Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome called coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Due to its concerning rate of transmission and intensity, coronavirus was classified as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. With the continuous evolution of the viral genome and mutations that may alter infectivity, disease severity or interactions with host immunity, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved into many variants: Alpha (B.1.1.7 lineage), Delta (B.1.617.2 lineage), Delta plus (B.1.617.2.1), Omicron (B.1.1.529 lineage) and other variants. Thus, this study aimed to find and provide database for local clinical characteristics of different variants of SARS-COV-2 and severity of infection with viral load compared with the wild

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive airflow limitation that is preventable but not curable. It is associated with persistent symptoms that cause a considerable burden on individual productivity at work, and daily activities, and reduced quality of life, also burdening the healthcare system and society. Objectives: The study aims to measure the burden of COPD on patients in terms of daily activities and work productivity. It also seeks to investigate some inflammatory biomarkers' levels and their correlation with selected outcomes. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 120 stable COPD patients who were diagnosed and treated according to the GOLD guidelines at Kirkuk General Hospital's

Background: Suppression of quorum sensing (QS) that regulates many virulence factors, including antimicrobial resistance, in bacteria may subject the pathogenic microbes to the harmful consequences of the antibiotics, increasing their susceptibility to such drugs. Aim: The current study aimed to make an aqueous crude extract from the soil Proteus mirabilis isolate with the use of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique for its analysis, and then, study the impact of the extract on clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methods: Preparation of crude extracts from P. mirabilis (both organic and aqueous), which were then analyzed by GC-MS to detect the bioactive ingredients. Furthermore, the extract’s capability to i

Mutations in genes encoding proteins necessary for detoxifying oxidative stress products have been predicted to increase susceptibility to lung cancer (LC). Despite this, the association between waterpipe tobacco smoking (WP), genetic polymorphisms, and LC risk remains poorly understood. This is the first study to explore the relationship between WP tobacco smoking and these genetic factors. Previously, we investigated the association of GSTP1 SNPs (rs1695-A/G and rs1138272-C/T) with LC in Iraqi males who smoke WP. Here, we expanded our analysis to include GSTM1 (active/null) and GSTT1 (active/null) genotypes, both individually and in combination with GSTP1 SNPs. Multiplex PCR and RFLP-PCR assays were utilized to determine the genotypes of

More than 450 distinct types of human papilloma virus recognized via recent molecular techniques. The low and high oncogenic risk-HPV genotypes have an association with a variety of benign and malignant tumors in the oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal localizations. This study aimed to determine the rate of DNA detection of HPV genotype 6/11 in non-oncologic nasopharyngeal and palatine tonsillar tissues from pediatric patients subjected to adeno-tonsillectomies. A total number of 64 tissue specimens enrolled; 44 non-oncologic nasopharyngeal and palatine hypertrophied tissue specimens from 22 pediatric patients sustained combined adeno-tonsillectomies and compared to 20 nasal trimmed tissues with unremarkable pathological changes (in

Combining different treatment strategies successively or simultaneously has become recommended to achieve high purification standards for the treated discharged water. The current work focused on combining electrocoagulation, ion-exchange, and ultrasonication treatment approaches for the simultaneous removal of copper, nickel, and zinc ions from water. The removal of the three studied ions was significantly enhanced by increasing the power density (4–10 mA/cm2) and NaCl salt concentration (0.5–1.5 g/L) at a natural solution pH. The simultaneous removal of these metal ions at 4 mA/cm2 and 1 g NaCl/L was highly improved by introducing 1 g/L of mordenite zeolite as an ion-exchanger. A remarkable removal of heavy metals was reported

The purpose of this subject is to identify what is being studied in the article, which is the involvement of human Metapneumovirus in children with respiratory illnesses. During the period November 2020 to February 2021, 100 patients with respiratory tract infections were admitted to Al Zahra Teaching Hospital and AL-Forat AL-Awsat Teaching Hospital in Najaf Governorate. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from patients for molecular diagnosis of human metapneumovirus using Real-Time-PCR. The patients were distributed based on age into five groups as follows (Less than one, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, and 4-5 years), and twenty samples of healthy individuals were approved as a control group without any clinical signs of infection. the children of age gr

The reaction paths of the C-C and C-H bond cleavage in the anthracene and phenanthrene aromatic molecules are studied by applying the ab-initio DFT method. It is found that the C-C bond cleavage proceeds via a singlet aromatic transition state, compelled through a disrotatoric ring opening reaction. A suprafacial H atom shift follows the transition state, leading to the formation of a methylene -CH2 and an acetylenic or allenic moiety. The calculated activation energies for anthracene range from 158.81-208.90 kcal/mol and the reaction energies from 96.106-156.976 kcal/mol. For phenanthrene, the energy values are 157.39-202.34 kcal/mol and 62.639-182.423 kcal/mol, respectively. For the C-H cleavage reactions, the calculated reaction energies

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