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

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized by chronic inflammationthat affects joints and cartilage. Bone complications such asRA-relatedosteoporosis are one of the most extra-articular manifestations. Many inflammatory mediators are released during RA disease pathophysiology; these mediators stimulate osteoclast genesis of bone by direct effects on RANKL and OPG. The study aimedto measure RANKL, OPG in RA patients treated with Etanercept only and other groups treated with Methotrexate onlyat baseline and after three months to evaluate bone state. An observational case-control prospective study was done on 30 RA patients who received MTX, 30 RA patients who received ETN, and 30 healthy,age-matched control groups. The

Celiac disease (CD) is an inflammatory small intestinal disorder that can lead to severe villous atrophy, and malabsorption . Since the measurement of α-amylase activity is the most widely used biochemical test for the diagnosis of pancreatic and non pancreatic disease , therefore serum α-amylase were studied in the present study in an attempt to evaluate the usefulness of this enzyme in the diagnosis of celiac disease and its relationship with anti gliadin IgA and IgG and serum glucose . Thirty one patients with celiac disease were studied and compared with twenty four healthy individuals . Significant elevation of α-amylase activity , glucose and anti gliadin IgA and IgG were observed in the sera of patients with celiac diseas

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) became the most prevalent health problem. Almost half of the world's people are ignorant that have diabetes. Menopause occurs as an important alteration in women through which take place the change in sex hormones, distribution in fat،s body, and metabolism, altogether which participate in the metabolism disease such as type 2 diabetes mellitus. Several studies have appeared the association between the TCF7L2 gene and different diseases like type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to detect the relation of the genetic variation polymorphism for the TCF7L2 gene (rs12255372 G/T) in Iraqi women menopausal with T2DM. The outcomes indicated the increased levels of biochemical characteristics including H

Background: This study was conducted among diabetic persons to assess the sweet and salty taste sensitivity with its effect on gingival health in relation to salivary serotonin levels. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional comparative study design was used. All patients with diabetes aged 12-14 years that attend the Paediatric hospital at Baghdad medical city with specific inclusion criteria were involved in the sample of the present study (patients group 50 patients) compared with non-diabetic persons matched in age and gender of the study sample (control group 70 patients) who were attending dental unit in the college of dentistry/university of Baghdad. A two-alternative forced choice question including each component presented at f

These years Qatar has emerged as an important regional destination of foreign direct investment (FDI), which demonstrates the recent success of several smaller economies in attracting FDI. This paper aims to investigate the causal relationships between inward FDI and economic growth in the particular case of Qatar featured as oil production country. Vector Autoregressive (VAR) Impulse Responses and Granger Causality Tests were adopted as major research methods. Annual data set was used covering from 1990 to 2010. The main results demonstrated the bi-directional causality and long-run relationships between FDI inflows and economic growth in Qatar. And to attract FDI inflows into Qatar, the government shall continue its efforts in const

To study the effect of iron overload due to continuous blood transfusions on peroxidation products, such as malondialdehyde (MDA) and peroxynitrite, with evaluation of some antioxidants like, glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamine E, Ceruloplasmin, uric acid and albumin in thalassemia patients. Forty patients with thalassemia major, aged 5 to 15 years, were carried out in Abn-Alatheer Teaching Hospital in Mosul city, during the period from October 2007 to April 2008. They were on Chelation therapy with desfer­rioxamine. They were divided into two groups, the first one without iron overload (90,97±12.92), and the second one with iron overload (157.75±7.57). All the patien