A silent film from Baghdad about love, war and poetry... _________________________ A new poetry book by the Iraqi poet Abdul Zahra Zaki has been published by Moment Books & Publications in an exclusively Digital Edition, entitled "Silent Film", and which subtitled "Poems of Blood, Bullets and Car Bombs", translated from the Arabic into English by Dr Adhraa A. Naser. This book is not trying to explain war, but simply to present it the way it is; the destruction it causes and the pain it leaves behind. For all who has changed forever because of war this book speaks the words of the killed and the killer. Zaki introduced the book with a line from his masterpiece The Hand Discovers describing the waves of bodies that stormed the country after t

Background: Spleen is a hemopoietic organ which is capable of supporting elements of different systems. It is affected by several groups of diseases; inflammatory, hematopoietic, reticuloendothelial proliferation, portal hypertension and storage diseases. Ultrasound (US) may detect mild splenomegaly before it is clinically palpable. Knowledge of the normal range of spleen size in the population being examined is a prerequisite. Racial differences in splenic length could result in incorrect interpretation of splenic measurements and such differences would make it difficult to standardize expected splenic length and to determine non- palpable splenic enlargement.Objectives: To measure the normal values of splenic lengthin Iraqi subjects an

Background: The use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy warrants several side effects and also deleterious effects on fetal development, the antiepileptic drugs have potential to affect the fetal development throughout the pregnancy although, the majority of infants born to epileptic pregnant women are normal but more expose to the malformations. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of carbamazepine drug on the kidney development at day 7 postnatally in the Albino Rat (Rattus rattus) as a mammalian model. Material & Methods: 20 healthy pregnant female rats were divided into two groups, 10 pregnant rats in each group; group one served as control group administrated distal water while group two used as experimenta

Background: Prolactin is a hormone, as well as a cytokine which is synthesized and secreted from the anterior pituitary gland and various extra pituitary sites including immune cells under control of a superdistal promoter that contains a single nucleotide polymorphism -1149 G/T. Rheumatoid Arthritis has been associated with increased serum prolactin levels.Objectives: To investigate the association of the extra pituitary -1149 G/T promoter polymorphism among Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients and prolactin levels.Methods: We tested 73 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 40 healthy individuals. The DNA samples were genotyped using the Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction fragment Length Polymorphism method and the levels of prolacti

Background: Anemia is a common finding in patients with renal failure disease and it is, primarily, due to reduced production of iron and erythropoietin. Therefore, the aim of current study was to evaluate the relationship between serum level of hepcidin 25, on the one hand, and levels of serum iron, total iron-binding capacity, serum erythropoietin and transferrin saturation% in Iraqi male patients undrgoning haemodialysis.. Methods: Serum from75 males in the end stage of hemodialysis, as group one, and 25 Iraqi healthy malecontrols, as group two, were recruited in this study. Results: Data from current study showed significant increase in hepcidin 25 and significant decrease in serum iron, total iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturati

Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been defined as a clinical syndrome that is characterized by abnormal carbohydrate metabolism. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes is associated with long term damage, dysfunction, and failure of different organs, especially the liver .This study was conducted to assess the effect obesity and insulin resistance on liver enzymes in diabetic Iraqi patients.A comparative study of (90) Iraqi adults divided to three subgroup(30) obese ,(30) nonobese diabetic patients and(30)person had used as control. The analysis included Liver enzyme ALP,ALT,AST,GGT ,Fasting Plasma Glucose (FBG) , Lipid Profile , Hemoglobin A1C , insulin and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA IR) were measured. Subjects

There are numerous bidirectional interactions between the reproductive system and the liver. Sex steroids regulate metabolic health through signaling effects in both peripheral and central metabolic tissues, including adipose tissue, liver, skeletal muscle, and brain, and have a role in the etiology of structural and functional liver diseases. Blood samples were obtained from 90 healthy women (control group) and 90 women that have hormonal changes (patients’ group). The levels of reproductive hormones (follicle stimulation hormone/FSH, luteinizing hormone/LH, estradiol/E2, progesterone/P4) were measured by using fully automated Cobas E411, whereas those of liver enzymes (alanine transaminase /ALT, aspartate aminotransferase/AST, a