Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of respiratory airways characterized by distinctive history of respiratory symptoms due to variable airflow obstruction which reverses either spontaneously or in response to certain medications. Acetylcholine is a parasympathetic neurotransmitter which plays fundamental roles in the development of persistent asthma. Treatment guidelines recommend using medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids in addition to another controller bronchodilator instead of using high doses inhaled steroid alone for treatment of moderate to severe persistent asthma. The inhaled long acting muscarinic antagonist, tiotropium, was approved recently to control unresponsive asthma to inhaled corticosteroid with or without a long

The non-specific response of immunity has developed as the initial barrier for human protection from invading pathogens, which comprises certain pathogen recognition receptors (PRR) for instance toll-like receptors (TLRs). Toll like receptor 2 (TLR 2) is capable of recognizing pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMP) coded by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. To evaluate TLR 2 level in sera of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients. About 120 subjects, involving 80 patients with pulmonary TB including 40 multiple drug resistance (MDR), 20 recently diagnosed pulmonary TB (RD) and 20 recurrent TB patients named as old cases (OC), in addition to 40 apparently healthy individuals were studied as control group. Sera from 68 TB patients

Cysteine-cysteine chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) is known to play an important role with immunoregulatory and inflammatory activities in the formation of granuloma during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. About 90 subjects, involving 50 patients with pulmonary TB and 40 apparently healthy individuals (as a control group) were collected from primary health care center\AL-Sadur city sector/ Baghdad City/ Iraq, and at specialized chest and respiratory diseases center in Wassit City /Iraq during the period from January 2019 to May 2019. The study was carried out to investigate serum level of CCL-5 of both patients and control by using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and to determine the association between CCL5 genotypes with pul

This study tries to clear the correlation and association between asthma, obesity and leptin levels. Also it will work to indicate the main risk factors which play role in the elevation of leptin level within asthmatic patients.  This is a case control study conducted on (38) asthmatic patients and (20) healthy control who were closely similar by age, gender and BMI. The main statistical tests used were student t test, linear regression test and correlation test. Significance was set at P < 0.05. Sampling method used for this study was convenience sampling method.  The main results of this study show a significant association and positive correlation between age (old age  â‰¥ 40 ye

Helminthes are among transmitting pathogens including Ancylostomiasis,
Ascariasis, Enterobiasis, Hymenolepiasis, Strongyloidiasis, Taeniasis, Trichuriasis,
Schistosomiasis, Echinococcosis. These helminthes have high effect on public
health in human population around the world. Iraq is one of the most important
endemic areas in the Middle East.The objective of this study is to determine the
prevalence of some parasitic helminthes in Iraq from 2011 until 2015. This study
was carried out in all Iraqi governorates from 2011until June, 2015.In 2015, the
results showed that 6 patients were infected with Ancylostomiasis, 89 patients were
infected with Ascariasis, 56206 patients were infected with Enterobiasis, 173patient

The adult worms of the Microphallidae family are mainly found as intestinal parasites of birds and mammals, while metacercariae is most commonly found in decapodal crustaceans. The Microphallidaeare family is spread throughout the world. It includes approximately 47 genera. Mature worms usually enter the digestive system of vertebrates, especially birds and mammals. Microphallidae contain eight subfamilies: Androcotylinae - Basantisiinae - Endocotylinae - Gynaecotylinae - Levinseniellinae - MaritrematinaeMicrophallinae - Sphairiotrematinae. Therefore, due to the lack of studies on the Microphallidae family in Iraq, we began to develop a database on this important family.

      Parasitic infections are associated with low education, wars and migration, absence of animal control and poor sanitation. Infections like visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis (VL and CL), trichomoniasis, toxoplasmosis, malaria, echinococcosis and schistosomiasis are all spread worldwide and have harmful effects on individuals and societies. The aim of this survey was to identify the possible association of these infections with spatial distribution (province/governorate) and patient demographics (age and gender). According to the data collected from the Iraqi National CDC from 2019 to 2020, the predominant parasitic infections in both years were trichomoniasis and CL, followed by echinococcosis, VL and toxoplasmosis. Iraq is

Twelve species of Tubuliferous thrips, of the family Phlaeothripidae had been reported from Iraq. Two of these were reported previously, Haplothrips cerealis Priesner, by El-Haidari and Daoud 1971 and Haplothrips tritici kurdjumov by Al-Ali 1977 and the rest were recorded for the first time: these are Haplothrips hukkineni Priesner; Haplothrips subtilissimus (Haliday); Haplothrips reuteri Karny; Haplothrips jasonis Priesner; Haplothrips sallloumensis Priesner; Haplothrips pharao Priesner; Phlaeothrips sycomri Priesner; Karnyothrips flavipus (Jones); Karnyothrips melaleucus (Bagnall); Dolicholepta micrurus (Bagnall). Number of insec

Breast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. Amplification or over-expression of the ERBB2 (HER/neu) gene occurs in approximately 15-30% of breast cancer cases and it is strongly associated with an increased disease recurrence and a poor prognosis. Determination of HER2/neu status is crucial in the treatment plan as that positive cases will respond to trastuzumab therapy. It has been used to test for HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry as a first step and then to study only the equivocal positive cases (score 2+) by in situ hybridization technique. The aim of our study is to compare between immunohistochemistry and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in assessment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu)