In this study, a novel application of lab-scale dual chambered air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been developed for simultaneous bio-treatment of real pharmaceutical wastewater and renewable electricity generation. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) was provided with zeolite-packed anodic compartment and a cation exchange membrane (CEM) to separate the anode and cathode. The performance of the proposed MFC was evaluated in terms of COD removal and power generation based on the activity of the bacterial consortium in the biofilm mobilized on zeolite bearer. The MFC was fueled with real pharmaceutical wastewater having an initial COD concentration equal to 800 mg/L and inoculated with anaerobic aged sludge. Results demo

Psoriasis is a common, chronic, immune-mediated skin disease with systemic pro-inflammatory activation.  This study was designed to estimate the level of two cytokines, Interleukin-36 (IL-36) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10), in psoriasis female patients. The study was accomplished on 50 Iraqi patients with psoriasis who were referred to the consulting clinic at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital during the period from November 2018 to March 2019. These patients were diagnosed under the supervision of dermatologists. For the purpose of comparison, the study included 30 healthy women as a healthy control group. The serum levels of cytokines  were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent technique (ELISA).The results of this study show

To determine the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disorder, 20 patients with MS aged (25-60) years have been investigated from the period of 2016/12/1 to 2017/3/1 and compared to 15 apparently healthy individuals. All study groups were carried out to measure anti H.pylori IgA and H.pylori IgG antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. There was a significant elevation (p<0.05) in the concentration of anti H.pylori IgG and IgA antibodies (Abs) compared to control group, and there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the concentration of IgA and IgG (Abs) of H.pylori according to gender, and there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the concentration of IgA and I

Reactive arthritis (ReA) is an incendiary joint inflammation that occurs few days to weeks after a gastrointestinal or genitourinary infection. The etiology of the disease is not well-known. Therefore, the present study included 80 females and 25 males, divided into 51 patients with reactive arthritis and 54 healthy individuals as control group.  The study involved the detection of serum levels of anti-rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) as well as those of CRP and C3 in all subjects. In addition, EBV levels were detected by Real Time-PCR technique. The results showed significantly increased levels (P < 0.05) of CRP, C3 and anti-CCP Ab in ReA patients’ group compared to th

A total of 100 clinical sample from (urine, sputum and swabs of wound , burn and ear) were collected from patients in different hospitals of Baghdad during the period from December 2013 to May 2014. 15 isolates (15%) identified belong to Acinetobacter baumannii, swabs of wounds were represented in high percentage of A.baumannii isolates (40%) while percentage of other samples were variable. Susceptibility of 15 A.baumannii isolates were tested toward 16 different Antimicrobial agents, the results showed all isolates were multi drug resistant. In addition, Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique (PCR) was performed to detection the resistance genes encoding the Oxacillinases enzymes. The PCR analysis showed that the presence of insertion sequ

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive multisystem disease that results from mutation(s) of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. More than 2100 mutations and polymorphisms have been reported in this gene so far. Incidence and genotyping of CF are under-identified in Iraq. This study aims to determine the types and frequencies of certain CFTR mutations among a sample of Iraqi CF patients. Two groups of patients were included: 31 clinically confirmed CF patients in addition to 47 clinically suspected patients of CF. All confirmed pa

Contracaecum rudolphii Hartwich, 1964 is a nematode which causes major concerns to human and wildlife animal’s health. However, the population genetics of C. rudolphii has been poorly studied in Iraq. In order to gain a deeper understanding in the outline of the genetic diversity of the nematode C. rudolphii that were isolated from its host cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758), in the middle areas of Iraq, twenty specimens of C. rudolphii adults were isolated from nine individuals of P. carbo. The first (ITS-1) internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of C. rudolphii were amplified using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR); then, the amplicons were subjected to sequencing. Concatenation of ITS