Psoriasis is a long-lasting autoimmune disease that is characterized by swollen skin patches. Normally, these skin patches are dark, swollen, itchy and scaly. The single application of the innate TLR7/8 ligand Imiquimod (IMQ) in mice easily induces a dermatitis that closely resembles human psoriasis, critically dependent on the axis of IL-23/IL-17. Artemisia dracunculus prepared as an ointment and has been used topically to mice before imiquimod application. The results of the current study showed that A. dracunculus ointment can significantly reduce psoriasis area and severity index in (A. dracunculus ointment + imiquimod group as compared with both control group and (vehicle ointment + imiquimod) group.
Background: Directly observed therapy-short course (DOTS) had been adopted by World Health Organization (WHO) as hopeful strategy for treatment of tuberculosis (TB) since early nineties. Iraqi health authorities started DOTS implementation since 2001 in Baghdad. Coverage expanded gradually till 100% in 2004. War and unstable security condition hit Iraq since March 2003. Objective: The objective of this study was To evaluate the DOTS implementation program in Baghdad in different periods including 2 unstable periods for proper assessment of war and instability on treatment of TB. Patients and methods: This study had been conducted in Baghdad during four different periods (before and during 2003 war, after war; without and with DOTS). Dire
... Show MoreThe goal of this study was to investigate the protein peroxidation role by measuring serum levels of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in type 2 diabetic patients with or without retinopathy and comparing them to controls to see if circulating AOPP levels can be used as a detection biomarker for DR. And see which of the two widely used antidiabetic treatment groups had the most impact on this oxidative stress marker. The groups were divided into two subgroups: 1) 70 type 2 diabetic patients (36 male, 34 female), 35 with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 35 with no evidence of DR, and 2) non-diabetic controls (11 male, 9 female) were chosen from Ibn AL-Haitham Hospital for Ophthalmology and a Specialized Center for Endocrinology and Dia
... Show MoreBackground: The estimation of ferritin and related variables by complete serum iron profile, for Iraqi hashimoto’s patients to see the effect of thyroid hormone insufficiency, which may lead to deficiency of ferritin iron stores, this may be quite useful during the diagnosis and treatment of hashimoto’s patients. Patients and Method: The study was performed at National Center of Teaching laboratories of Medical city institute in Baghdad. Fifty newly diagnosed patients with hashimoto’s and forty apparently healthy controls. Diagnosis based on thyroid profile analysis including:Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), Thyroxine (totalT4) and Triiodothyronine (total T3), estimation of antibodies against thyroperoxidase, iron profile including:
... Show MoreBackground: This study has been performed to detect any structural changes in the testes of rabbits that have been exposed to formaldehyde vapor.
Materials and Methods: Eighteen male rabbits has been used in this study, 12 of them were exposed to formalin vapor for 2 month, while the other 6 were exposed to the vapor of distilled water for 2 month too. All animals were killed at the end of experiments, and then pieces of testes were prepared for light microscopic examination. Sections were collected from the paraffin wax blocks and stained by H & E and finally examined by Olympus light microscope.
Results: Most of the seminiferous tubules from the formaldehyde exposed group were atrophied with no e
Background: Atherosclerosis causes thickening of the artery walls. The intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery (CCA) is widely used as an early indicator of the development of coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, and independently cardiovascular disease (CVD). Diabetes increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, also accelerates the common IMT progression. The Sonographic measurement of carotid intima-media thickness is used as a valid simple and noninvasive method for the assessment of atherosclerosis disease.
Also the ankle brachial index (ABI) is considered as a strong predictor for future cardiovascular events, and a golden standard for the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease (PA
... Show MoreThe present study aims to investigate the long-term histopathological, and physiological effects of different concentrations of a commercially available energy drink (Tiger) on liver and kidney of young mice. Sixteen Balb/c male mice,6 -week old, were divided into 4 groups (n=4). Two groups consumed the energy drink at a concentration of 28µl energy drink/ml water. One group were killed after 10 days (T1), another group were killed after 20 days (T2). Other group of mice consumed the energy drink at a final concentration of 14µl/ml for 20 days (T3). The last group was provided only with water and served as control. Mice of all groups drank around 3 ml per day. The histopathological study on liver of treated groups showed many changes s
... Show MoreEuphorbia lateriflora is a popular traditional medicinal plant whose leaves are used in Africa, especially Nigeria, to treat wounds and many diseases. This study investigated the preliminary phytochemical constituents, secondary metabolites by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography “HPLC” technique, and antimicrobial potentials (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration “MIC”, Minimum Fungicidal Concentration “MFC” and disc diffusion assay) of various concentrations (100 mg/mL, 50 mg/ml, and 25 mg/mL) of the solvents (ethyl acetate and n-hexane) extracts of E. lateriflora against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The phytochemical screening revealed that
... Show MoreThe current study aims to investigate the effect of the interaction between the use of the improve strategy in teaching mathematics and the level of academic achievement on the acquisition of algebraic concepts and habits of mind among tenth-grade students in Oman. The study adopted the experimental method, based on a quasi-experimental design with two groups: experimental and control groups and pre-post-measurement. The study sample consisted of (28) 10th-grade students as an experimental group and 26 of 10th-grade students as a control group in Al-Tufail bin Amr School in South Al Batinah. The differences in the pretest and posttest gains were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, ANCOVA, t-test, effect size (eta-square), and two-wa
... Show MoreSmoking has multiple effects on sex hormone , some of which are associated with important clinical implication .The present study was undertaken to investigate the biochemical changes of sex hormones associated with long standing cigarette smoking in 40 heavy smokers comparing with non- smoker and to correlate it with BMI for each .The sex hormones levels were determined by RIA technique . Atomic absorption technique was used to measure the zinc levels. The serum testosterone and estrogen levels of non – smoker group were 17.775ng\ml and 38.65ng\ml at p< 0.05, respectively .While the serum testosterone and estrogen levels of smoker group were 17.615n
... Show MoreAcute toxicity is a step to evaluate the toxicity of a substance. Rutin is one of the flavonoid compounds with a variety of pharmacological effects. The aim of the study is to calculate the lethal dose that affect fifty percent of the mice used in the experiment (LD50). Thirty Swiss albino male and 30 non-pregnant female mice have been divided equally and randomly into 5 treated groups and one control group (n=5) Rutin has been administered with concentrations 5, 2.5.1.25,0.625 and 0.312 g/kg administered as a single dose intraperitoneally (IP) while the control group received 1% DMSO (IP). Animals were observed for any morbidity and mortality for 14 days. After 14 days the animal blood collected for biochemical and hem
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