Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune vesiculobullous mucocutaneous disease with life-threatening consequences. Rituximab (RTX) has recently emerged as an effective treatment for PV. Objectives: This study aims to determine changes in neutrophil and platelet counts for PV patients treated with RTX or corticosteroids combined with Imuran (azathioprine). Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Dermatology at Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq. Thirty PV patients received two types of treatment: 15 patients were administered RTX and 15 patients took corticosteroids with Imuran (azathioprine). Neutrophil and platelet counts were detected at the hospital laboratory. Results

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

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

In this study, performance characteristics such as power take off (PTO) power consumption, fuel consumption, fuel consumption for the unit field-unit product were determined at different working speeds with two different PTO applications (540 and 540E) in a single row disc type silage machine. In particular, the 540E PTO application greatly reduces fuel consumption for unit work. The best results in terms of hourly fuel consumption were achieved in 540E PTO application and V1 working speed. When the field - product fuel consumption is evaluated, the best results were obtained with the 540E PTO application at the V3 working speed. When an evaluation is made considering all the parameters, it is concluded that the 540E PTO application will p

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of CVD. Saliva has a diagnostic properties aiding in the detection of systemic diseases. This study aimed to assess the association between salivary oxidative stress markers and the risk of vascular disease (VD) in T2DM patients. Materials and Methods: One hundred T2DM patients and fifty apparently healthy males were enrolled in this study. Saliva sample was collected for assessment of oxidative stress markers including: lipid peroxidation plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), uric acid (UA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels. Arterial stiffness index (ASI

The aim of this study is for testing the applicability of Ramamoorthy and Murphy method for identification of predominant pore fluid type, in Middle Eastern carbonate reservoir, by analyzing the dynamic elastic properties derived from the sonic log. and involving the results of Souder, for testing the same method in chalk reservoir in the North Sea region. Mishrif formation in Garraf oilfield in southern Iraq was handled in this study, utilizing a slightly-deviated well data, these data include open-hole full-set logs, where, the sonic log composed of shear and compression modes, and geologic description to check the results. The Geolog software is used to make the conventional interpretation of porosity, lithology, and saturation. Also,

Drilling with casing (DWC) can be considered as a modern drilling technique in which both of drilling and casing operations done in the same time by using the casing to transfer the hydraulic and mechanical power to the bit instead of traditional drilling string. To overcome oil well control, minimizing the total cost through enhancing drilling efficiency, drilling with casing was proposed as an enabling technology.

   Two surface sections (17 1/2 - and 12 1/4- inch) were drilled successfully in Rumaila oil field with  casing strings which reached 655m and 1524m measured depths respectively.

   By using DWC technique, the total drill/case phase time was reduced up to 20% comparing to conventional

Background: The Initial (primary) stability is one of the factors that play an important role in the success of the dental implants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the initial stability of dental implant with horizontal plate by using five analytical tests: insertion torque, removal torque, resonance frequency analysis, push-in test and pull-out test. Materials and methods: Two different lengths of dental implants (5mm and 10mm) were tested in this study; each dental implant was 4mm in diameter with a square threads shape of 1mm pitch and 0.5mm depth. The crestal area was 4.2mm diameter contained a right angle margin circumferential ring while the apical area was tapered with two self-tapping grooves. In this study, the initial s

Bilastine (BL) is a novel non-sedating second-generation antihistamine, and its bioavailability is about 60%. Objective: To compare the bioavailability of prepared oral self-nanoemulsions of BL (BL-SNE) with that of pure BL and marketed tablets. Methods: Four groups of Wistar rats were used in this study, each with six rats weighing between 200 and 250 g. They were treated orally using a a gavage tube. The groups were fed either with conventional tablets ("Alerbix®") after being ground and dispersed with deionized water (DIW), treated with BL-SNE or fed with pure BL powder suspension. The fourth group did not receive any medication. The concentration of BL in the rat’s plasma was measured using HPLC. We used Trandolapril as an an interna