Heavy metal (HM) pollution has long been a significant source of environmental deterioration and a problem for the safety of food. Iraqis prefer rice over any other food, and since heavy metals have a direct impact on health, their traces in rice have drawn particular attention. Before cooking rice, it is usual in Iraq to wash and soak it. Some 55 varieties of imported and local rice were sampled from Erbil city markets in 2022 with the aim of determining the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb before and after soaking. Standard procedure of acid digestions was applied on the raw and soaked samples. The solutions were analyzed using ICPE-9820 Shimadzu. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (in mg/kg) in the rice samples before soaking was 0.655, 0.170, 0.160, 0.387, 0.489, respectively and after soaking 0.421, 0.109, 0.115, 0.124 and 0.336, respectively. The concentration of As and Pb was found to be beyond the optimum level of 0.2 mg/kg codex standards for rice; whereas Cd and Cr were within the proposed level of codex standards. Moreover, local rice showed higher concentration of (Cd and Cr), whereas (AS and Pb) concentration in imported rice was higher. Further, results validated that rice soaking can decrease levels of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (32.5%, 40.2%, 27.9%, 61.6% and 31.3%, respectively). These findings suggest that soaking as a kitchen practice has efficiency to evaporate metals and has a great influence on the reduction of toxic heavy metals and thus reduces exposure to toxic metals in rice
There is no doubt that optical fiber technology is one of the most important stages of the communications revolution at all and it is of utmost importance in our daily life. In this work, five fibers with core radii 2.5, 4.5 and 6.5–8.5 μm were designed. The properties of all guided modes have been calculated at a wavelength of 1550 nm by using RP Fiber Calculator. A single-mode fiber is obtained when the core radius approaches the wavelength. As the core radius is increased, the fiber becomes a multimode. The percentage power in the core increases with increasing core radius. The modes profiles were illustrated and compared with the modern references.
The amicus curiae is one of the judicial procedures adopted in many judicial and legal systems around the world, under which a person who is not a party to the case, and without having a personal and direct interest in it, intervenes to draw the court’s attention to many factual and legal aspects
This study reveals the impact of critical reading on viewers understanding and astatic judgment at artworks. And aims to find out the reasons and motives behind their issuing of these judgments towards artworks.
The study adopts the qualitative method as two pre and post interviews were conducted and analysed according to a thematic analysis method.
The results show that critical reading contributes to their understanding of the content of artworks and the message that the artist would like to convey to the recipient audience. and directs them towards the aesthetic judgment that is based on full understanding of the philosophical contents of the artwork, which, in turn, contributes to the development of artistic culture and a
This study aims to simulate and assess the hydraulic characteristics and residual chlorine in the water supply network of a selected area in Al-Najaf City using WaterGEMS software. Field and laboratory work were conducted to measure the pressure heads and velocities, and water was sampled from different sites in the network and then tested to estimate chlorine residual. Records and field measurements were utilized to validate WaterGEMS software. Good agreement was obtained between the observed and predicted values of pressure with RMSE range between 0.09–0.17 and 0.08–0.09 for chlorine residual. The results of the analysis of water distribution systems (WDS) during maximum demand
The refractive indices, nD densities 𝜌, and viscosities of binary mixtures of sulfolane + n -butanol + sec- butanol + iso- butanol + tert – butanol + n-propanol and iso- propanol were measured at 298.15K. Form experimental data, excess molar volum VE , excess molar refractivity ∆nD, excess molar viscosity E and excess molar Gibbs free energy of activation of viscous flow G *E were calculated. From n-propanol – sulfolane and iso- propanol sulfolane mixtures showed negative ∆nD, n-butanol – sulfolane, sec-butanal – sulfolane, iso-butanol – sulfolane and tert- butanol sulfolane , nD was positive over the whole mole fraction rang , while VE , E and G *E show a negative deviation. The
... Show MoreCardiac toxicity can occur during the therapy with several cytotoxic drugs, including 5- Fluorouracil (5- FU). It is an antimetabolite that acts during the S phase of the cell cycle and is activated by thymidine phosphorylase into fluorodeoxyuridylate (5 fluoro 2'deoxyuridine 5'monophosphate, 5-FdUMP) that inhibits thymidylate synthase, thus preventing DNA synthesis that leads to imbalanced cell growth and ultimately cell death. It is still a widely used anticancer drug, since 1957. The present study aimed to evaluate the possible cardio-protective effects of ethanolic artichoke extract (Cynara scolymus L.) against 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) induced cardio-toxicity in rats by evaluating serum levels of Alanine aminotransferase, aspartate amin
... Show MoreBackground:Plant-derived compounds have action alongside Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and numerous compounds, inhibit efflux pumps and hence have become known as efflux pump inhibitors. Clarithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic used to treat pharyngitis, tonsillitis, acute maxillary sinusitis and acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis the antibacterial range is the similar as erythromycin but it is active against Mycobacterium avium complex, M.leprae and atypical mycobacteria. The in vitro antibacterial activity results of different boswellic acid compounds discovered alpha keto-boswellic acid (AKBA) to be the preponderance potent antibacterial compound alongside Gram-positive pathogens, but it showed no significant a
... Show MoreThe aim of the present study was to investigate the nephroprotective, hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic effects of Allium porrum (leek) in rabbits with cisplatin nephrotoxicity. Forty adult male New Zealand rabbits were divided randomly into four groups (ten rabbits in each group) as follows: Group I: (negative control) (C) received oral daily dose of distilled water for 15 successive days. Groups II: (Leek) (L) received oral daily dose of aqueous leek extract (500mg/kg/day) for 15 successive days. Group III: (positive control) [cisplatin (CP)] received oral daily dose of distilled water for 15 successive days, and subsequently administered single dose of Cisplatin (3.5mg/kg/day) by intraperitoneal injection from day 10 for five da
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