BACKGROUND The environment for medical education in Iraq has been difficult for many years. The 2003 invasion of Iraq accelerated a steady emigration of faculty and graduates. Kidnappings and deaths of doctors became commonplace. To understand current career plans, expectations and perceptions of medical students, three Baghdad medical schools were surveyed. METHODS Written questionnaires wer...

O n 29 March 2011 Professor Mohammed Alwan, dean of AlMustansiriya Medical School in Baghdad and my uncle, was assassinated. A bomb was planted in his car and exploded as he got in after leaving his medical practice. He was a distinguished academic and surgeon who was respected by his students, and he was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Within a week, another clinical acad...

The distribution of desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) spans a wide range of biotic and abiotic conditions in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, with physical and behavioral differences distinguishing tortoises inhabiting the Mojave Desert from those inhabiting the Sonoran Desert. Relative to tortoise populations in the Mojave Desert, populations in the Sonoran Desert ha...

We compare the properties and activation of heat-shock transcription factor (HSF1) and the synthesis of a major family of heat-shock proteins (HSP70) in lizard species inhabiting ecological niches with strikingly different thermal parameters. Under normal non-heat-shock conditions, all desert-dwelling lizard species studied so far differ from a northern, non-desert species (Lacerta vivipara) in...

Hydrological soil group is essential to information for several fields of modeling and applications. This can affect suitable environmental, agricultural, hydrological development. Laboratory analysis sampling cannot efficiently provide the needed because these analyses are commonly costly, time-consuming, limited in retrieving temporal spatial variability. In this context, remote sensing now s...

Soil moisture is one of the most important parameters affecting dust emission flux. This study was conducted to investigate effects soil on vertical flux in central plateau region Iran. In this study, WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecast with Chemistry) model, GOCART (Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation Transport) scheme, used estimate during a major storm from 19 21 July 2015, discrimi...

In 2004, the Lancet published results from a survey that estimated the death toll attributable to the conflict in Iraq until then at almost 100,000. Since that moment, the topic has been subject of a large debate among scientists. Besides this publication, four other surveys conducted in Iraq reported data on mortality due to the conflict. Although each one of these studies had its own specific...

We assessed the effect that varying patterns of biomass allocation had on growth of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) growing in the desert climate of the Great Basin and the montane climate of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Prior work established that desert trees have lower leaf: sapwood area ratios than montane trees (0.104 and 0.201 M2/ cm2, respectively) and proportionally greater stem respirat...

Previous research showed that the concrete’s strength is obviously decreased when river sand was substituted by desert in abundance. In this paper, a new type of fibre-reinforced ultra high-strength mortar studied. mix design mortar, low W/B used to save water. Also, fly ash and silica fume were adopted partly replace cement, completely take place sand. At same time, steel fibre improve toughne...

This research was carried out to determine the effect of crossing between three lines Kurdish quail on some productive traits depending plumage color, in order obtain a genetic combination that is distinguished performance and superior its pure lines, demonstrate 80 chicks one-day old for each color (W,D B)were reared 8 replication box until reached 42 day recorded growth after from 2 birds wer...