Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived mitral annular displacement (MAD) utilizes the speckle tracking technique to measure strain vectors, which provides accurate estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).Objectives: To validate the accuracy of mitral annular displacement (MAD), assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE), as a surrogate for determination of left ventricular systolic function in comparison to 2-Dimensions Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases.Methods : This cross-sectional study included patients who referred to outpatient department of Ibn Albitar Center for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad, Iraq, between October 2012 and April 2013. STE continuously tracked annular

Ankylosing spondylitis is a complex debilitating disease because its pathogenesis is not clear. This study aims at detecting some pathogenesis factors that lead to induce the disease. Chlamydia pneumoniae is one of these pathogenesis factors which acts as a triggering factor for the disease. The study groups included forty Iraqi Ankylosing spondylitis patients and forty healthy persons as a control group. Immunological and molecular examinations were done to detect Chlamydia. pneumoniae in AS group. The immunological results were performed by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) to detect anti-IgG and anti-IgM antibodies of C. pneumoniae revealed that five of forty AS patients' samples (12.5%) were positive for anti-IgG and IgM C. pneu

         Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common, debilitating, and chronic pain syndrome. The women are more likely to have more tender points on examination than are their male counterparts. Iraqi study showed that FM occur in 1.5% among adolescents of Iraqi population. In compare to normal healthy women, present study was revealed that Iraqi women with FM have significant elevation of calcium (p = 0.003) with significant reduction of magnesium (p = 0.001), whereas the inorganic phosphorous was not differs (p = 0.31). In conclusion, magnesium and calcium would play a crucial role in etiopathogenesis of fibromyalgia.

Key words: calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, Fibromyalgia.

Hashimoto Thyroiditis (HT) is the most common autoimmune thyroid disease and the commonest cause ofhypothyroidism. C-reactive protein (CRP) is synthesized in hepatocyte in response to autoimmune disorders;strongly induced by IL-6. This study aimed to estimate serum IL-6 and CRP levels in autoimmune and non-autoimmune hypothyroidism. The present study included 60 Iraqi female hypothyroid patients divided to 30autoimmune and 30 non-autoimmune, with age ranged between 24-50 years and 30 healthy controls withage ranged between 27-52 years. Serum samples were collected from study groups. The levels of thyroidhormones (TSH, T4 and T3) were determined by using automated Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (CLIA)analysis system. Detection the levels of t

This studay was performd on 30 serum specimens of patients having type II diabetes with cardiac disease, and 40 normal specimens were investigated as control group.The activity rate of AAP in patients (125.31± 3.28)I.U/L and activity rate of AAP in normals (6.76±2.21) I.U/L, in addition purification of AAP from serum patients having type II diabetes with cardiac diaease by using dialysis bag and gel filtration (Sephadex G-50). The results of the study reveal that Alanine aminopeptidase (AAP) activity of type II diabetes with cardiac disease patients' serum show a high signifiacant increase (p<0.001) compare to normal subject .

The aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of trace elements Magnesium (Mg), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), and Selenium (Se) in blood sera of asthmatic patients by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The concentrations of Mg, Cu, and Zn have been determined by Flame Atomic Absorption spectrophotometry (FAAS), and Se with flameless Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (GFAAS). The study involves (55) asthmatic patients as study group and (28) subjects as control from both genders. Serum levels of Mg, Cu, and Se were significantly higher (p<0.001 for all) in patients when compared with healthy subjects, while Zn level was relatively significant (p<0.05). Our observations confirm the efficacy and applicability of (AAS) in

Hypertension is one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease, which causes serious health problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the lipid profile levels in sera of Iraqi hypertensive patients by measuring Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) and kidney function levels by measuring uric acid, urea and creatinine. Seventy five individuals of Iraqi adults (Males) were divided into three groups: 25 hypertensive patients with duration of disease (1-10) year (group 1), 25 hypertensive patients with duration of disease (11-30) year (group 2) and 25 normal individuals as control group (group3). The findings indicate that serum (TC, TG and LDL) levels were significantly elevated (

Low serum total adiponectin is associated with a high incidence of type 2 diabetes or coronary artery disease in the general population. Paradoxically, serum total adiponectin is elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), such as overt diabetic nephropathy. The current study aimed to investigate whether or not  anemia to be dependently associated with serum level of total adiponectin in  non-albuminuric male patients with type 2 diabetes . The study included 42 type 2 diabetic male patients. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin (Hb) below 14.0g/dL. All the patients were without microalbuminuria, to exclude diabetic nephropathy. The diabetic patients were divided into 2 groups according to the hemoglobin level in ad

Background: The altered status of some essential trace elements observed in diabetes could have deleterious influences on the health of the diabetics. Objectives: To estimate and study the potential role of serum Selenium in type 1, type 2 diabetics and healthy subjects; and its relation with lipid profile and glycemic index. Methods: A case control designed study was carried out at the National Diabetes Center (NDC) / Al-Mustansiria University; on a total of 94 participants formed of 32 type 1 diabetics, 32 type 2 diabetics and 30 healthy control participants. Data collected about age, sex and BMI; also, blood samples examined for FPG, HbA1C, serum total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, serum triglyceride and sera were