Background: Several infectious lung diseases often develop in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially during immunosuppressive medication, including disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The present study aimed to determine the role of respiratory tract bacterial infection in RA activity. Methods: Blood and sputum samples were collected from 31 patients with RA and 12 healthy subjects as control. The bacterial isolates were isolated and identified in collected sputum by biochemical tests and Vitec 2 system. Results: In the present study, thirty-one patients with RA were compared with 12 healthy subjects. Eight patients with RA were not infected with pathogenic bacteria (RA-NIPB) (25.8%). Twenty-three RA patients wer

To identify the fungi associated with water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes [Mart.] Solms), an aquatic weed, which presents in Tigris river from Baghdad south ward. Five regions from middle and south of Iraq (Al-Noumanya, Saeid Bin-Jubier, Al-Azizia, Al-Reyfay and Al-Hay) were selected for this study. Twelve fungal species were isolated. Alternaria alternata, Acremonium sp and Cladsporium herbarum, were the most frequently species (91.66 % ,50 % and 25 %) respectively. The fungi Alternaria alternata, Acremonium sp. and Phoma eupyrena were more aggressive to water hyacinth as (91.66%,83,33%, and 75%) in pathogenicity test.

Background: Oral mucositis is regarded as one of the major complications of radiation therapy especially in patients with head and neck cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of glutamine in preventing or minimizing the development of mucositis of the oral cavity. Subjects and methods: Forty-six participants were randomly selected amongst those who were planned to receive radiation therapy for head and neck region cancers. They were randomly divided into two groups of 23 subjects, one group received glutamine and the second group received a placebo. Results: Glutamine had a statistically significant effect in reducing the occurrence and/or severity of oral mucositis in the treated patients compared to patients in the con

A novel series of chitosan derivatives were synthesized via reaction of chitosan with carbonyl compounds and grafted it’s by with different amine compounds substituted hydrogen. The produced polymers were characterized by different analyses FTIR, 1HCNMR, XRD, DSC and TGA. Solubility in water as well as many solvent was investigated, antibacterial activity of chitosan and its derivatives against two types of bacteria E. coli and S. aureus was also investigated. The results showed that derivatives sort of have antibacterial activities against Esherichia coli (Gram negative) better than chitosan whilst compound IX has better antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive). SEM analysis showed that increase of surface roughness wi

In this research, Zinc oxide (ZnO)/epoxy nanocomposite was synthesized by simple casting method with 2wt. % ZnO concentration. The aim of this work was to study the effect of pH and composite dosage on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO/ epoxy nanocomposite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique images proof the homogeneous distribution of ZnO nanoparticles in epoxy. A synthesized nanocomposite samples were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (FTIR) measurements. Two spectra for epoxy and 2wt.% ZnO/epoxy nanocomposites were similar and there are no new bonds formed from the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles. Using HCl and NaOH were added to Methylene blue (MB) dye (5ppm) to gat pH values 3 and 8. The degradat

A novel series of chitosan derivatives were synthesized via reaction of chitosan with carbonyl compounds and grafted it’s by with different amine compounds substituted hydrogen. The produced polymers were characterized by different analyses FTIR, 1HCNMR, XRD, DSC and TGA. Solubility in water as well as many solvent was investigated, antibacterial activity of chitosan and its derivatives against two types of bacteria E. coli and S. aureus was also investigated. The results showed that derivatives sort of have antibacterial activities against Esherichia coli (Gram negative) better than chitosan whilst compound IX has better antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive). SEM analysis showed that increase of surface roughness wi

Background: Celiac disease is an autoimmune chronic disease that affects the human’s intestine and subsequently reflects its effect on the entire body health by retardation the absorption and immune mediated complications cause the involvement of oral health. The present study intended to evaluate the impact of the histopathological disease activity upon dental enamel defects and dental caries.

Subjects and methods: Forty celiac-diseased patients aged 7-11 years were collected from 3 different teaching hospitals in Baghdad classified by means of the histopathological activity of the intestinal disease according to modified Marsh-Ros

There is a continuous and massive need for newer cephalosporins that should have resistance against β-lactamases and can be used orally. An approach of using cephalexin, as a well-studied and potent antibacterial compound is considered to prepare new designed derivatives.  These derivatives include the incorporation of amino acid moiety linked through an amide bond with the α-amino group of cephalexin. Certain aliphatic amino acids were used, such as glycine, alanine, valine and proline. The chemical structures of these derivatives were confirmed by IR spectroscopy and elemental analyses. All the synthesized compounds were subjected for preliminary evaluation of antimicrobial activity using well diffusion method, against certa