Aim and Objectives: The objective of this study was to illustrate the link between periodontitis (PO) and endothelial dysfunction in hypertensive patients. Materials and Methods: This cross‑sectional study involved 53 hypertensive patients with or without PO compared with 28 healthy controls. On the basis of the study protocol, the participants were divided into three groups: Group (1): 24 patients with hypertension only, Group (2): 29 patients with hypertension and PO, and Group (3): 28 healthy controls. Lipid profile, endothelin‑1 (ET‑1), and high‑sensitivity C‑reactive protein (hs‑CRP) were measured. Blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) were evaluated. Diagnostic criteria of severe PO periodontal indices including plaque

The rise of edge-cloud continuum computing is a result of the growing significance of edge computing, which has become a complementary or substitute option for traditional cloud services. The convergence of networking and computers presents a notable challenge due to their distinct historical development. Task scheduling is a major challenge in the context of edge-cloud continuum computing. The selection of the execution location of tasks, is crucial in meeting the quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of applications. An efficient scheduling strategy for distributing workloads among virtual machines in the edge-cloud continuum data center is mandatory to ensure the fulfilment of QoS requirements for both customer and service provider. E

          Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic diseases attributed to lack of insulin secretion, insulin activity, or both. The most serious medical problems in hyperglycemia is diabetic nephropathy (DN), originating from the aggregation of inflammatory cells in high numbers. Chitinase 3 like 1 protein (CH3L1P) is a new biomarker for chronic and severe inflammatory conditions. It has been suggested to have a role in the progress of diabetes-associated micro and macro-vascular complications. This paper aims to measure CH3L1P levels and examine their correlation with albuminuria levels in Iraqi patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Our study involved 66 T2DM patients

An experimental and numerical study has been carried out to investigate the heat transfer by natural convection and radiation in a two dimensional annulus enclosure filled with porous media (glass beads) between two horizontal concentric cylinders. The outer cylinders are of (100, 82 and70mm) outside diameters and the inner cylinder of 27 mm outside diameter with (or without) annular fins attached to it. Under steady state condition; the inner cylinder surface is maintained at a high temperature by applying a uniform heat flux and the outer cylinder surface at a low temperature inside a freezer. The experiments were carried out for an annulus filled with
glass beads at a range of modified Rayleigh number (4.9 ≤ Ra≤ 69), radiation

Background: Lowering the amount of iodinated contrast material and tube voltage may increase pulmonary artery opacification and thrombus identification without compromising picture quality.

Objectives: To explore the efficiency of using lower tube voltage and a lower contrast medium dose for conducting computed tomography for pulmonary angiography (CTPA) aiming to increase its accuracy in detecting pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE).

Subjects and Methods:100 patients scheduled for CTPA with a preoperative diagnosis of PTE were grouped into two: group A, (50 patients) got 1 mL/kg at 120 kV and group B, (50 patients) received 0.5 mL/kg at 80 kV.The tec

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death among type 2 diabetic patients. Higher levels of plasminogen activator urokinase receptor have been found to predict morbidity and mortality across acute and chronic diseases in the common populace. This study aims to explore the role of serum plasminogen activator urokinase receptor levels as a cardiometabolic risk factor among type 2 diabetic Iraqi patients. Methods: Seventy type 2 diabetic patients (40 male and 30 female) (mean age: 46.20±7.56 years) participated in this study; 35 patients were with cardiovascular disease and 35 were without cardiovascular disease; their ages range was 40-55 years. In addition, 30 individuals who apparently healthy were selected a

Despite extensive investigations, an effective treatment for sepsis remains elusive and a better understanding of the inflammatory response to infection is required to identify potential new targets for therapy. In this study we have used RNAi technology to show, for the first time, that the inducible lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 2 (LPCAT2) plays a key role in macrophage inflammatory gene expression in response to stimulation with bacterial ligands. Using siRNA- or shRNA-mediated knockdown, we demonstrate that, in contrast to the constitutive LPCAT1, LPCAT2 is required for macrophage cytokine gene expression and release in response to TLR4 and TLR2 ligand stimulation but not for TLR-independent stimuli. In addition, cells transfe

Activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) markedly attenuates development of atherosclerosis in animal models. However, the underlying mechanism is not well elucidated. Here, we show that the FXR agonist, obeticholic acid (OCA), increases fecal cholesterol excretion and macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) dependent on activation of hepatic FXR. OCA does not increase biliary cholesterol secretion, but inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption. OCA markedly inhibits hepatic cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (Cyp7a1) and sterol 12α‐hydroxylase (Cyp8b1) partly through inducing small heterodimer partner, leading to reduced bile acid pool size and al

This study was performed to assess the correlation of serum interleukins (ILs) levels with anthropometric data and lipid profile status in blood samples obtained from 100 Iraqi obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome PCOS. Obese non PCOS healthy women (n=75) matching in age (19-38 years) and body mass index(29.9-33.4kg/m²) served as a control group. The samples were collected from Kamal Al-Samurai Teaching hospital during the period of December 2017- June 2018.ELISA kits were used to measure serum levels of IL-6,IL-10,IL-18, IL-29,IL-33,tumor necrotic factor (TNF-α),high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP),  insulin, total testosterone, and sex hormone binding globulin(SHBG).The biochemical measure

     In this work, the mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number and half value layer parameters were calculated for silicate (SiO2) mixed with various levels of lead oxide and iron oxide as reinforced materials. SiO2 was used with different concentrations of PbO and Fe2O3 (25, 50 and 75 weight %). The glass system was prepared by the melt-quenching method. The attenuation parameters were calculated at photon energies varying from 1keV to 100MeV using the XCOM program (version 3.1). In addition, the mass attenuation coefficient and half value layer parameters for selected glass samples were experimentally determined at photon energies 0.662 and 1.28 MeV emitted from radioactive sources 137Cs and 22Na respe