Background: Pregnancy is a stressful state of increased inflammatory activity, and pregnancy – associated hormone changes can influence periodontal tissues, these inflammatory activity lead to production of inflammatory mediators. Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokines that is consistently associated with periodontal diseases. This study was designed to determine the periodontal health status and detect the serum level of IL-1β in the healthy pregnant women at first, second and third trimester and compare it with healthy non pregnant women, and determine its correlation with different clinical periodontal parameters. Materials and Methods: Subjects included in the study were sixty six (66) healthy pregnant women with an age range of 20-35 years old. They were divided into three subgroups according to gestational age, as twenty two (22) women in each trimester. Also the sample included fifteen (15) married, non pregnant women and didn’t take contraceptive pills, as control group with same age rang of 20- 35 years. Clinical periodontal parameters were measured in this study (plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level). Blood samples were collected from all women under study (pregnant & non pregnant women) to asses concentrations of IL-1β by mean of enzyme – linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Highly significant statistical differences were observed among the study groups regarding the gingival index (GI)with p-value( 0.007) and the percentages of bleeding on probing (BOP) p- value(0.00), a significant difference regarding the probing pocket depth ( PPD) with p-value (0.046) ,and non significant statistical differences regarding the plaque index (PLI), p-value(0.6) and clinical attachment level (CAL) with p-value (0.371). Interleukin 1-beta ( IL-1β) serum level showed a highly statistical significant difference among the study groups with p-value (0.00).A pregnant women showed higher level than non pregnant with a higher value in the second trimester. Conclusions: The present result revealed that the serum level of IL-1β was higher in pregnant women than non pregnant women with a highly significant difference. The IL-1β serum concentration reaches the maximum value in the second trimester of pregnancy. Nevertheless there were weak correlations between clinical periodontal parameters and serum level of IL-1β.
Background: Occupational exposure to hazardous drugs occurs in all aspects of anticancer drug handling. Proper recommendations and guidelines should be applied to control and reduce exposure. Objective: To assess pharmacists' knowledge and practice regarding the safe handling of anticancer drugs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven major hospitals in Baghdad City, Iraq, from December 2023 to February 2024. A pre-designed questionnaire was given to pharmacists who handled anticancer drugs in chemotherapy units. The questionnaire comprises sociodemographic data, knowledge of the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs and thoughts about exposure and risk, practices for safely handling cytotoxic drugs, and challenges for s
... Show MoreThe study aims to select suitable ornamental plant species that can survive relatively with high concentrations of acetaminophen and methylparaben in constructed wetlands. Alternanthera spp, Asparagus aethiopicus and Chlorophytum comosum are examined to withstand three initial concentrations, 20, 100 and 200 mg/L of acetaminophen and methylparaben. A total of 21 plastic pails with each 3 L capacity consisting of nine pails are used for each pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) compounds (acetaminophen and methylparaben) for three ornamental plants (Alternanthera spp, Asparagus aethiopicus and Chlorophytum comosum), with three pails as plant controls. The results reveales
... Show MoreIntroduction: A Pap test can detect pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in the vagina and uterine cervix. Cervical cancer is the easiest gynecologic cancer to be prevented and diagnosed using regular screening tests and follow-up. This study aimed to estimate the cytological changes and the precancerous lesions using Pap smear test and visual inspection of the cervices of Iraqi women, and also to determine the possible relationship of this cancer with patients’ demographic characteristics. Methods: The study included 140 women aged (18-67) years old referred to the National Cancer Research Center (NCRC), Baghdad, Iraq, during the period 2011-2016. Both visual inspections of the uterine cervix and Papanicolaou smear screening were performed
... Show MoreAlthough many technological improvements are occurring in power production worldwide, power plants in third world countries are still using old technologies that are causing thermal pollution to the water bodies. Power facilities that dump hot water into water bodies are damaging aquatic life. In the study, the impact of the Al Dora thermal power plant on a nearby stretch of Tigris River in Baghdad city was assessed by measuring the temperature of the disposed of hot water in various cross-sections of the selected stretch of Tigris River, including measuring the thermal mixing length. The measurements were conducted in winter, spring, and summer. For field measurements, it was found that the impact of recovery distances
... Show MoreThis effort is related to describe and assess the performance of the Iraqi cement sample planned for oil well-cementing jobs in Iraq. In this paper, major cementing properties which are thickening time, compressive strength, and free water in addition to the rheological properties and filtration of cement slurry underneath definite circumstances are experimentally tested. The consequences point to that the Iraqi cement after special additives encounter the requests of the API standards and can consequently is used in cementing jobs for oil wells. At this research, there is a comparative investigation established on experimental work on the effectiveness of some additives that considered as waste materials which are silica fume, bauxite,
... Show MoreThe extraction of pesticides is a critical and urgent issue in the preparation for and determination of pesticide residues. The lack of a quick, easy, and successful extraction process is the most critical and challenging problem, even if diagnostic tools have improved and pesticide residues have been better understood. This study contrasted the QuEChERS method, which uses gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector, with the LLE method, which uses liquid-liquid extraction, in order to extract pyridaben from cucumbers and spiromesifen from tomatoes. The GC-FID device was employed to ascertain the spiromesifen LOD and LOQ, which were 0.002 μg mL-1 and 0.00
Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common comorbidities associated with enlarged extremities, occurring in 60 % of patients with acromegaly. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship of growth hormone and insulin such as growth factor-1 with obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-10), as risk factors for cardiovascular disorder in acromegaly patients. Eighty subjects were included and categorized into two groups: 40 acromegaly patients and 40 of the control group. The results indicated weight excess, hyperglycemia, hypertension, lipid disorder, and elevated levels of interleukins (2, 6, and 10). The correlation of both GH and IGF-1 with each of weight, BMI, systolic blood p
... Show MoreFourteen morphologically varied Ricinus communis L. seeds were collected from different localities in Egypt, El-Sudan and Saudi Arabia. Seed morphology and ITS barcoding analysis were performed to assess their diversity and phylogenetic relationship. Sequence’s alignment of nrITS region from different accessions display high levels of genetic similarities. Cluster analysis could not group different accessions according to their geographical distribution. Nevertheless, the genetic barcodes are interestingly matched with the morphological features of the Ricinus seeds. In conclusion, seed morphology proved to be a valuable tool in evaluating biodiversity and phylogenetic relationship in plant species with different loca
... Show MoreThe poor hole cleaning efficiency could causes many problems such as high torque, drag, poor hydraulics and pipe stuck. These inherent problems result in an avoidable high operation cost which this study tried to address. In this study, the effect of cutting density on hole cleaning efficiency in deviated and horizontal wells was investigated. Experiments were conducted using 40 feet (12 m) long of flow loop made from iron and PVC. However, the test section was made from PVC with (5.1m) long and (4” ID) for outer pipe and (2” OD) inner pipe. The cutting transport ratio (CTR) was determined from weight measurements for each test. Cutting Transport Ratio has been investigated for effects of the following parameters; flow rate, cu
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