Background Type two diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by insufficient insulin production and secretion. Additionally, the body develops insulin resistance which affects 90–95% of diabetics. Complex cytokines, receptors, genetic pathways, and the immune system are involved in T2DM. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is one of the inflammatory cytokines associated with Type 2 diabetes. Environmental and genetic variables, including genetic polymorphisms, can increase T2DM risk and its consequences. Single nucleotide gene polymorphisms (SNPs) are important risk factors for diabetes that can be used to find the disease early and treat it better. Objective This study aimed to determine the levels of IL-18 in the serum of Iraqi patients with Type 2 diabetes

Background: Information concerning the maximum bite force in human population is important to clinical orthodontics. Additionally, the influence of bite force on the vertical stability of any treatment result is important. The new position of the dentition should be compatible with the dynamics of the muscular and occlusal forces in all planes. This study was conducted to 1) to measure and compare maximum bite force, body height and weight among normal occlusion and malocclusion groups (cl I,cl II,cl III) in both gender 2) to evaluate the correlation between bite force and craniofacial morphology, body height and weight. Materials and Methods: The sample consists of 100 Iraqi adult subjects aged 18-25 years. It was classified in to four gr

When the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs s

Lovastatin is one of the most important compounds that is produced from some filamentous fungi, being employed in the reduction of hypocholesterolemia. The results of screening, after the collection of seventy-three local fungal isolates from different areas, demonstrated that the local isolate Aspergillus terreus A50 was the best isolate for lovastatin production, with a concentration of 12.66 µg/ml, through the submerged fermentation. Lovastatin produced from A. terreus A50 showed antimicrobial activities against a Candida albicans isolate. Solid state fermentation (SSF) was the best system to produce the highest yield of lovastatin by A. terreus A50 as compared to the submerged fermentation (SmF)

Folic acid modulates several disorders in humans, pregnancy mostly because of the mitochondria-rich placenta, is a condition that favors oxidative stress.Transitional metals, especially iron, which are particularly abundant in the placenta, are important in the production of free radicals. Adenosine deaminase (ADA), an enzyme essential for the differentiation of lymphoid cells, has been used for monitoring diseases with altered immunity. In the present study we investigated the effect of regular and irregular administered folic acid in the first and second trimester of pregnancy to be compared with non-pregnant women ,and also the effect of regular and irregular using of folic acid  supplement on  oxidative stress parameters an

Background: Prophylaxis methods are used to mechanically remove plaque and stain from tooth surfaces; such methods give rise to loss of superficial structure and roughen the surface of composites as a result of their abrasive action. This study was done to assess the effect of three polishing systems on surface texture of new anterior composites after storage in artificial saliva. Materials and methods: A total of 40 Giomer and Tetric®N-Ceram composite discs of 12 mm internal diameter and 3mm height were prepared using a specially designed cylindrical mold and were stored in artificial saliva for one month and then samples were divided into four groups according to surface treatment: Group A (control group):10 specimens received no surfa

The study searches for the possibility of using duckweed Lemna spp. to reduce the concentration of heavy metals (zinc and iron) in the wastewater of Baghdad by culturing two different densities of the plant with a fresh weights 5 and 10 g/l and without the plant under optimum uncontrolled conditions. The result showed that there was a significant differences at the possibility level of (p? 0.05) for the three treatments, as the highest percentages for zinc removal in the second day for the plant treatment of 5 g/l were 66.40%, while the highest percentage of iron removal were in the tenth days for the plant treatment 10 g/l were 80 %, and noticed that the increase of the heavy metals concentrations accumulated in the plant after bei

         Seventy five E. coli isolates were collected from urine of patients with urinary tract infections in AL-Kadhimia and AL-Yarmook teaching hospitals in Baghdad for a period between 22/11/2009 to 15/3/2010,  from these samples twenty five isolates were selected according to their pattern of the highest resistance as these showing multi-drug resistances and tested to specify their minimum inhibitory concentration for (meropenem, gentamicin and amikacin), meropenem was found having the lowest MIC comparing with others. This study also includes in vitro effects of various combinations of three types of antimicrobials (meropenem, gentamicin and amikacin) against twenty five E. c

Background: Study the correlation between the left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV), ejection fraction (EF) and the development of arrhythmia.
Patients and methods: Two hundreds patients with documented acute coronary syndrome and myocardial infection with dysrhythmia documented by ECG and holter monitoring assessed at the cardiac department at Baghdad teaching hospital over the period Jan-Dec 2007. These dysrhythmias were corelated with left ventricular end diastolic volume and ejection fraction.
Results: The patients were divided into 4 groups according to LVEDD and EF. The 1st group, 40 patients (20%) found to have non sustained ventricular tachycardia was associated with higher LVEDD (62-72

Objective: In this study ,the effects of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs)were investigated on the liver and kidney tissues. Methodology: The produced nanoparticles have an average particle size of about 30 nm. Eighteen male albino rats were used by dividing them into three groups, each group comprise 6 rats. First group(control group) given food and water like other groups by liberty. Second group was tail injected by (AgNPs) at dose of (0.4 mg/kg. body weight/day). Third group was injected by (AgNPs) at dose of (0.6 mg/kg. body weight/day) for 15 days. All animals were sacrified at the end of experiment. The liver and kidney tissues specimens were fixed in 10% formalin and histological preparations were carried out then stained with H&E. Path