Background: Lead-acid battery workers are at higher risk for systemic diseases as well as oral diseases like dental caries. The aim of this study was to assess selected salivary antioxidants and their relation with dental caries among lead acid battery factory workers in comparison with non-exposed group. Materials and methods: The sample consisted of 35 subjects aged 35-45 year-old who worked in Babylon lead acid battery factory in Baghdad city and matching group that not exposed to lead were selected as a control. Dental caries severity was recorded by using DMFS index, stimulated salivary samples were collected and analyzed for the measurement of salivary antioxidants (uric acid, total protein, catalase and glutathione peroxidase enzymes). Results: The antioxidants levels (uric acid, catalase and glutathione peroxidase enzymes) were higher among the study group than the control group with non-significant difference for uric acid, highly significant difference for catalaseenzyme and significant for glutathione peroxidaseenzymes, whereas total protein level was significantly lower among the study group than the control. Regarding dental cariesseverity, DMFS values were significantly higher among study group compared to that among control group. All the correlations between salivary antioxidants and dental carries found to be weak non-significant for both groups. Conclusions: Selected salivary antioxidants were found to have little effects dental caries of the study group, although dental caries revealed higher percentage of occurrence among lead exposed workers. Therefore, special oral health preventive and educational programs are needed for them. Key words: lead exposure, lead acid battery workers, antioxidants, oral health status.
In the present study, the effectiveness of a procedure of electrocoagulation for removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the wastewater of petroleum refinery has been evaluated. Aluminum and stainless steel electrodes were used as a sacrificial anode and cathode respectively. The effect of current density (4-20mAcm−2), pH (3-11), and NaCl concentration (0-4g/l) on efficiency of removal of chemical oxygen demand was investigated. The results have shown that increasing of current density led to increase the efficiency of COD removal while increasing NaCl concentration resulted in decreasing of COD removal efficiency. Effect of pH was found to be lowering COD re
The adsorption of Cr (VI) from aqueous solution by spent tea leaves (STL) was studied at different initial Cr (VI) concentrations, adsorbent dose, pH and contact time under batch isotherm experiments The adsorption experiments were carried out at 30°C and the effects of the four parameters on chromium uptake to establish a mathematical model description percentage removal of Cr (VI). The
analysis results showed that the experimental data were adequately fitted to second order polynomial model with correlation coefficients for this model was (R2 = 0.9891). The optimum operating parameters of initial Cr (VI) concentrations, adsorbent dose, pH and contact time were 50 mg/l, 0.7625 g, 3 and 100 min, respectively. At these conditions, th
In order to promote sustainable steel-concrete composite structures, special shear connectors that can facilitate deconstruction are needed. A lockbolt demountable shear connector (LB-DSC), including a grout-filled steel tube embedded in the concrete slab and fastened to a geometrically compatible partial-thread bolt, which is bolted on the steel section's top flange of a composite beam, was proposed. The main drawback of previous similar demountable bolts is the sudden slip of the bolt inside its hole. This bolt has a locked conical seat lug that is secured inside a predrilled compatible counter-sunk hole in the steel section's flange to provide a non-slip bolt-flange connection. Deconstruction is achieved by demounting the tube from the t
... Show MoreAdvancing the multi-scale performance of asphalt pavements requires innovative binder modifications that address limitations in rutting resistance, fatigue resistance, and durability across the binder, mixture, and structural levels. This study evaluates the performance of asphalt cement, mixtures, and pavement systems modified with a combination of polyethylene (PE) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The binder was modified using 4% PE and varying CNT contents (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% by weight of the modified binder). Binder performance was assessed through conventional and rheological tests, including penetration, softening point, viscosity, performance grade (PG) evaluation, and master curve analysis. Mixture-level performance was eval
... Show MoreThis paper presents a nonlinear finite element modeling and analysis of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) deep beams with and without openings in web subjected to two- point loading. In this study, the beams were modeled using ANSYS nonlinear finite element
software. The percentage of steel fiber was varied from 0 to 1.0%.The influence of fiber content in the concrete deep beams has been studied by measuring the deflection of the deep beams at mid- span and marking the cracking patterns, compute the failure loads for each deep beam, and also study the shearing and first principal stresses for the deep beams with and without openings and with different steel fiber ratios. The above study indicates that the location of openings an
Due to severe scouring, many bridges failed worldwide. Therefore, the safety of the existing bridge (after contrition) mainly depends on the continuous monitoring of local scour at the substructure. However, the bridge's safety before construction mainly depends on the consideration of local scour estimation at the bridge substructure. Estimating the local scour at the bridge piers is usually done using the available formulae. Almost all the formulae used in estimating local scour at the bridge piers were derived from laboratory data. It is essential to test the performance of proposed local scour formulae using field data. In this study, the performance of selected bridge scours estimation formulae was validated and sta
... Show MoreExcessive intake of fluoride, mainly through drinking water is a serious health hazard affecting humans worldwide. In this study, the defluoridation capacities of locally available raw waste beef bones have been estimated. Several experimental parameters including contact time, pH, bone dose, fluoride initial concentration, bone grains size, agitation rate, and the effect of co-existence of anions in actual samples of wastewater were studied for fluoride removal from aqueous solutions. Results indicated excellent fluoride removal effeciency up to 99.7% at fluoride initial concentration of 10 mg F/L and 120 min contact time. Maximum fluoride uptake was obtained at neutral pH range 6-7. Fluoride removal kinetic was well described by the ps
... Show MoreWellbore stability is considered as one of the most challenges during drilling wells due to the
reactivity of shale with drilling fluids. During drilling wells in North Rumaila, Tanuma shale is
represented as one of the most abnormal formations. Sloughing, caving, and cementing problems
as a result of the drilling fluid interaction with the formation are considered as the most important
problem during drilling wells. In this study, an attempt to solve this problem was done, by
improving the shale stability by adding additives to the drilling fluid. Water-based mud (WBM)
and polymer mud were used with different additives. Three concentrations 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 wt. %
for five types of additives (CaCl2, NaCl, Na2S
The paper uses the Direct Synthesis (DS) method for tuning the Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller for controlling the DC servo motor. Two algorithms are presented for enhancing the performance of the suggested PID controller. These algorithms are Back-Propagation Neural Network and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The performance and characteristics of DC servo motor are explained. The simulation results that obtained by using Matlab program show that the steady state error is eliminated with shorter adjusted time when using these algorithms with PID controller. A comparative between the two algorithms are described in this paper to show their effectiveness, which is found that the PSO algorithm gives be
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