate for two weeks, and changes in pulse transmission by acetylcholinesterase and systemic redox were evaluated. Besides, molecular docking studies of acetylcholinesterase against Quercetin and its most common derivatives contained in food have been performed. Pharmacokinetic studies on Quercetin and its derivatives have also been performed in silico toxicity. The data obtained showed alterations in antioxi

Adhesion (type 1 fimbriae) and host defense avoidance mechanisms (capsule or lipopolysaccharide) have been shown to be prevalent in Escherichia coli isolates associated with urinary tract infections. In this work, 50 uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolated from children with urinary tract infections were genotypically characterized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. We used two genes; fimH and kpsMTII, both of them previously identified in uropathogenic E.coli (UPEC) isolates. The PCR assay results identified fimH (90.0)% and kpsMTII (72.0)% isolates. In the present study, was also demonstrated that these genes may be included in both or one of them within a single isolate.

Most companies use social media data for business. Sentiment analysis automatically gathers analyses and summarizes this type of data. Managing unstructured social media data is difficult. Noisy data is a challenge to sentiment analysis. Since over 50% of the sentiment analysis process is data pre-processing, processing big social media data is challenging too. If pre-processing is carried out correctly, data accuracy may improve. Also, sentiment analysis workflow is highly dependent. Because no pre-processing technique works well in all situations or with all data sources, choosing the most important ones is crucial. Prioritization is an excellent technique for choosing the most important ones. As one of many Multi-Criteria Decision Mak

In a hybrid cooling solar thermal systems , a solar collector is used to convert solar energy into heat energy in order to super heat the refrigerant leaving the compressor, and this process helps in the transformation of refrigerant state from gaseous state to the liquid state in upper two-thirds of the condenser instead of the lower two-thirds such as in the traditional air-conditioning systems and this will reduce the energy needed to run the process of cooling .In this research two systems with a capacity of 2 tons each were used, a hybrid air-conditioning system with an evacuated tubes solar collector and a traditional air-conditioning system . The refrigerant of each type was R22.The comparison was in the amou