Mustansiriyah University

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of March 2020, leading to some form of lockdown across almost all countries of the world. The extent of the global pandemic due to COVID-19 has a significant impact on our lives that must be studied carefully to combat it. This study highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on crucial aspects of daily life globally, including; Food security, Global economy, Education, Tourism, hospitality, sports and leisure, Gender Relation, Domestic Violence/Abuse, Mental Health and Environmental air pollution through a systematic search of the literature. The COVID-19 global lockdown was initiated to stem the spread of the virus and 'flatten the curve' of the pandemic. However, the impact of the lockdown has had far-reaching effects in different strata of life, including; changes in the accessibility and structure of education delivery to students, food insecurity as a result of unavailability and fluctuation in prices, the depression of the global economy, increase in mental health challenges, wellbeing and quality of life amongst others. This review article highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown across the globe. As the global lockdown is being lifted in a phased manner in various countries of the world, it is necessary to explore its impacts to understand its consequences comprehensively. This will guide future decisions that will be made in a possible future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic or other global disease outbreak.

The Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) is recommended to lower blood pressure (BP), but its effects on cardiometabolic biomarkers are unclear. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCT) was conducted to determine the effects of the DASH diet on cardiovascular risk factors. Medline, Embase and Scopus databases were searched from inception to December 2013. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) DASH diet; (2) RCT; (3) risk factors including systolic and diastolic BP and glucose, HDL, LDL, TAG and total cholesterol concentrations; (4) control group. Random-effects models were used to determine the pooled effect sizes. Meta-regression analyses were carried out to examine the association between effect sizes, baseline values of the risk factors, BMI, age, quality of trials, salt intake and study duration. A total of twenty articles reporting data for 1917 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The duration of interventions ranged from 2 to 24 weeks. The DASH diet was found to result in significant decreases in systolic BP ( - 5·2 mmHg, 95% CI - 7·0, - 3·4; P< 0·001) and diastolic BP ( - 2·6 mmHg, 95% CI - 3·5, - 1·7; P< 0·001) and in the concentrations of total cholesterol ( - 0·20 mmol/l, 95% CI - 0·31, - 0·10; P< 0·001) and LDL ( - 0·10 mmol/l, 95% CI - 0·20, - 0·01; P= 0·03). Changes in both systolic and diastolic BP were greater in participants with higher baseline BP or BMI. These changes predicted a reduction of approximately 13% in the 10-year Framingham risk score for CVD. The DASH diet improved cardiovascular risk factors and appeared to have greater beneficial effects in subjects with an increased cardiometabolic risk. The DASH diet is an effective nutritional strategy to prevent CVD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Physical activity is associated with lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. However, the effects of different exercise modalities on arterial stiffness are currently unclear. Our objectives were to investigate the effects of exercise modalities (aerobic, resistance or combined) on pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx), and to determine whether the effects on these indices differed according to the participants' or exercise characteristics. METHODS: We searched the Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library databases from inception until April 2014 for randomized controlled trials lasting ≥ 4 weeks investigating the effects of exercise modalities on PWV and AIx in adults aged ≥ 18 years. RESULTS: Forty-two studies (1627 participants) were included in this analysis. Aerobic exercise improved both PWV (WMD: -0.63 m/s, 95% CI: -0.90, -0.35) and AIx (WMD:-2.63%, 95% CI: -5.25 to -0.02) significantly. Aerobic exercise training showed significantly greater reduction in brachial-ankle (WMD: -1.01 m/s, 95% CI: -1.57, -0.44) than in carotid-femoral (WMD: -0.39 m/s, 95% CI: -0.52, -0.27) PWV. Higher aerobic exercise intensity was associated with larger reductions in AIx (β: -1.55%, CI -3.09, 0.0001). In addition, aerobic exercise had a significantly larger effect in reducing PWV (WMD:-1.0 m/s, 95% CI: -1.43, -0.57) in participants with stiffer arteries (PWV ≥ 8 m/s). Resistance exercise had no effect on PWV and AIx. There was no significant effect of combined exercise on PWV and AIx. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that aerobic exercise improved arterial stiffness significantly and that the effect was enhanced with higher aerobic exercise intensity and in participants with greater arterial stiffness at baseline. TRIAL REGISTRATION PROSPERO: Database registration: CRD42014009744.

Plants are the source of various photochemicals; metabolites are used in medicinal and environmental sectors as well as being widely used in commercial and pharmaceutical products. Although they produce a number of medicinal products, either already on the market or under trial, the amounts obtained from plant sources are very minute or difficult to synthesize at an industrial level due to the complex chemical composition and chirality exhibited by these compounds. However, plant cell cultures offer a good alternative for the consistent production of desired secondary metabolites under the influence of precursors and elicitors. In this review, we discuss the various aspects of secondary metabolites, production synthesis, and sources of medical products from plant sources.

The threatening crisis of climate change and pollution resulting from various anthropogenic interventions has attracted worldwide attention over the last few decades. However, carbon capture and storage (CCS) methods, once seen as a promising technology to mitigate this worrying scenario, are considered economically cumbersome, and their long term environmental implications are still unclear. Alternatively, biological capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) using microalgae is considered an attractive medium for recycling the excess CO2 generated from power plants, automobiles, volcanic eruptions, decomposition of organic matter, and forest fires. Furthermore, through microalgae, CO2 can be captured and recycled into biomass, which in turn could be utilized as a carbon source to produce lipids for the production of bioenergy and other value-added products. In the future, these products are expected to sustainably replace petroleum-derived transport fuel without affecting the food supply chain and crops directly or indirectly. This review focuses on existing literature for biological capture via microalgae to minimize carbon footprint. It also highlights the molecular tools, methodologies and microalgae species currently utilized for CO2 capture.

Nanotechnology involves developing, characterising, and applying structures ranging in size from 1 to 100 nm. As a key advanced technology, it has contributed to a substantial impact across engineering, medicine, agriculture and food. With regards to their application in food, nanomaterials posses the ability to lead the quantitative and qualitative development of high-quality, healthier, and safer foods by outperforming traditional food processing technologies for increasing shelf life and preventing contaminations. Although rapid progress has been made in nanotechnology in food products, the toxicity of nanoparticles and nanomaterials is not very well known. As a result, nanomaterials are potentially toxic, therefore, considering the constantly increasing employment in food science, they need to be further characterised, and their use must be better regulated. We may face a crisis of nanotoxicity if the molecular mechanisms by which nanoparticles and nanomaterials interact with food and within living organisms is not fully understood. Food safety can be guaranteed only if we are thoroughly aware of nanomaterial properties and potential toxicity. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to have in the food sector a regulatory system capable of managing nanofood risks and nanotechnology, considering the health effects of food processing techniques based on nanotechnology. This present review discusses the impact and role nanotechnology play in food science. The specific application of Nanomaterials in food science, their advantages and disadvantages, the potential risk for human health and the analysis to detect nanocomponents are also highlighted.

Abstract The use of calcined clays as supplementary cementitious materials provides the opportunity to significantly reduce the cement industry’s carbon burden; however, use at a global scale requires a deep understanding of the extraction and processing of the clays to be used, which will uncover routes to optimise their reactivity. This will enable increased usage of calcined clays as cement replacements, further improving the sustainability of concretes produced with them. Existing technologies can be adopted to produce calcined clays at an industrial scale in many regions around the world. This paper, produced by RILEM TC 282-CCL on calcined clays as supplementary cementitious materials (working group 2), focuses on the production of calcined clays, presents an overview of clay mining, and assesses the current state of the art in clay calcination technology, covering the most relevant aspects from the clay deposit to the factory gate. The energetics and associated carbon footprint of the calcination process are also discussed, and an outlook on clay calcination is presented, discussing the technological advancements required to fulfil future global demand for this material in sustainable infrastructure development.

Integration of more renewable energy resources introduces a challenge in frequency control of future power systems. This paper reviews and evaluates the possible challenges and the new control methods of frequency in future power systems. Different types of loads and distributed energy resources (DERs) are reviewed. A model representation of a population of the water heater devices for the demand side frequency response is considered. A model representation of a population of battery energy storage system (BESS)-based DERs such as smart electric vehicles (EVs) charging, large-scale BESSs, and residential and non-residential BESSs, are highlighted. The simplified Great Britain power system and the 14-machine South-East Australian power system were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new methods in controlling power system frequency following a disturbance. These new methods are effective in recovering the fallen frequency response and present a great potential in controlling the frequency in future power systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds significant promise for advancing natural disaster management through the use of predictive models that analyze extensive datasets, identify patterns, and forecast potential disasters. These models facilitate proactive measures such as early warning systems (EWSs), evacuation planning, and resource allocation, addressing the substantial challenges associated with natural disasters. This study offers a comprehensive exploration of trustworthy AI applications in natural disasters, encompassing disaster management, risk assessment, and disaster prediction. This research is underpinned by an extensive review of reputable sources, including Science Direct (SD), Scopus, IEEE Xplore (IEEE), and Web of Science (WoS). Three queries were formulated to retrieve 981 papers from the earliest documented scientific production until February 2024. After meticulous screening, deduplication, and application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 108 studies were included in the quantitative synthesis. This study provides a specific taxonomy of AI applications in natural disasters and explores the motivations, challenges, recommendations, and limitations of recent advancements. It also offers an overview of recent techniques and developments in disaster management using explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), data fusion, data mining, machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), fuzzy logic, and multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). This systematic contribution addresses seven open issues and provides critical solutions through essential insights, laying the groundwork for various future works in trustworthiness AI-based natural disaster management. Despite the potential benefits, challenges persist in the application of AI to natural disaster management. In these contexts, this study identifies several unused and used areas in natural disaster-based AI theory, collects the disaster datasets, ML, and DL techniques, and offers a valuable XAI approach to unravel the complex relationships and dynamics involved and the utilization of data fusion techniques in decision-making processes related to natural disasters. Finally, the study extensively analyzed ethical considerations, bias, and consequences in natural disaster-based AI.

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have become increasingly more useful and necessary in the past few decades because they can degrade a wide range of organic and inorganic contaminants. The toxic and recalcitrant nature of many contaminants obstruct traditional biological processes, making treatment ineffective. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop and apply more effective treatment processes for industrial wastewater, polluted by pharmaceuticals, dyes, and other industries. The AOPs have become successful technologies for treating industrial wastewater because they remove contaminants, reduce toxicity, and improve biodegradability, including using ultraviolet (UV) and visible light (VIS) combined with homogenous or heterogeneous catalysts. This review shows that using the Fenton process and semiconductor material greatly facilitates removing various organic pollutants. Additionally, heterogeneous photocatalysis research is ongoing because this method effectively removes emerging pollutants. In addition, challenges, research needs, and future uses are described to improve the performance and hasten the large-scale implementation of AOPs in water treatment.

In recent years biochar has been demonstrated to be a useful amendment to sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emission from the soil to the atmosphere. Hence it can help to mitigate global environment change. Some studies have shown that biochar addition to agricultural soils increases crop production. The mechanisms involved are: increased soil aeration and water-holding capacity, enhanced microbial activity and plant nutrient status in soil, and alteration of some important soil chemical properties. This review provides an in-depth consideration of the production, characterization and agricultural use of different biochars. Biochar is a complex organic material and its characteristics vary with production conditions and the feedstock used. The agronomic benefits of biochar solely depend upon the use of particular types of biochar with proper field application rate under appropriate soil types and conditions. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the deposition of insoluble amyloid plaques in the neuropil composed of highly stable, self-assembled Amyloid-beta (Aβ) fibrils. Copper has been implicated to play a role in Alzheimer's disease. Dimers of Aβ have been isolated from AD brain and have been shown to be neurotoxic. RESULTS: We have investigated the formation of dityrosine cross-links in Aβ42 formed by covalent ortho-ortho coupling of two tyrosine residues under conditions of oxidative stress with elevated copper and shown that dityrosine can be formed in vitro in Aβ oligomers and fibrils and that these links further stabilize the fibrils. Dityrosine crosslinking was present in internalized Aβ in cell cultures treated with oligomeric Aβ42 using a specific antibody for dityrosine by immunogold labeling transmission electron microscopy. Results also revealed the prevalence of dityrosine crosslinks in amyloid plaques in brain tissue and in cerebrospinal fluid from AD patients. CONCLUSIONS: Aβ dimers may be stabilized by dityrosine crosslinking. These results indicate that dityrosine cross-links may play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and can be generated by reactive oxygen species catalyzed by Cu2+ ions. The observation of increased Aβ and dityrosine in CSF from AD patients suggests that this could be used as a potential biomarker of oxidative stress in AD.

Nephrotoxicity is defining as rapid deterioration in the kidney function due to toxic effect of medications and chemicals. There are various forms, and some drugs may affect renal function in more than one way. Nephrotoxins are substances displaying nephrotoxicity. Different mechanisms lead to nephrotoxicity, including renal tubular toxicity, inflammation, glomerular damage, crystal nephropathy, and thrombotic microangiopathy. The traditional markers of nephrotoxicity and renal dysfunction are blood urea and serum creatinine which are regarded as low sensitive in the detection of early renal damage. Thus, the detection of the initial renal injures required new biomarkers which are more sensitive and highly specific that gives an insight into the site of underlying renal damage. Kidney injury molecule-1, Cystatin C, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin sera levels are more sensitive than blood urea and serum creatinine in the detection of acute kidney injury during nephrotoxicity.

Tau protein, found in both neuronal and non-neuronal cells, forms aggregates in neurons that constitutes one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). For nearly four decades, research efforts have focused more on tau's role in physiology and pathology in the context of the microtubules, even though, for over three decades, tau has been localised in the nucleus and the nucleolus. Its nuclear and nucleolar localisation had stimulated many questions regarding its role in these compartments. Data from cell culture, mouse brain, and the human brain suggests that nuclear tau could be essential for genome defense against cellular distress. However, its nature of translocation to the nucleus, its nuclear conformation and interaction with the DNA and other nuclear proteins highly suggest it could play multiple roles in the nucleus. To find efficient tau-based therapies, there is a need to understand more about the functional relevance of the varied cellular distribution of tau, identify whether specific tau transcripts or isoforms could predict tau's localisation and function and how they are altered in diseases like AD. Here, we explore the cellular distribution of tau, its nuclear localisation and function and its possible involvement in neurodegeneration.

Thymoquinone (TQ) is a potent anticancer phytochemical with confirmed in vitro efficacy. Its clinical use has not yet established, and very few reports have documented its formulation. There also are no reports about the aqueous solubility and stability of this valuable drug, despite their direct correlation with the in vivo efficacy. In the current research, we have established and validated a stability-indicating HPLC method for the detection of TQ and its degradation products under different conditions. We then investigated the solubility and stability profiles of TQ in aqueous solutions. The stability study was aimed to determine the effect of pH, solvent type and light on the degradation process of TQ, along with the investigation of the kinetics of this degradation. The solubility of TQ varied in different aqueous solvents, and might be compromised due to stability issues. However, these findings confirm that the aqueous solubility is not the major obstacle for the drug formulations mainly due to the considerable water solubility (>500 μg/mL) that may be enough to exert pharmacologic effects if administered via parenteral route. Stability study results showed a very low stability profile of TQ in all the aqueous solutions with rapid degradation that varied with solvent type. The study of the degradation kinetics showed a significant effect of pH on the degradation process. The process followed first order kinetics at more acidic and alkaline pH values, and second order kinetics at pH 5-7.4, regardless of the solvent type. The results also expressed that light has a greater impact on the stability of TQ as a shorter period of exposure led to severe degradation, independent of the solution pH and solvent type. Our results also addressed some discrepancies in previously published researches regarding the formulation and quantification of TQ with suggested solutions. Overall, the current study concludes that TQ is unstable in aqueous solutions, particularly at an alkaline pH, in addition to presenting severe light sensitivity. This data indicates the inappropriateness of aqueous solutions as pharmaceutical vehicles for TQ preparations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing TQ aqueous solubility and stability that may lead to the development of a stable and effective TQ formulation.

Raw date seeds, as prospective natural, broadly obtainable and low-price agricultural waste for adsorbing cationic dyes from aqueous solutions, have been studied. In this work, Iraqi date seeds were prepared and characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis before being used as an efficient bio-adsorbent for methyl violet (MV) dye removal. Adsorption tests were conducted with three investigated parameters, namely, time of contact, first adsorbate concentration and adsorbent dose. Compared with the pseudo first-order model (coefficient of determination = 0.9001), the pseudo second-order model was determined to be the best-fitting model with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9917. The equilibrium isotherms for MV were obtained, and their ultimate capacity of adsorption was (59.5 mg g1). Two isotherm models, Langmuir and Freundlich, were studied to fit the equilibrium data. Compared with the Freundlich isotherm model (R2 = 0.8154), the Langmuir model functioned better as an adsorption isotherm with R2 of 0.9837. In addition, the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. The date seeds acted as active adsorbents to remove MV from the aqueous solutions in the model experiments.

Today, in diverse medical and clinical fields, including cancer treatment, nanoscience has evolved and evolved. Cancer and its forms, on the other hand, have been rumored and inclusive, and many individuals suffer from this fatal and lethal condition. Actually, even with the medicinal effect, current therapeutic approaches, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, etc., create symptoms that are inconvenient for patients. Scientists and scholars are also working to establish and, strengthen the options and methods of therapy to deal with this dangerous illness. Nanoscience and nanotechnology have been popular today, their different areas, including nanoparticles, are commonly used for a number of applications, especially for drug delivery and diagnostic products, and cases of imaging. Release mechanisms focused on nanotechnology have a profound effect on the release of cancer drugs. Biomaterials and bio-engineering developments are leading to novel approaches to nanoparticles that could offer a new way for cancer patients to improve. In the drug release method, Nano-technology has had a great effect on the selection of cancer cells, the release of a targeted drug, and the overcoming of traditional chemotherapy limitations. This article discusses the drug delivery to tumor tissue, a method that is more effective than traditional drug delivery methods, also many new nanoparticles have solved the problem of cell resistance to the drug, provided a new field in the treatment of cancer.

Abstract This study investigated for the first time a simple bio-synthesis approach for the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) using Annona muricata L ( A. muricata ) plant extract to test their anti-cancer effects. The presence of CuONPs was confirmed by UV–visible spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Transmission electron microscope (TEM). The antiproliferative properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated against (AMJ-13), (MCF-7) breast cancer cell lines, and the human breast epithelial cell line (HBL-100) as healthy cells. This study indicates that CuONPs reduced cell proliferation for AMJ-13 and MCF-7. HBL-100 cells were not significantly inhibited for several concentration levels or test periods. The outcomes suggest that the prepared copper oxide nanoparticles acted against the growth of specific cell lines observed in breast cancer. It was observed that cancer cells had minor colony creation after 24 h sustained CuONPs exposure using (IC 50 ) concentration for AMJ-13 was (17.04 µg mL −1 ). While for MCF-7 cells was (18.92 µg mL −1 ). It indicates the uptake of CuONPs by cancer cells, triggering apoptosis. Moreover, treatment with CuONPs enhanced Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) production, probably caused by cell membrane damage, creating leaks comprising cellular substances like lactate dehydrogenase. Hence, research results suggested that the synthesized CuONPs precipitated anti-proliferative effects by triggering cell death through apoptosis.

Cavitation is an essential problem that occurs in any pump. It highly contributes to deteriorating the performance of the pump. In industrial applications, it is important to detect and decrease the effect of the cavitation in pumps. In this work, detecting and diagnosing the cavitation phenomenon within centrifugal pumps using vibration technique was investigated. The results obtained for vibration signal in both time and frequency domains were analysed in order to gain a better understanding about the detection of cavitation in the pumps in question. The effect of different operating conditions including various flow rates and pump rotational speeds related to the cavitation were measured. Different statistical features in time domain analysis (TDA) and also the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique for frequency domain analysis (FDA) were applied.

Lavandula species is a flowering plant that is common in Europe and across the Mediterranean. Lavender has many health benefits for humans. In addition to its use in herbal medicine, it is widely used in the fields of cosmetics, perfumes, foods, and aromatherapy. Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were used to search for relevant material on the phytochemical ingredients, the pharmacologic effects of the ingredients, and the mechanism of action of the Lavandula species identified. These materials were reviewed in order to have access to important updates about the Lavandula species. Lavender as referred to in English contains essential oils, anthocyanins, phytosterols, sugars, minerals, coumaric acid, glycolic acid, valeric acid, ursolic acid, herniarins, coumarins, and tannins. It has been used to treat colic and chest ailments, worrisome headaches, and biliousness, and in cleaning wounds. It has antifungal, antibacterial, neurologic, antimicrobial, anti-parasitic, anti-diabetic, and analgesic effects among others. Lavandula species has prospects for various biological applications, especially with its dermatological application. Advances in drug development would enable characterization of various bioactive constituents; thus, its development and application can have a more positive impact on humanity. Here, we highlighted updated information on the history, distribution, traditional uses, phytochemical components, pharmacology, and various biological activities of Lavandula species.