BACKGROUND: The primary cause of blindness in diabetics is diabetic retinopathy (DR), the most common microvascular complication of diabetes, and visual impairment. Visfatin is an adipocytokine that aids in insulin activity during gestational diabetes and pregnancy.

AIM: This study aimed to estimate serum visfatin levels in DR, proliferative (PDR), non-proliferative (NPDR), and healthy subjects (HS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 120-patient case-control study with a history of T2DM for more than 5 years as well as 30 healthy subjects enrolled in the study. Patients group divided into three sub-groups, DM, PDR, and NPDR. Visfatin levels w

The practice of self medication is continuously increasing worldwide due to its important roles in curing minor conditions or symptoms. This study was conducted to evaluate the factors associated with self medication practice of Iraqi respondents residing in Baghdad City. This study was designed as cross sectional study in which data was collected via direct interviews with respondents using a previously prepared questionnaire. This study investigated 348 respondents from different age groups. The majority of respondents were male aged between 30-60 years, married with secondary or academic level of education and employed with accepted monthly income. The main reason for practicing self medication was previous experience with the same condi

Background/Aim: Psoriasis is a persistent systemic disorder characterised by chronic inflammation and linked to multiple comorbidities, including arthritis, cardiometabolic disorders, obesity and hyperlipidaemia. Objective of this study was to identify the relationship of abnormal lipid profiles and psoriasis, as well as to pinpoint factors that correlate with disease severity. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at the dermatology clinic over 6 months from the 1 August 2024 to the 1 February 2025. Patients aged 15 years and above with a diagnosis of psoriasis were enrolled. For each patient two sets of data were collected, demographical characteristics (age, sex, disease duration and the body mass index (BMI)) and the

Prediction of daily rainfall is important for flood forecasting, reservoir operation, and many other hydrological applications. The artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is generally used for stochastic forecasting rainfall which is not capable to simulate unseen extreme rainfall events which become common due to climate change. A new model is developed in this study for prediction of daily rainfall for different lead times based on sea level pressure (SLP) which is physically related to rainfall on land and thus able to predict unseen rainfall events. Daily rainfall of east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (PM) was predicted using SLP data over the climate domain. Five advanced AI algorithms such as extreme learning machine (ELM), Bay

This growing interest of the international scientific specialized commissions is due to the role that the audit committee can play, as one of companies’ governance tools, to increase the accuracy and transparency of the financial information disclosed by the companies, through its oversight role on the process of preparing financial reports, its supervision on the internal audit function within the companies, and supporting its independency, as well as coordinating the efforts between the internal control unites and the external auditor represented by the (Board of Supreme Audit) to clear the observations and irregularities in order to reduce the fraud cases.

This research was built on an applied sample of audit committee works

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease that ranges from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). So far, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we show that hepatic carboxylesterase 2 (CES2) is markedly reduced in NASH patients, diabetic db/db mice, and high‐fat diet (HFD)‐fed mice. Restoration of hepatic CES2 expression in db/db or HFD‐fed mice markedly ameliorates liver steatosis and insulin resistance. In contrast, knockdown of hepatic CES2 causes liver steatosis and damage in chow‐ or Western diet‐fe

The study aimed at designing compound exercises using added weight on some skill abilities in youth soccer players aged (17 – 19) years old. The researcher sued the experimental method on (30) players aged (17 – 19) years old from Al Zawraa Sport Club. The subjects were divided into three groups and the training program was applied for (8) weeks with (3) training sessions per week. The data was collected and treated using proper statistical operations to conclude that compound exercises with weights between improved the subjects compared to the groups that did not use the added weights. Finally, the researchers recommended the necessity of using compound exercises using added weights during training sessions for youth soccer pla

Background: There are several diseases in the body following recovery from COVID-19 infection because this virus operates on human genes in various types of peripheral tissue in the human body. It penetrates host cells via Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 receptors and may have effects on bone remodeling, leading to osteopenia or osteoporosis, which are characterized by low bone mineral density, resulting in diminished bone strength. Bone Alkaline Phpsphatase is an enzyme released into the bloodstream as a soluble homodimer after being cleaved by a phospholipase and can be utilized as a biomarker of bone development. Objective: This research was designed to investigate the alteration of bone homeostasis balance in Iraqi post-COVID-19

The amount of protein in the serum depends on the balance between the rate of its synthesis, and that of its catabolism or loss. Abnormal metabolism may result from nutritional deficiency, enzyme deficiency, abnormal secretion of hormones, or the actions of drugs and toxins. Renal cancer is the third most common malignancy of the genitourinary system, and accounts for 3% of adult malignancies globally. Total serum proteins were measured in malignant kidney tumor, benign kidney tumors, and non tumoral kidney diseases patient groups, as well as in healthy individuals. A significant decrease (p< 0.001) of total serum protein levels in patients with malignant kidney tumors when compared with those of benign tumors, non tumoral diseases, and hea

A case–control study (80 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection and 96 controls) was performed to evaluate the association of an IL12A gene variant (rs582537 A/C/G) with HBV infection. Allele G showed a signifcantly lower frequency in patients compared to controls (31.2 vs. 46.9%; probability [p]=0.009; corrected p [pc]=0.027) and was associated with a lower risk of HBV infection (odds ratio [OR]=0.49; 95% confdence interval [CI]=0.29–0.83). A similar lower risk was associated with genotypes CG (17.5 vs. 29.2; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.08–0.81; p=0.02) and GG (10.0 vs. 16.7; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.07–0.91; p=0.036), but the pc value was not signifcant (0.12 and 0.126, respec‑ tively). Serum IL35 levels showed signifcant difere