Introduction: Salivary melatonin is a critical antioxidant that contributes to oral health by mitigating oxidative stress. Psychological stress linked to thumb sucking may disrupt oral homeostasis, leading to conditions such as dental caries and fungal infections. Aim: This study explores the relationships between thumb sucking, salivary melatonin levels, dental caries, and the presence of Candida albicans (CA) in children. Materials and methods: A case-control study was conducted with 60 children aged 4-5 years at the University of Baghdad’s College of Dentistry. Participants were divided into thumb-sucking (n=30) and non-thumb-sucking (n=30) groups. Salivary melatonin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), dental caries were assessed via the dmfs index, and CA counts were quantified on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA). Statistical analyses were performed, including t-tests, ANOVA, and correlation assessments. Results: Thumb-sucking children exhibited significantly lower salivary melatonin levels (28.620±2.278 pg/mL) compared to controls (34.525±2.142 pg/mL; p=0.044). The thumb-sucking group also had higher dmfs scores (15.033±1.449 vs. 8.667±0.899; p=0.000) and greater CA counts (18.900±1.048 vs. 13.583±0.549; p=0.000). Negative correlations were observed between salivary melatonin levels and the severity of dental caries, while positive correlations linked CA with dental caries. Conclusions: Thumb sucking adversely affects pediatric oral health by reducing salivary melatonin, increasing dental caries risk, and promoting fungal overgrowth. Early intervention to curb thumb-sucking behaviors may mitigate these risks and improve oral health outcomes.
The aim of study was to explore pharmacist insights toward the impact of prospective implementation of the national health insurance program on patients, providers and Iraqi health system.
This was a qualitative study including semi-structured face-to-face (mostly) interviews with experienced pharmacists. The interview guide included open-ended questions about the impact of the national health insurance program on patients and healthcare providers at three levels: quality of services, costs, and frequency of visits. Potential challenges were also discussed. Interviews were conducted in four provinces from March to May 2022. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview findings and generate themes and subthemes.
The
... Show Morethin films of se:2.5% as were deposited on a glass substates by thermal coevaporation techniqi=ue under high vacuum at different thikness
The present study aims to detect CTX-M-type ESBL from Escherichia coli clinical isolates and to analyze their antibotic susceptibility patterns. One hundred of E. coli isolates were collected from different clinical samples from a tertiary hospital. ESBL positivity was determined by the disk diffusion method. PCR used for amplification of CTX-M-type ESBL produced by E. coli. Out of 100 E. coli isolates, twenty-four isolates (24%) were ESBL-producers. E. coli isolated from pus was the most frequent clinical specimen that produced ESBL (41.66%) followed by urine (34.21%), respiratory (22.23%), and blood (19.05%). After PCR amplification of these 24 isolates, 10 (41.66%) isolates were found to possess CTX-M genes. The CTX-M type ESBL
... Show MoreFace Recognition Systems (FRS) are increasingly targeted by morphing attacks, where facial features of multiple individuals are blended into a synthetic image to deceive biometric verification. This paper proposes an enhanced Siamese Neural Network (SNN)-based system for robust morph detection. The methodology involves four stages. First, a dataset of real and morphed images is generated using StyleGAN, producing high-quality facial images. Second, facial regions are extracted using Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (R-CNN) to isolate relevant features and eliminate background noise. Third, a Local Binary Pattern-Convolutional Neural Network (LBP-CNN) is used to build a baseline FRS and assess its susceptibility to d
... Show MoreThis paper is an attempt to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of the English phrasal verbs. In this paper, phrasal verbs were classified into subgroups according to their syntactic and semantic characteristics. After giving a survey of literature written on the meaning and definition of phrasal verbs, two sections have been devoted to tackle the most important issues in this category of English verbs. Section one sheds light on the basic definitions of the term ‘phrasal verb’ which are, according to the researcher’s point of view, sufficient to cover the area of the study. In addition, it studies the number and the importance of phrasal verbs in English. Section two deals with the syntactic and semantic features of Engli
... Show MoreIn the present study, an attempt has been made to experimentally investigate the flexural performance of ten simply supported reinforced concrete gable roof beams, including solid control specimen (i.e., without openings) and nine beams with web openings of different dimensions and configurations. The nine beams with openings have identical reinforcement details. All beams were monotonically loaded to failure under mid-span loading. The main variables were the number of the created openings, the total area of the created openings, and the inclination angle of the posts between openings. Of interest is the load-carrying capacity, cracking resistance and propagation, deformability, failure mode, and strain development that represent the behav
... Show MoreIn this paper, the species of the genus of Chlaenius Bonelli, 1810 (Coleoptera, Carabidae) were reviewed, and it was revealed that there are 21 confirmed species in Iraq; among them, the species of Chlaenius hamifer Chaudoir, 1856 was recorded for the first time in Iraq.
Diagnostic characters, a redescription of some of the morphological features, photographs and illustrations are provided for the new record species in this investigation.