Background: Chronic cigarette smoking is one of the major risk factors for coronary artery disease. However, it has additional cardiac adverse effects independent of coronary atherosclerosis. Patient and Methods: After informed consent and perm- ission from the review board of the hospital, 80 healthy subjects who were classified as smokers or non-smokers were included in the study. They were examined by standard echocardiography protocol which was followed by two-dimensional speckle tracking to assess the functions of the right ventricle. Results: The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) was significantly reduced in smokers as compared to non-smokers (P < 0.05). The tricuspid flow peak late diastolic velocity (A wave) was sig

The immune infertility caused by anti-sperm antibodies (ASAs) represented about 10–20% of infertility among the couples. The ASAs interfere with sperm parameters such as sperm motility and sperm ability to penetrate cervical mucus, sperm-oocyte binding, and fertilization and embryo development. Objectives: The present study designed to assess semen analysis, presence of ASAs and DNA fragmentation index as well as correlation within these parameters in normzoospermic Iraqi subjects Patients, Materials, and Methods: A total number of Iraqi subjects (116) with range of age (20-51) years and their mean duration of infertility (4.70 ± 2.77). Seminal fluid for macroscopic and microscopic assessments done according to WHO 2010 criteria. The

            Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highe

• The subject of this research is the study of the formal alienation of contemporary English sculpture, by comparing the most important sculptors of the new contemporary generation. This research problem is to look for the important factors in the formation of the contemporary sculptural structure of the exotic, and what is the mechanism of formation and output of these forms. The research seeks to explore (Alienation in contemporary sculpture between the works of Anthony Caro and Tony Cragg) in a comparative study. The importance of the research is to identify the concept of alien forms in contemporary British sculpture, especially in the cases of Anthony Caro and Tony Cragg that this research is considered a know

Objectives of this project were to study the effect of 60% crude alcoholic extract of the seeds of cyperus esculentuson induced endometritis in the mice . The plant of cyperus esculentuswas extracted by preparing Alcoholic extract 60% . One hundred microliters of saline containing Escherichia coli (104cfu) was used to induce endometritis, by a single intracervicallyinjection, and endometritis developed after 2 days from injection. The mice were divided into five groups, The first group were treated with alcoholic extract of cyperus esculentusextract 150mg/kg body weight, the second group was treated with a daily 3mg per kg body weight of gentamicin given intra peritoneal,The third group was treated by 75mg/kg of cyperus esculentusextract an

This study has been carried out to evaluate the expression level of beta 2 microglobulin gene on patients infected by hepatitis C virus before and after treatment with interferon. The study included 117 hepatitis C patients comprising as 63 pre-treated patients, the range of age was between 20-65 year with a mean age of 48.12 ± 16.1 and 54 post-treated patients with age range was between 23-63 year with the mean of 46.1 ± 18.1. Also it was found that more than half of patients were located within third and fourth decade i.e. 30-49 year, with a percentage of 52.4% and 55.6 % for pre-treatment and post-treatment patients respectively. Moreover , regarding both groups, males are more than females with the ratio of ( 3.2:1) among p

In this work, effects of using different evaporative cooling pads (ECPs) on the energetic and exergetic efficiency of a direct evaporative air cooler (DEAC) have been theoretically and experimentally investigated. Three types of ECPs were used, i.e., honeycomb cellulose cooler pad (HCCP), shading-cloth cooler pad (SCCP), and aspen wood wool cooler pad (AWWCP). For SCCP and AWWCP, a 3-cm pad thickness was used, while for the HCCP, three different values of pad thickness were used, i.e., 3, 5, and 7 cm. Tests were carried out using air velocities of 8, 14, and 19 m/s, measured at the DEAC outlet. Engineering equation solver (EES) used for performing the required calculations of the various parameters affecting the thermal performance of the D

Background: There are various secreted proteins affecting the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and one of them is Angiopoietin-2(Ang-2) which is thought to have an essential role in the development and progression of the tumor. Aim of the study: This study was conducted to determine the expression of (Ang-2) in (OSCC) to assess its correlations with clinicopathological parameters of the tumor. Material and Methods: 36 formalin- fixed, paraffin- embedded tissue blocks histologically diagnosed as OSCC were examined for Ang-2 immunohistochemical expression semi quantitively. Results: The expression of Ang-2 was significantly associated with histopathological grade (P value=0.023), while there is no significant association wi