Thirty three specimens of the blue-cheeked bee-eater were collected at central and southern Iraq from April 1997 to October 2000. Two nematodes Hadjelia truncata and Syphaciella capensis, were recovered from the alimentary tract. Reporting these two nematodes represents the first record for Iraq as well as a new host record.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic destructive inflammatory disease associated with destruction of joint connective tissues and bones, affecting 0.5%–1% of the population worldwide reporting higher prevalence of periodontitis among rheumatoid arthritis patients. The purpose of this study is to estimate level of salivary C-reactive protein in relation to the occurrence and severity of the periodontal disease and other oral parameters among group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis Material and methods: Fifty women patients with rheumatoid arthritis; twenty five on Methotrexate treatment and twenty five on combination treatment of Methotrexate and Etanercept selected as study groups with an age range (30-40) years old and

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that regulates T cell function. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of AhR ligands, 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and 6-Formylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (FICZ), on gut-associated microbiota and T cell responses during delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction induced by methylated bovine serum albumin (mBSA) in a mouse model. Mice with DTH showed significant changes in gut microbiota including an increased abundance of Bacteroidetes and decreased Firmicutes at the phylum level. Also, there was a decrease in Clostridium cluster XIV and IV, which promo

This study presents a detailed morphology and taxonomic study of Polysiphonia subtilissima collected from Abdul Rehman Goth, Karachi coast, Pakistan. Polysiphonia is a filamentous heterotrichous red algae, characterized by its branching structures and attachment mechanisms. P. subtilissima is notable for its broad salinity tolerance and wide distribution across marine and freshwater ecosystems. This research provides an in-depth examination of the internal and external structures of P. subtilissima, contributing to its systematic study and documenting its first recorded occurrence in Pakistani coastal areas, bordering the northern Arabian Sea. The findings enhance the understanding of the species taxonomy and its ecological role in

Background: Determination of local bone mineral density (BMD) with cortical thickness and bone height may offer a comprehensive description of the bone the surgeon will encounter when he or she actually sets the implant. Quantitative computed tomography (CT) (i.e., quantitative interpretation of values derived from Hounsfield units with a suitable calibration procedure) is the modality of choice to determine BMD. The aim of the present clinical study is to determine the local bone density in dental implant recipient sites using computerized tomography. Material and method: The sample consisted of (72) Iraqi patients whom referred to Al-Kharkh General hospital, Spiral CT scan Department for bone quality and quantity assessment after one wee

         The accurate extracting, studying, and analyzing of drainage basin morphometric aspects is important for the accurate determination of environmental factors that formed them, such as climate, tectonic activity, region lithology, and land covering vegetation.

This work was divided into three stages; the 1^st stage was delineation of the Al-Abiadh basin borders using a new approach that depends on three-dimensional modeling of the studied region and a drainage network pattern extraction using (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) data, the 2^nd was the classification of the Al-Abiadh basin streams according to their shape and widenings, and the 3^rd was ex

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 intelligent buildings provided various incentives to get highly inefficient energy-saving caused by the non-stationary building environments. In the presence of such dynamic excitation with higher levels of nonlinearity and coupling effect of temperature and humidity, the HVAC system transitions from underdamped to overdamped indoor conditions. This led to the promotion of highly inefficient energy use and fluctuating indoor thermal comfort. To address these concerns, this study develops a novel framework based on deep clustering of lagrangian trajectories for multi-task learning (DCLTML) and adding a pre-cooling coil in the air handling unit (AHU) to alleviate a coupling issue. The proposed DCLTML exhibits great overall control and is

Background: Nutrition can affect the development and integrity of the oral cavity as well as the progression of oral diseases such as dental caries which was the most predominant and wide spread not life threatening human diseases especially in developing countries as in Iraq. This study was conducted to assess the occurrence, prevalence and severity of dental caries condition and their relations to nutritional status among intermediate schools females in Al-Najaf city in Iraq. Materials and methods: This study was conducted among intermediate schools females aged 13, 14 and15 years old and the total sample consisted of 754 students. The assessment of nutritional status was performed using body mass index (BMI) following Centers for Diseas