Background: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are said to be inherited in a multifactorial fashion, i.e. genetic-environmental interaction. Maternal nutritional deficiencies had long been reported to cause NTDs, especially folate deficiency during early pregnancy. More attention had been paid to the exact mechanism by which this deficiency state causes these defects in the developing embryo. The most significant of all researches was that connecting reduced folate and increased homocysteine level in maternal serum on one hand and the risk of developing a NTD baby on the other hand.
Objectives : to determine the significance of homocysteine level in Iraqi mothers who gave birth to babies with NTDs as compare

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a collection of chronic, recurrent inflammatory illnesses of the gastrointestinal system, including Crohn's disease (CD). Infliximab is one of the biological medications used to treat CD. Therapeutic drug monitoring has evolved as a treatment in IBD, aiming to optimize benefit while meeting more demanding, objective end criteria. Objective: To determine the achievement of target trough level (TL), develop anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to infliximab, assess response to therapy, and study TL relations with different variables. Methods: The present study was cross-sectional and conducted from May 2022 to November 2022. It included 40 CD patients allotted into 2 groups: group 1 patients ach

Medulloblastomas and ependymomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in children. However genetic abnormalities associated with their development and prognosis remain unclear. Recently two gene fusions, KIAA1549–BRAF and SRGAP3–RAF1 have been detected in a number of brain tumours. We report here our development and validation of RT-RQPCR assays to detect various isoforms of these two fusion genes in formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues of medulloblastoma and ependymoma. We examined these fusion genes in 44 paediatric brain tumours, 33 medulloblastomas and 11 ependymomas. We detected both fusion transcripts in 8/33, 5/33 SRGAP3 ex10/RAF1 ex10, and 3/33 KIAA1549 ex16/BRAF ex9, meduloblastomas but none in the 11 ep

Background: Thrombocytopenia is the second most common hematological abnormality in pregnancy following anemia. However, its incidence causes and outcomes received scarce attention, particularly in developing countries like Iraq.
Objective: This study was conducted to determine the incidence, causes and consequences of thrombocytopenia on both the mother and fetus.
Material and Methods: Platelet counts were performed on 600 pregnant women in their third trimester and on 200 age matched non pregnant healthy women, as well as 150 of the newborns of the former groups.
Results: The overall incidence of thrombocytopenia in pregnancy was 8.6%, with the gestational thrombocytopenia implicated in 76.9%,. Hy

Background:Breast abscesses could be successfully treated by percutaneous aspiration of pus and irrigation of the cavity with saline solution.
Objective:To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of percutaneous needle aspiration of breast abscesses under local anesthesia in the outpatient clinic.
Patient and methods:A prospective study of forty three women with breast abscesses attended outpatient clinic at Tikrit teaching hospital and privit clinic for the period from January 2008 to January 2010.All patients had preliminary breast ultrasoundexamination. Percutaneous needle aspiration of pus under local anesthesia was done ,followed by systemic antibiotics. Repeated aspiration was carried out later when deemed necessary and foll

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early-onset CAD, also known as PCAD, is a severe form of CAD associated with high mortality and a poor prognosis. Early diagnosis is crucial to reducing complications. While hsCRP is an established biomarker for CAD, kalirin is a potential novel biomarker due to its role in promoting smooth muscle proliferation and endothelial dysfunction. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between serum kalirin and hsCRP levels with the presence and severity of PCAD and to compare the diagnostic value of both biomarkers. Method: The study recruited 92 participants into two groups: the PCAD group (46) included patients with confirmed CAD by an

Background: Neonatal septicemia (NNS) is the most serious complication in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) that demand urgent diagnosis and accurate treatment.
Methods: Serum was obtained from 31 neonates aged 1 hour-28 days that were diagnosed clinically and bacteriologically to have neonatal septicemia.
Results: Mean serum levels of both IL-8 and IL-1 recorded a significant increase in neonatal septicemia cases.
Conclusion: Usage of IL-8, IL-1 as diagnostic marker for NNS reduces unnecessary antibiotic therapy and therefore unnecessary costs, pain, and possible side effects of antibiotic
therapy and it may help to reduce development and spread of drug resistant bacteria.

Summary:
Background: Alcohol is the most important causes of liver cirrhosis. Many of the factors underlying the development of alcoholic liver diseases remain unknown. Recently, some epidemiological studies showed beneficial effects of coffee against the occurrence of alcoholic liver cirrhosis and upon serum liver enzymes level. These observations have been examined in this work.
Patients and Methods: The relation of coffee drinking to serum GGT, AST and ALT activities were examined in 59 alcoholic male patients with or without habit of coffee consumption. 35 (59.3%) out of 59 patients were alcoholic drinkers without coffee consumption habit, and 24(40.7%) were alcohol drinkers with coffee consumption. In addition to 24 healthy pe

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, complicating 3-14% of all pregnancies. Although the etiology remains unknown, placental hypoperfusion and diffuse endothelial cell injury are considered to be the central pathological process; many endocrinological changes have been linked to the etiology of preeclampsia including parathyroid hormone and calcium level. Objective: to compare serum parathyroid hormone and total serum calcium levels in mild and severe preeclampsia versus normal pregnancy. Patients and methods: Serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) level and total serum calcium level were measured in thirty normotensive pregnant women and thirty women with mild preeclampsia and thi

Abstract Background: The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2) proto-oncogene is overexpressed or amplified in approximately 15%-25% of invasive breast cancers. Approximately 35% of HER2-amplified breast cancers have coamplification of the topoisomerase II-alpha (TOP2A) gene encoding an enzyme that is a major target of anthracyclines. Hence, the determination of genetic alteration (amplification or deletion) of both genes is considered as an important predictive factor that determines the response of breast cancer patients to treatment. The aims of this study are to determinate TOP2A status gene amplification in a set of Iraqi patients with breast cancer that have had an equivocal (2+) and positive HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry