Background: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fung

Background: Pit and fissure sealant have been considered an outstanding adjunct to oral health care in the decrease of occlusal caries onset and low progression. The aims of this in vitro study were to evaluate the marginal microleakage of three different types of fissure sealants (SDI, Tg and tetric N-flow) by time interval, one day and 45 days, in the presence or absence of bonding agent among maxillary and mandibular teeth. Materials and methods: Seventy two sound human maxillary and mandibular first premolar teeth were collected which were free from obvious carious lesions. The teeth were randomly divided into two main equal groups, group (1) and group (2), each group consists of (36) teeth involving equal numbers of maxillary and mandi

This study aims at identifying the notion of Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) pertinent to the performance of three general hospitals constructed inside the Sulaimani City, tracing the relationship between the quality of the indoor environments and medical staff (doctors and nurses) satisfaction level. Using some indoor environment elements in the right way will positively influence the mood, stress level of the medical staff, and patient recovery as a result. The POE toolkits (AEDET and ASPECT) have been implemented on targeted wards at the selected hospitals. AEDET and ASPECT questionnaires were distributed among 152 medical staff to obtain their perspectives. In total, 112 valid questionnaires were received. The medica

The effects of T-shaped fins on the improvement of phase change materials (PCM) melting are numerically investigated in vertical triple-tube storage containment. The PCM is held in the middle pipe of a triple-pipe heat exchanger while the heat transfer fluid flows through the internal and external pipes. The dimension effects of the T-shaped fins on the melting process of the PCM are investigated to determine the optimum case. Results indicate that while using T-shaped fins improves the melting performance of the PCM, the improvement potential is mainly governed by the fin’s body rather than the head. Hence, the proposed T-shaped fin did not noticeably improve melting at the bottom of the PCM domain; additionally, a flat fin is ad

The concept of deficit in public budget becomes a chronic economic phenomenon in most of the world, whether the advanced countries or developing countries. Despite  the difference in the visions of the economic schools to accept or reject the deficit in public budget but the opinion that prevailed is the necessity of the state to reduce the public spending which led to a continuous deficits in the public budget which consequently increased the government borrowing ,increase income taxes and wealth, consequently this weakened the in motivation in private investment which contributed to the increase of in factionary stagnation , so that governments have to cover the lack of local funding sources which become difficult to be eq

Breast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. Amplification or over-expression of the ERBB2 (HER/neu) gene occurs in approximately 15-30% of breast cancer cases and it is strongly associated with an increased disease recurrence and a poor prognosis. Determination of HER2/neu status is crucial in the treatment plan as that positive cases will respond to trastuzumab therapy. It has been used to test for HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry as a first step and then to study only the equivocal positive cases (score 2+) by in situ hybridization technique. The aim of our study is to compare between immunohistochemistry and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in assessment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu)

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory disease that associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to accelerated atherosclerosis. Rosuvastatin is a unique hydroxy methyl glutaryl Co A (HMGCoA) reductase inhibitor that has anti inflammatory effects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of rosuvastatin as adjuvant therapy to methotrexate (MTX) on lipid profile and its possible cardioprotective effect in RA patients. A double blinded placebo controlled clinical trial with 8 weeks follow up periods at which 40 patients with active RA using MTX were randomized into 2 groups to receive either rosuvastatin 10mg or placebo as adjuvant therapy to MTX. In addition to twenty healthy subjects as control group.

Background: The purposes of this study were to determine the photogrammetric soft tissue facial profile measurements for Iraqi adults sample with class I normal occlusion using Standardized photographic techniques and to verify the existence of possible gender differences. Materials and methods: Eighty Iraqi adult subjects (40 males and 40 females) with an age ranged between 18-25 years having class I normal occlusion were chosen for this study. Each individual was subjected to clinical examination and digital standardized right side photographic records were taken in the natural head position which is mirror position which the patient looking straight into his eyes into the mirror mounted on the stand. The photographs were analyzed using A

This study numerically intends to evaluate the effects of arc-shaped fins on the melting capability of a triplex-tube confinement system filled with phase-change materials (PCMs). In contrast to situations with no fins, where PCM exhibits relatively poor heat response, in this study, the thermal performance is modified using novel arc-shaped fins with various circular angles and orientations compared with traditional rectangular fins. Several inline and staggered layouts are also assessed to maximize the fin’s efficacy. The effect of the nearby natural convection is further investigated by adding a fin to the bottom of the heat-storage domain. Additionally, the Reynolds number and temperature of the heat-transfer fluid (HTF) are e