Haruki Murakami (1949-present) is a contemporary Japanese writer whose works have been translated into fifty languages and won him plenty of Japanese and international awards. His short stories are well constructed in a weird realistic manner and are mixed with elements of surrealism. His novels and short stories fall under the genre of magical realism. One of the major revolving themes that Murakami wrote about was the haunting feeling of emptiness and disconnectedness in a world which seems to care much for materialism and self-interests.

    The paper explores two of Murakami’s short stories in his book After the Quake (2000) and the relevance of their themes and characters to Iraq after the q

Clavicle fractures are common injuries in young, active individuals. The majority of the fractures (80% to 85%) occur in the mid-shaft of the bone and account for approximately 2.6% of all fractures. For many years the standard treatment of fracture clavicle was the "figure-of-eight" bandage but several indications for operative fixation, the position of plate fixation for clavicle fracture remains controversial. The aim of this study is to compare between anterio—inferior and anterior-superior plating of mid-shaft displaced clavicle fracture in complications, plate prominence, nonunion, malunion and range of motion. This study is a prospective study conducted in Al-Kindy teaching hospital .A total of 30 patients with fracture mid –sh

Reconstruction project management in the cities of Mosul, Anbar, and Tikrit, in Iraq still faces major obstacles that impede the comprehensive performance of these projects. It is thus necessary to improve the arising challenge estimation in the implementation of reconstruction projects and evaluate their components: time, cost, quality, and scope. This study used the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize major and minor criteria in the influential causes of challenges and formulate a mathematical model to help decision-makers estimate them. Using the Super Decisions software, the final results indicated that changes in scope reached 40.8%, which is the greatest difficulty, followed by changes in cost at 27.6%, changes in

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of anesthesia on thyroid hormones (T3, T4, rT3), thyrotropin(TSH), and cortisol levels in patients undergoing major urological surgery. The study included fifty patients scheduled for elective major urological surgery where 70% of the patients underwent general anesthesia, while30% underwent regional anesthesia. All patients were in stable control general conditions. The study showed that the thyroid hormones, thyrotropin and cortisol levels were affected with general anesthesia more than regional. The levels of these hormones responded to anesthetics and surgical stresses. This response was thought to be mainly mediated by afferent neurogenic impulses from the area of injury. Therefore, ab

Background: Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury is
an important post-thyroidectomy complication for
which different modalities of treatment were
practiced to lower its incidence.
Objectives: To estimate the incidence of
recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in thyroid surgeries
in relation to type of surgery, type of gland diseases
& nerve identification.
Methods: Different types of goiters prepared
preoperatively by indirect laryngoscopy, operated
upon with different types of surgeries, postoperative
direct laryngoscopy by the anaesthetist were done
and indirect laryngoscopy done as needed.
Results: Of of 200 patients, the overall incidence
of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury was 9
Patients (4.5%

         It is clear that correct application of antibiotic prophylaxis can reduce the incidence of infection  resulting from the bacterial  inoculation in a variety of clinical situations; it cannot   prevent  all  infections  any  more  than it  can   eliminate  all  established infections. Optimum  antibiotic   prophylaxis  depends on:  rational  selection  of the drug(s),  adequate  concentrations  of the  drug  in  the  tissues that  are at risk, and attention to  timing  of  administration.  Moreover,  the  risk  of  infection  in  some situations  does not outweigh  the risks which  attend the administration of even the safest antibiotic drug. The aim of this study was to comp

         It is clear that correct application of antibiotic prophylaxis can reduce the incidence of infection  resulting from the bacterial  inoculation in a variety of clinical situations; it cannot   prevent  all  infections  any  more  than it  can   eliminate  all  established infections. Optimum  antibiotic   prophylaxis  depends on:  rational  selection  of the drug(s),  adequate  concentrations  of the  drug  in  the  tissues that  are at risk, and attention to  timing  of  administration.  Moreover,  the  risk  of

Objectives: Umbilical cord blood can be taken at birth and largely gives indication of fetal and maternal conditions. The aim of the study was to investigate the relation between sex hormones in cord blood and birth weight of newborns and pregnancy complications. Methods: Fifty cord blood samples were collected from newborns at labor room of Baghdad Teaching Hospital between May and October 2018. Blood was withdrawn from their mothers for lead analysis. Five milliliters (ml) of cord blood was taken, 3 ml was used for testosterone and estradiol analysis (using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and 2 ml for lead measurement by lead care analyzer. Newborns weight and head circumference were measured. Delivered women were divided into four gro