Twenty-two of the Starling Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 were collected in Baghdad city during the period from January to September, 2014, and examined for endoparasites. Ten (45.45%) were found infected with either the cestode Passerilepis crenata (Goeze, 1782) (31.81%) or the nematode Dispharynx nasuta (Rudolphi, 1819) (13.63 %). Morphometric and meristic features for these worms were expressed. D. nasuta is recorded here for the first time from S. vulgaris for Iraq.

    A total of 215 sheep and 87 goats were carefully searched for ixodid ticks from January to December 2015 at different regions of the middle and south of Iraq. The detached ticks count 1533 ticks from sheep with intensity of 8.4 and count 332 ticks from goats with intensity of 6.8. Tick species recovered from sheep and their incidence rates were: Rhipicephalus turanicus (39%), Hyalomma anatolicum (28%), R. (Boophilus) annulatus (11%), Hyalomma sp. (9%), H. turanicum (6%), H. excavatum (6%) and R. leporis (1%) while the tick species recovered from goats and their incidence rates were: R. turanicus (64%), H. anatolicum (24%)

The neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

   Municipal solid waste is one of the most important environmental problems in the world and is an important source of environmental pollution and contributes significantly to the pollution of the basic environmental elements of soil, water and air. The management of municipal waste in general is a process of monitoring, collection, treatment or recycling if possible or disposal of waste. This term is used for waste produced by some human activities. States provide this process to mitigate the negative effects of waste on the environment, health and appearance of the city. It is possible to find solutions to the problem of solid waste and make it an important source of income and contribute to securing employment oppor

A significant increase in the incidence of non-O157 verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) infections have become a serious health issues, and this situation is worsening due to the dissemination of plasmid mediated multidrug-resistant microorganisms worldwide. This study aims to investigate the presence of plasmid-mediated verotoxin gene in non-O157 E. coli. Standard microbiological techniques identified a total of 137 E. coli isolates. The plasmid was detected by Perfectprep Plasmid Mini preparation kit. These isolates were subjected to disk diffusion assay, and plasmid curing with ethidium bromide treatment. The plasmid containing isolates were subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for investigating

Background: The isatin molecule is present in many natural substances, including plants and animals, and is used to prepare compounds with various biological activities. Objectives: To synthesize a new series of isatin derivatives with the expectation that they will have antimicrobial activity. Methods: Thiazole Schiff bases were synthesized from various Mannich bases of isatin to evaluate their antimicrobial properties. Initially, Mannich bases (2a–e) were synthesized by reacting isatin with formaldehyde and different secondary amines. Subsequently, they were treated with 2-aminothiazole to yield the final compounds (3a–e). Spectroscopic characterization was done via FT-IR and 1H-NMR. The antimicrobial screening was conducted o

 Investigating the heavy metals in soil is important to the life of humans and living organisms. Diyala River Lower Reaches was chosen due to the changes in environmental characteristics that took place in recent years. Twelve sediment samples were collected from four different sites. The physical, and chemical properties and the concentrations of nine heavy metals were indicated. The results showed that the average concentrations of arsenic, copper, chromium, cobalt, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc are 8.5, 45.7, 538.5, 12.2, 5.07, 991.7, 183.5, 16.07, 136.5 ppm, respectively. They reflect contamination with arsenic, chromium, and nickel, while they are free of lead, and zinc contamination, according to the Environmental P