Background: Diabetic cheiroarthropathy is a term derived from the Greek word “cheiros” meaning “of the hand”, It is characterized by stiff hands with distinctively thick, tight, and waxy skin, especially on the dorsal aspects of the hands. It is part of long term complication of diabetes and many suggest it is associated with microvascular complication. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of diabetic cheiroarthropathy in Iraqi patients with diabetes, and to study its association with diabetic retinopathy and glycemic control. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study in which 110 diabetic patients and 110 non-diabetic healthy people who accepted to take part in the study were ran

Aim: Rats are accused in disseminating many zoonotic diseases. This study aimed to isolate and identify bacteria from internal organs of rats captured in Baghdad City, Iraq. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 black rats (R. rattus) were trapped from different areas in Baghdad city. Rats were kept in individual plastic cages for 3 h before euthanizing. Deep pharyngeal swab, intestinal content, urine, and pieces of the liver and spleen, lung, kidney, and brain were obtained aseptically. The specimens were inoculated into peptone water and incubated at 37°C for 24 h for enrichment. A loopful of each specimen was then subcultured onto MacConkey Agar, Blood Agar, and Mannitol Salt Agar. CHROMagar O157 H7 and CHROMagar Listeria were u

In this study, nickel cobaltite (NC) nanoparticles were created using the sol-gel process and used as an adsorbent to adsorb methyl green dye (MG) from aqueous solutions. The adequate preparation of nickel cobaltite nanoparticles was verified using FT-IR, SEM, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The crystalline particle size of NC nanoparticles was 10.53 nm. The effects of a number of experimental variables, such as temperature, adsorbent dosage, and contact time, were examined. The optimal contact time and adsorbent dosage were 120 minutes and 4.5 mg/L, respectively. Four kinetic models—an intraparticle diffusion, a pseudo-first-order equation, a pseudo-second-order equation, and the Boyd equation—were employed to monitor the adsorpti

Objectives: Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) is WNT/b-catenin pathway antagonist which plays a detrimental role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). This research aimed to assess serum DKK-1 levels in diabetic patients who have and have not developed DR and, compare them with the control subjects finding out whether we can use it as an indicator for DR early diagnosis and to find out which one of the widely used two groups of antidiabetic treatments had the greater effect on this biomarker and hence on the progression of DR. Methods: The study participants were divided into two subgroups: First, 70 patients (36 male, 34 female) with type 2 diabetes mellitus, among them 35 patients diagnosed with DR and 35 with no evidence of DR, and s

The present study was set to demonstrate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection and its effects on patients with systemic  lupus erythematosus (SLE) through determining their serum levels of anti-dsDNA and IL-18 antibodies. For this purpose, the sera from 132 SLE and/or toxoplasmosis patients and 30 healthy women, were collected. The study sample was divided into four groups of SLE, toxoplasmosis, SLE coinfected with toxoplasmosis, and healthy control. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies were examined for all the samples using ELISA kit. The results showed a high mean level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG among SLE patients coinfected with toxoplasmosis (104.8792±12.31585pg/ml) in comparison to that in toxoplasmosis patients (91.1705±12.577

The experiment was conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture University of Ain Shams-Egypt, from January to March 2008, to study the effect of different levels of chromium yeast (Cr-yeast) on broiler chickens performance, carcass quality and enzyme activity through 35 days of experimental periods. A total of 450 one-day old unsexed chickens (Cobb) strain were used. The birds were randomly allocated to five treatments with 3 replicates each. The treatments were control (T1) without supplementation and T2, T3, T4 and T5 which were supplemented with 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg Cr-yeast /kg diet, respectively. Live body weight and weight gain were significantly (p<0.05) higher when Cr-yeast were supplemented at 1 (T3), 1.5 (T4) and 2 (T5) mg/kg diet. Fe