Soils located above the groundwater table are generally unsaturated and possess negative pore-water pressures. A soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) that relates the water content of a soil to matric suction is an important relationship for the unsaturated soil mechanics. The SWCC essentially shows the ability of an unsaturated soil to retain water under various matric suctions. The filter paper method is a soil suction measurement technique. Soil suction is one of the most important parameters describing the moisture condition of unsaturated soils. The measurement of soil suction is crucial for applying the theories of the engineering behavior of unsaturated soils.In this paper, three soil samples were collected from three sites within

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase protein that its plasma levels increase after trauma or surgery so it is used as an indicator for the level of inflammation after surgery. The objective of this study is to investigate pre- and post-operative levels of CRP in three types of oral surgical interventions (Apicoectomy, Impaction, and Impacted teeth exposure). Materials and Methods: A total number of (48) healthy individuals aged (20-60) years who needed oral surgical intervention for either (removal of impacted third molars, exposure of an impacted canine, or Apicoectomy). A 4ml venous blood was obtained from each patient at two occasions (pre-operatively at the day of operation and post-operatively after 48 hours), then ce

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a public health problem and many studies support the link between kidney dysfunction and cardiovascular events.  Aldosterone has been shown for decades that a plasma aldosterone concentration is elevated in CKD. Whilst, Osteoprotegerin (OPG), after its capacity to protect bone, also osteoprotegerin is elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), where it could predict the deterioration of kidney function, cardiovascular, vascular events and all-cause mortality. On the other hand, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), in patients with CKD, its levels seem to increase progressively as kidney function worsens. The aim of the present study is to assess the correlations between serum osteoprotegerin

The present study was carried out to determine the bacterial isolates and study their antimicrobial susceptibility in case of burned wound infections. 70 burn wound swabs were taken from patients, who presented invasive burn wound infection from both sex and average age of 3-58 years, admitted to teaching medical Al- Kendi hospital from October 2007 to June 2008. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be the most common isolate (48.9%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (24.4%), Citrobacter braakii (13.3%), Enterobacter spp. (11.1%), Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (11.1%), Proteus vulgaris (6.66%), Corynebacterium spp. (6.66%), Micrococcus (6.66%), Proteus mirabilis (4.44%), Enterococcus faecalis (4.44%), E.coli (4.44%), Klebsiella spp. (2.22

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative autoimmune disease mediated by autoreactive T cells against myelin-basic proteins. Cytokines are suggested to play a role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Among these cytokines is interleukin-2 (IL-2). Aim of the study: To investigate the association between IL2+166 G/T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP: rs2069763) and MS in Iraqi patients. Serum level of IL-2 was also detected. Anti-rubella IgG antibody was further determined in the sera of patients. Patients and methods: Eighty MS patients (28 males and 52 females; age mean ± SD: 39.2 ± 16.1 years) and 80 healthy control matched patients for age (32.15 ± 16.13 years) and gender (28 males and 52 females) were en

Out of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 25 (50%) of isolates were resistant to gentamicin (≥16µg/ml), 22 (44%) of isolates were resistant to amikacin (≥64 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were resistant to ertapenem (≥8 µg/ml), 18 (36%) of isolates were resistant to imipenem (4- ≥16µg/ml), 43 (86%) of isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone (4- ≥64 µg/ml), 42 (84%) of isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (1

This study is prospective in nature, It consider
110 patients with vertigo who were assessed
between April and December 2010 at E.N.T out
patient department of otolarygiology, in Al
Diwania teaching hospital, in Diwania city,
Iraq. The study is designed to assess the
incidence of vestibular and non vestibular
vertigo and their association with
tinnitus,hearing loss,migraine in Young adult
and elderly.All patients were assessed by
questionary method and by pure tone
Audiometry.
Results: the incidence of vestibular vertigo was
69.1% while non vestibular vertigo is 30.9 %,
vestibular vertigo was inversely related to the
age while non vestibular vertigo directly related
to the age
The percen

The purpose of this study is to identify the extent of the EFL teachers’ implementationoftotal quality management (TQM)principles through teaching English as a foreign language in Iraqi secondary schools.A total of 180 EFL teachers fromsecondary schools in Baghdad during the academic year 2010/ 2011 participated in the study. Data was collected using a scale to identify the extent of implementation of total quality management principles by 140 EFL teachers in their classroom. To support the data collected from the scale,40 teachers were observed by EFL educational supervisors during their lessons. The collected data was analyzed using frequency, means and standard deviation to identify the extent of implementation of (TQM) principles.