The current study was designed to investigate the alterations in the ultrastructure of orgenelles and cellular activity of exocrine pancreatic acini of experimentally induced-diabetic rats and to assess the usefulness of herbal combination supplementation in improving the ultrastructure and cellular activity of exocrine pancreas. The number of albino male rats used were 24 which divided into equally 4 groups; group I: control group, group II: alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus (single intraperitoneal dose of alloxan 120 mg/kg for 3 days), group III: herbal combination treatment composed from the extracts of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenum-graecum), black cumin (Nigella sativa) seeds, rhizomes

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the foremost cause of end-stage renal disease. Early detection of DN can spare diabetic patients of severe complications. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of red cell distribution width (RDW) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the detection of DN in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This cross-sectional study included a total of 130 patients with T2DM, already diagnosed with T2DM. The albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) in urine samples was calculated for each patient, according to which patients were divided into two groups: with evidence of DN when ACR ? 30 mg/g, and those with no evidence of DN when ACR < 30 mg/g. According to multivariate analysis, each of disease duration (OR

Background: Healing of a tooth extraction socket is a complex process involving tissue repair and regeneration. It involves chemotaxis of appropriate cells into the wound, Transformation of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells to osteoprogenitor cells, proliferation and differentiation of committed bone forming cells, extracellular matrix synthesis, mineralization of osteoid, maturation and remodeling of bone. These cellular events are precisely controlled and regulated by specific signaling molecules. Some of these like transforming growth factor beta (TGF-?), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) and insulin like growth factors (IGF) are well conserved proteins involved in the initial response to injur

Excess alcohol consumption is associated with numerous metabolic changes and homeostasis disturbances of many macro- and micro-elements in the body. It has been associated with multiple pathologies at all levels. In the digestive apparatus, alcohol has generally been related to its toxic effects upon the liver. Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α-1 AT or AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation, coagulation and repair mechanisms in the body and most α-1 AT in the body is produced by the liver; from the other hand, Intrinsic factor (IF), which is a glycoprotein produced by the parietal cells of the stomach is necessary for the absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine. This study was designed to assess serum levels of α-1 AT and

The mean age of AS patients was (35.0 ± 9.8) years.When the patients and control subjects were divided into different age groups (>40, 30-40, <30 years), the differences were not significantin terms of disease prevalence. The results also showed that the percentage of male patients is higher than that of females. There was no significant difference (P?0.05) between patients and controls in the distribution of males and females.Most of the patients had the disease for a period of 5 years or higher, with a disease severity of ? 2.1 and functional disability degree of I, II. The resultsshoweddifferent patterns of distribution for the three tested cytokines. A significant increase in the level of TNF-?, anon-significantincrease i

Abdominal fat synthesizes a variety of adipokines, including vaspin and chemerin, that affect the resistance to insulin. This research was conducted to demonstrate the effect of pioglitazone, one insulin sensitizer used to decrease insulin resistance, on these adipokines in   obese patients with polycystic ovary (PCOS). Twenty-five obese women with PCOS were treated with pioglitazone 15mg/bid for 12 weeks. Modifications in fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum fasting insulin (FSI), chemerin and vaspin serum levels, follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T), and in baseline and post-therapy were assessed. Body mass index decreased without any substantial variance after 12 weeks of piogl

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine abnormality in women, there is an increasing evidence for an oxidative stress in PCOS that induce genomic and mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid damage that leads directly to reduced fertility. The objectives of this study are to assess and compare the periodontal health status by measuring clinical periodontal parameters (PLI, GI and BOP)as well as serum levels of superoxide dismutase at gingivitis ,gingivitis with PCOS and healthy periodontium groups, then correlate between clinical and biochemical parameters. Materials and Methods: 60 females with an age range between (25-40) years old had been tested and divided into3 groups ,the control group consists of (20) f

This study is an attempt to find whether arginine metabolism dysregulation by arginase activity is related to hyperglycemia, followed by changes in nitric oxide (NO) generation in type 2 diabetic patients. This study includes 42 control subjects (Group I), and 92 Iraqi patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The patient group was subdivided into two groups: Group II (54) with T2DM only and Group III (38) with T2DM and dyslipidemia (who were treating with atorvastatin along with diabetes treatment). The samples were obtained to measure arginase activity and NO levels. Serum arginase activity increased significantly in patients(groupII and groupIII) compared to control group. While serum NO level was significantly lower in diabetic pa

Background: Studies discussing the correlation between biochemical markers of bone turnover and the diagnosis of osteoporosis in postmenopausal Iraqi women are rare. This study is devoted to find out the significance of serum osteocalcin (OC) and osteopontin (OPN) levels with the incidence of osteoporosis and its major complication (fracture).Objectives: to investigate the significance of bone turnover biochemical markers; serum osteocalcin and serum osteopontin in evaluating osteoporosis for postmenopausal Iraqi women with and without history of vertebral fracture, as well as to explore the relationship of these markers with bone mineral density (BMD).Methods: Fifty seven postmenopausal women whose ages are fifty years old and over, cat