Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association between polymorphisms in the promoter region of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene at locations -308G/A, -857C/T, and -863C/A with the tendency of being non-responder to etanercept.

Patients and methods: Between October 2020 and August 2021, a total of 80 patients (10 males, 70 females; mean age: 50 years; range, 30 to 72 years) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving etanercept for at least six months were included. The patients were divided into two groups responders and non-responders, based on their response after six months of continuous treatment. Following polymerase chain reac

     A widespread variety of toxicants modify miRNAs profiles in target tissues. Five rat treatment groups were selected for this study, each consisting of five animals and an additional one left untreated used as a control. Administration of the carcinogen 4-Nitroquinoline (4-NQO) lasted for 5 months with four weeks intervals separating the successive groups. When the carcinogen intake period ended, the animals were euthanized and renal tissue was collected for both histopathological and molecular investigations. The results showed no significant difference (p=0.65) between the animal groups that showed kidney tissue toxicity and those that did not. Conversely, a statistically significant difference emerged if the m

Background: Oil refinery workers are continuously exposed to numerous hazardous materials. Petroleum contains the heavy metals as a natural constituent or as additives. These metals induce the production of ROS which associated with an oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids. This study was conducted to assess the salivary levels of heavy metals, salivary oxidative status, oral immunological activity (salivary sIgA) and assessment of the oral findings among the workers of Al-Daura oil refinery in Baghdad city. Subjects, Materials and Methods: This study was done in Al-Daura oil refinery; samples consist of 60 workers involved in refinery processes (study group) and 20 non-workers (control group). Oral examination and saliva collection

The corrosion protection of low carbon steel in 2.5 M HCl solution by kiwi juice was studied at different temperatures and immersion times by weight loss technique. To study the determination of the optimum conditions from statistical design in evaluation of a corrosion inhibitor, three variables, were considered as the most dominant variables. These variables are: temperature, inhibitor concentration (extracted kiwi juice) and immersion time at static conditions.

These three variables are manipulated through the experimental work using central composite rotatable Box – Wilson Experimental Design (BWED) where second order polynomial model was proposed to correlate the studied variables with the corrosion rate o

In this research, titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) were prepared through the sol-gel process at an acidic medium (pH3).TiO₂ nanoparticles were prepared from titanium trichloride (TiCl₃) as a precursor with Ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) with 1:3 ratio at 50 °C. The resulting gel was dried at 70 °C to obtain the Nanocrystalline powder. The powder from the drying process was treated thermally at temperatures 500 °C and 700 °C. The crystalline structure, surface morphology, and particle size were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results showed (anatase) phase of titanium dioxide with the average grain size

The current study used extracts from the aloe vera (AV) plant and the hibiscus sabdariffa flower to make Ag-ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and Ag-ZnO nanocomposites (NCs). Ag/ZnO NCs were compared to Ag NPs and ZnO NPs. They exhibited unique properties against bacteria and fungi that aren't present in either of the individual parts. The Ag-ZnO NCs from AV showed the best performance against E. coli, with an inhibition zone of up to 27 mm, compared to the other samples. The maximum absorbance peaks were observed at 431 nm and 410 nm for Ag NPs, at 374 nm and 377 nm for ZnO NPs and at 384 nm and 391 nm for Ag-ZnO NCs using AV leaf extract and hibiscus sabdariffa flower extract, respectively. Using field emission-scanning electron microscopes (FE-

Background: Dental implant surface technologies have been evolving rapidly to enhance a more rapid bone formation on their surface and improve implant therapy.Implant threads should be designed to increase surface contact areathat induced better stability. In addition, implant surface coating with Flaxseed was used to enhance bone formation at the bone-implant interface. Materials and methods: Ninety-six commercially pure titanium (CpTi) screws were implanted in rabbits' tibiae and divided into three groups as dual-threaded group, flaxseed-coated group and control group. All groups were evaluated mechanically, histologically and radiographically after each healing periods (2, 4, 6 and 8) weeks and the resulting data were statistically analy

Background: Osteoarthritis is a complicated, chronic disorder of cartilage and bone, associated with homeostasis of bio-elements. The current study aims to assess the role of serum progranulin levels among Iraqi patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patients and Methods: The study encompassed 50 patients aged 52.50 ± 3.12 years (25 males and 25 females), admitted to the at the Baghdad Medical City through the period from November 2021 to March 2022. All individuals were identified by physicians in a Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic and the clinical data was collected along with the assess¬ment of biochemical parameters. Fasting serum glucose, lipid profile, calcium, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase, vitamin D3, and p

In order to accurately diagnose Entamoeba spp., this study's major goal was to develop a proof-of-concept method for simultaneously detecting pathogenic and non-pathogenic amoebae using DNA. During amoebiasis, two diagnostic techniques (microscopic inspection and PCR techniques with particular primers) were evaluated. About 100 feces samples from Fallujah individuals who had clinical symptoms were taken. The outcome reveals that only 20 samples have Entamoeba spp. infections. According to this study, the two species had distinct infection percentages. Entamoeba histolytica was the most prevalent infection, at 85%, followed by Entamoeba dispar, which was 15% of all the Entamoeba-positive sampl

The present study included a collecting of 165 specimens form different sources,
93 isolates were identified as Escherichia coli depending on morphological and
biochemical tests in addition to automated systems such as VITEK 2 and api 20E.
All isolates under study developed high resistance toward cefotaxime, ceftazidime,
ceftriaxone, and ciprofloxacin estimated by minimum inhibitory concentration. Stool
and wound specimens characterized by harbouring the highest resistant isolates in a
percentage reached 100% against antibiotics under study. Insignificant differences
were found between isolates collected from males and females. Upon using disk
displacement method to detect extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL),