The present study evaluates the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract as monotherapy on the glycemic status, insulin resistance (IR), body mass index (BMI), and visceral adiposity index (VAI), in addition to the inflammatory markers, oxidative status and leptin level in patients with metabolic syndrome in comparison with metformin.

The study is a randomized, double-blind pilot study conducted during the period May to September, 2020. Fifty patients were recruited in the study and they were allocated into two groups (25 per each group): Ginkgo biloba and Metformin groups, they received (120 mg Ginkgo biloba extract/ capsule) and (500 mg Metformin/ capsule) respectively; orally as a single dose for 90 days. Blood samples were taken at z

Background: Orthodontic tooth movement is characterized by tissue reactions, which consist of an inflammatory response in periodontal ligament and followed by bone remodeling in the periodontium depending on the forces applied. These processes trigger the secretion of various proteins and enzymes into the saliva.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in saliva during orthodontic tooth movement using different magnitude of continuous orthodontic forces. Materials and Methods: Thirty orthodontic patients (12 males and 18 females) aged 17-23 years with class II division I malocclusion all requiring bilateral maxillary first premolar extractions were randomly divided into three groups according to t

This paper presents a cognition path planning with control algorithm design for a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The aim of this work is to propose the circular roadmap (CRM) method to plan and generate optimal path with free navigation as well as to propose a nonlinear MIMO-PID-MENN controller in order to track the wheeled mobile robot on the reference path. The PSO is used to find an online tune the control parameters of the proposed controller to get the best torques actions for the wheeled mobile robot. The numerical simulation results based on the Matlab package show that the proposed structure has a precise and highly accurate distance of the generated refere

One of the most important challenges facing the development of laser weapons is represented by the attenuation of the laser beam as it passed through the layers of atmosphere.This paper presents a theoretical study to simulate the effect of turbulence attenuation and calculates the decrease of laser power in Iraq. The refractive index structure C_n^2 is very important parameter to measure the strength of the atmospheric turbulence, which is affected by microclimate conditions, propagation path, season and time in the day. The results of measurements and predictions are based on the Kolmogorov turbulence theory. It was demonstrated by simulations that the laser weapons in Iraq were severely affected due to the large change in temperatures,

The flow measurements have increased importance in the last decades due to the shortage of water resources resulting from climate changes that request high control of the available water needed for different uses. The classical technique of open channel flow measurement by the integrating-float method was needed for measuring flow in different locations when there were no available modern devices for different reasons, such as the cost of devices. So, the use of classical techniques was taken place to solve the problem. The present study examines the integrating float method and defines the parameters affecting the acceleration of floating spheres in flowing water that was analyzed using experimental measurements. The me

The special core analysis tests were accomplished on a set of core plugs for Mishrif Formation (mA, mB1, and mB2cde/mC units) in West Qurna/1 oilfield, southern Iraq. Oil relative permeability (Kro) data and the Corey-type fit of the data as functions of the brine saturation at the core outlet face for individual samples in the water-oil imbibition process to estimate relative permeability measurements by the centrifuge method were utilized. Identical correlations for oil and water relative permeabilities were extracted by steady-state and unsteady-state methods. For the mA samples, the gas-water capillary pressure curves were within a narrow range (almost identical) indicating that mA is a homogeneous unit. Kro curves for three mB2

Background:sThe aims of this study were to evaluate and compare the ability of three different techniques to obdurate simulated lateral canals, evaluate the effect of the main canal curvature on obturation of lateral canals and compare the gutta-percha penetration between coronal and apical lateral canals. Materials and methods: Resin blocks with 30 straight and 30 curved were used in this study. Each canal has two parallel lateral canals. The main canal has 0.3 mm apical diameter and 0.04 taper. The canals were divided into six groups according to canal curvature and obturation techniques used (n=10): Groups C1 and C2: straight and curved canals obturated with continuous wave technique using E&Q masterTM system. Groups O1 and O2: straight

In this work, the effect of aluminum (Al) dust particles on the DC discharge plasma properties in argon was investigated. A magnetron is placed behind the cathode at different pressures and with varying amounts of Al. The plasma temperature (Te) and density (ne) were calculated using the Boltzmann equation and Stark broadening phenomena, which are considered the most important plasma variables through which the other plasma parameters were calculated. The measurements showed that the emission intensity decreases with increasing pressure from 0.06 to 0.4 Torr, and it slightly decreases with the addition of the NPs. The calculations showed that the ne increased and Te decreased with pressure. Both Te and ne were reduced by increasing