Background Type two diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by insufficient insulin production and secretion. Additionally, the body develops insulin resistance which affects 90–95% of diabetics. Complex cytokines, receptors, genetic pathways, and the immune system are involved in T2DM. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is one of the inflammatory cytokines associated with Type 2 diabetes. Environmental and genetic variables, including genetic polymorphisms, can increase T2DM risk and its consequences. Single nucleotide gene polymorphisms (SNPs) are important risk factors for diabetes that can be used to find the disease early and treat it better. Objective This study aimed to determine the levels of IL-18 in the serum of Iraqi patients with Type 2 diabetes

The seed propagation is the predominant method of Echinacea propagation, which has been criticized for its time-consuming control over the separation factor and the uncertainty of pathogen-free plants produced by this method. The technology of tissue culture has provided multiple opportunities for the production of secondary metabolites continuously without being restricted to a specific season, due to the possibility of controlling the environmental conditions and the components of the nutrient medium needed by the plant. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of salicylic acid as elicitor and tyrosine as precursor on propagation and some secondary compounds production in coneflower in vitro. The result showed the superiori

Diabetes mellitus is a common health problem worldwide counting about 1.2 million cases in Iraq in 2015. Taking in account of the patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication had been reported to be one of the most important factors that affects adherence where holding positive beliefs about medications is a prerequisite for intentional adherence. The aim of the current study was to investigate and assess beliefs about medicines among type 2 diabetic patients and to determine possible association between this belief and glycemic control as well as some patient-specific factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 380 (mean age 56.58± 10.06 years) already diagnosed T2DM patients who attended the National Diabetes

An expression for the transition charge density is investigated where the deformation in nuclear collective modes is taken into consideration besides the shell model transition density. The inelastic longitudinal form factors C2 calculated using this transition charge density with excitation of the levels for Cr54,52,50 nuclei. In this work, the core polarization transition density is evaluated by adopting the shape of Tassie model together with the derived form of the ground state two-body charge density distributions (2BCDD's). It is noticed that the core polarization effects which represent the collective modes are essential in obtaining a remarkable agreement between the calculated inelastic longitudinal F(q)'s and those of experimen

Silver/polyvinyl alcohol (Ag/PVA) nanocomposite films were synthesized via solution casting with varying concentrations of Ag nanoparticles (1–5 wt%). A comprehensive investigation was conducted to understand the influence of Ag content on the structural, optical, mechanical, thermal, electrical, and antibacterial properties of the composites. UV-Vis spectroscopy revealed a red shift in absorption peaks and a reduction in the optical band gap, which decreased from 3.78 eV for pure PVA to 3.37 eV for the 5 wt% Ag composite. FTIR and SEM analyses confirmed successful nanoparticle incorporation and morphological changes. The nanocomposites exhibited enhanced tensile strength, elongation at break, Young’s modulus, and hardness due t

This study aimed for isolation and identification of Candida glabrata and identifying some virulence factors. The distribution of patients with candidemia thrush showed that the age group 50-65 years old recorded the highest incidence of candidiasis in female and male with leukemia by 50% and 37.9 % respectively compared to the lowest incidence of candidiasis in the age group under 17 years old in female and male 8.8% and 13.5%, respectively. While the age group between 5-8 years was high, reaching 18 cases of oral candidiasis and 42% of children with leukemia compared with the age group, which was the least, that reached 9 cases, 21%. The highest incidence of C. glabrata was 59 isolates of females and males with leukemia, while C. kefyer w

The members of the family of Eentrobacteriaceae harbour a gene cluster called polyketide synthase (pks) island. This cluster is responsible for the synthesis of the genotoxin colibactin that might have an important role in the induction of double-strand DNA breaks, leading to promote human colorectal cancer (CRC). Eleven out of the eighty eight isolates (12.5%) were pks+, distributed as 7 (8%) isolates of E. coli, 2 (2.25%) of K. pneumoniae and 2 (2.25%) of E. aerogenes. The cytotoxic effects of selected pks+ isolates (E. coli and E. aerogenes) on HeLa cells were represented by decreasing cell numbers and enlarged cell nuclei in comparison to the untreated cells. Cyt

The members of the family of Eentrobacteriaceae harbour a gene cluster called polyketide synthase (pks) island. This cluster is responsible for the synthesis of the genotoxin colibactin that might have an important role in the induction of double-strand DNA breaks, leading to promote human colorectal cancer (CRC). Eleven out of the eighty eight isolates (12.5%) were pks+, distributed as 7 (8%) isolates of E. coli, 2 (2.25%) of K. pneumoniae and 2 (2.25%) of E. aerogenes. The cytotoxic effects of selected pks+ isolates (E. coli and E. aerogenes) on HeLa cells were represented by decreasing cell numbers and enlarged cell nuclei in comparison to the untreated cells. Cytological changes were observed when the infected HeLa cells culture