This study aims to investigate the possible role of circulating microRNA-142-3p (miR-142-3p) in the
development of graves disease (GD) and its association with the antibody directed against thyroid
stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR-Ab) production in patients with GD. Forty patients with positive
TSHR-Ab enrolled in this study were divided ,based on treatment, into (22 untreated (newly diagnosed) and
18 treated patients) and based on family history (30 with positive family history and 10 with negative family
history). In addition to forty healthy subjects with sex and age matching as a control group. The expression
level of circulating miR-142-3p was determined by two steps reverse transcription polymerase c

Background: Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare cerebrovascular disease characterized by bilateral stenosis starting at the supraclinoid internal carotid artery (ICA), with the development of a collateral network of vessels. It is an established cause of stroke in the pediatric age group. Despite its increasing prevalence in various parts of the world, it remains largely underrecognized in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. This is the first case of MMD in an Iraqi patient undergoing surgery. Case description: A 12-year-old boy presents with a 3-months history of progressive behavioural changes. MRI revealed diffuse infarcts of different ages. MRA and CT angiography revealed extensive asymmetrical steno-occlusive changes of t

Background Several studies have addressed the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), among Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients in different countries, and the potential association between the infection and PD; the results of these studies were conflicting. The study aims to investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection among sample of Iraqi PD patients. Also, to examine the potential association of age, PD duration, gender, smoking habit, zone of residence and family history of PD, with the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in PD patients.

Patients and Methods Seventy-four PD patients attaining Dr. Saad Al-Witry Neuroscience Hospital in Baghdad/ Ir

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell nephropathy, a heterogeneous group of renal abnormalities resulting from complex interactions of sickle cell disease (SCD)-related factors and non-SCD phenotype characteristics, is associated with an increased risk for morbidity and mortality. AIMS: The aims of this study were to determine the frequency of microalbuminuria (MA) among pediatric patients with SCD and to determine risk factors for MA among those patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A case–control study was carried out on 120 patients with SCD, 2–18 years old, registered at Basrah Center for Hereditary Blood Diseases, and 132 age-and sex-matched healthy children were included as a control group. Investigations included complete blood panel, blood urea, se

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD) is an inflammatory disease of the coronary arteries associated with atheroma formation, which can cause disability and often death. Periodontitis is ranked as the sixth most prevalent disease affecting humans affecting 740 million people worldwide. In the last few decades, researchers have focused on the effect of periodontal disease (PD) on cardiovascular disease. The aim of this review was to investigate the association between these two diseases. PD is a potential risk factor that may initiate the development, maturation, and instability of atheroma in the arteries. Two mechanisms were proposed to explain such association, either periodontal pathogens directly invade bloodstream or in

The multi-focus image fusion method can fuse more than one focused image to generate a single image with more accurate description. The purpose of image fusion is to generate one image by combining information from many source images of the same scene. In this paper, a multi-focus image fusion method is proposed with a hybrid pixel level obtained in the spatial and transform domains. The proposed method is implemented on multi-focus source images in YCbCr color space. As the first step two-level stationary wavelet transform was applied on the Y channel of two source images. The fused Y channel is implemented by using many fusion rule techniques. The Cb and Cr channels of the source images are fused using principal component analysis (PCA).