Chitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42 

Drilling with casing (DWC) can be considered as a modern drilling technique in which both of drilling and casing operations done in the same time by using the casing to transfer the hydraulic and mechanical power to the bit instead of traditional drilling string. To overcome oil well control, minimizing the total cost through enhancing drilling efficiency, drilling with casing was proposed as an enabling technology.

   Two surface sections (17 1/2 - and 12 1/4- inch) were drilled successfully in Rumaila oil field with  casing strings which reached 655m and 1524m measured depths respectively.

   By using DWC technique, the total drill/case phase time was reduced up to 20% comparing to conventional

Pregnancy- including hypertension(PIH), also known as preeclampsia, is one of the major causes of maternal and fetal death. This study was carried out on 30 pregnant women with preeclampsia and 30 healthy pregnant women as control ranging in age mean ±SD (28.84±3.55) years , BMI (76.80±9.78) Kg/m2 and gestation age(30.82±0.75)week. The aim of this research was studied the plasma Metanephrine level and other biochemical parameters such as Hemoglobin(Hb), serum Protein, S. Albumin, Globulin, Albumin/Globulin ratio (Alb/Glu. ratio), S.Glutamate Pyruvate aminotransferase (GPT), S.Glutamate Oxaloacetate aminotransferase(GOT). The obtained results have been compared with 30 healthy pregnant women as control group. The result showed that ther

Renal function tests are commonly used in clinical practice to look for renal disease, the most common includes the serum urea, uric acid and creatinine. Heart failure patients have a higher incidence of renal function test abnormalities than individuals who do not have heart failure disease. Fifty subjects of adults (male) were divided in to two groups, 25 subjects (healthy) as control (group1) and 25 subjects with heart failure (group 2). Our results indicate that serum uric acid, urea, and creatinine values were significantly elevated (P≤0.05) in patients group (2) compared with healthy group (1). The results also showed, the effect of age categories on uric acid blood urea nitrogen and creatinine values (P≤0.05) and there were no si

HBV and HCV are the major causes of chronic liver diseases throughout the world, and constitute a major global health risk. There is accumulated evidence that the imbalance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine production may play an important role in the pathogenesis of viral hepatic infections and may influence the clinical outcome and disease progression. This study was undertaken to analyze the circulating levels of Tumor Necrotic Factor (TNF-α) and Th2 cytokine IL-10 in patients infected with Hepatitis B and C virus. The study population consisted of 30 patients with chronic HBV, in addition to other 30 patients with chronic HCV infection were recruited on their first examination at the Al-Kindy General Hospital in Baghdad

Background: Arylesterase activity of Paraoxonase-1 (ARE-PON-1) exhibits an antioxidant role which protects lipoprotein from oxidation. It is known that ARE-PON-1 antioxidant activity associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) reduces the oxidative damage mediated by low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The present study was aimed to examine the level of serum ARE-PON1 in Iraqi patients with β-thalassemia minor and its relationship with lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C), and LDL-C) and hematologic changes as a part of antioxidant system action. Methods: In the present study, the ARE-PON-1 activity was investigated in serum of patients with β-thalassemia minor. Resu

To determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B markers in chronic hepatitis B patients, 75 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus of ages (8-70) years have been investigated and compared with 50 apparently healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure (HBsAg), (HBsAb), (HBeAg), (HBeAb), and (Total HBcAb) by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. The percentage distribution of HBsAg was (86.67%) and HBsAb was (1.33%) in sera of CHB patients and there were a highly significant differences (P<0.01) when compared between studied groups, while, the percentage distribution of HBeAg was (22.67%) in sera of CHB patients and the significant represent the difference in distribution of HBeAg as infection but no

The construction industry in Iraq suffers from many problems, perhaps the most important of which is the delay in time and the increase in costs. Therefore, it was necessary to try to adopt a new methodology that would help in overcoming these problems. It was suggested to combine building information modeling with the agile management approach because this technique and methodology is modern and helps in reducing time and cost and improving quality. This paper aims to know the status of using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Agile Project management (APM) in Iraq and to shed light on the merging of this integration, explaining the benefits, difficulties, and workflow practices, finding the most influencing factors on the tim