Background: In the elderly, depression is the most frequent mood condition. It has been linked to major consequences such as disability, functional decline, decreased quality of life, higher mortality, it is the most costly health problem among elderly, a little study is written about depression among elderly patients in Iraq.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of depression in elderly aged 60 years and more who visited primary health care centers in Diyala.

Methodology: It is a descriptive, cross-sectional study that was conducted on 218 patients from PHCs of 2 sectors: Al-Kales and 1^st Baquba, Diyala governorate-Iraq. A direct interview was conducted by

Two groups of chronic hepatitis B and C virus patients were divided into Pre-treated patients (25 CHB patients with positive HBs Ag for more than 6 months and 40 CHC patients), and post-treated patients [12 CHB patients (4, 6, and 2 were treated with lamivudine, IFN-? and combination of LMV + IFN-? respectively), and 27 patients for CHC (3, 13 and 11 patients were treated with Ribavirin, IFN-? and combination therapy (RBV+ IFN-?) respectively].These patients were followed up for 6 months. By using ELISA technique, levels of IL-6, IL-10, IFN-? and TNF-? were measured in vivo and in vitro (supernatant of PBMCs stimulated with PHA) and compared with healthy control. The mean level of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-? in CHB patients showed significant dif

Background: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a common health problem that has a worldwide distribution. Apart from the direct effect of the virus on the liver, there are many extrahepatic manifestations among which the probable effect on bone turnover associated with low bone mineral density (BMD). Objectives: This study aimed to determine the association between treated and untreated chronic HBV infection with BMD. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which included a total of 48 patients with chronic HBV (28 patients treated with tenofovir-disoproxil-fumarate [TDF] antiviral drug and 20 patients have not yet started treatment). Other age- and sex-matched 30 apparently healthy individuals were recruited to represent the hea

A groundwater quality assessment has been carried out in northeast part of Anbar governorate in western Iraq. We analyzed hydrochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids presence of ions to describe groundwater quality. The study area has the only confined aquifer within the geological formation extended in area. Values of groundwater hydrochemical parameters were ranged from (7) to (7.9) for ph, (1599) to (6800) µmhos/cm for electrical conductivity (EC) and (1048) to (4446) mg/l for total dissolved solids (TDS). The origins and types of groundwater in the area were of marine origin and MgCl₂ water type while only (6) samples were of continental origin and Na₂SO₄ wate

Background: Thalassemia is characterized by the decrease or absence of the synthesis of one or more globin chains of hemoglobin. Thalassemia is distributed worldwide and is characterized by; regular blood transfusion which is creating alloimmunization to erythrocyte antigens is one of the major complications of regular blood transfusions in thalassemia, particularly in patients who are chronically transfused.Objectives: The aims of this study are to understand the immune system profile as the triggering factor for thalassemia.Methods: Thirty patients aging between one year and four months and twenty two years, twenty two of them were boys and eight were girls. Twenty nine patients, their parents are relative except one and studied in the

Toxoplasma gondii is a unique intracellular parasite, which infect a large proportion of the world population, but uncommonly causes clinically significant disease. The present study was performed to estimate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in 400 apparently healthy blood donor males, their ages were between 18 and 57 years using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, and to examine the effects of infection on total testosterone, free testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels in their sera. Seroprevalence showed 10 (2.5 %) and 121 (30 %) of them had IgM and IgG antibodies respectively. Both acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in males recorded higher significant (P < 0.05) mean concentration for total and free testosterone hormone,

Oil seep samples along Abu-Jir Fault Zone were studied to determine their chemical characterization and origin. They are dominated by the normal alkanes, more complex mixture of branched and cyclic hydrocarbons. Organofacies coupled with the stable carbon isotopes have been integrated to infer the oil seep origin. Oil seeps contain H2S gas, which derives as a catabolic by product of sulfate-reducing bacteria from gypsum of the Fatha Formation during the early diagenetic under anoxic conditions which is demonstrated by values of C29/H that are greater than 1. The oil seeps are characterized by δ13C values vary from -29.0 to -27.96‰ and from -28.34 to -27.88‰ in the saturated and aromatic compounds, respectively; consequently, they ha

Three hundred and fifty five patients with hepatitis were investigated in this study all cases gave negative result with HBs Ag , IgM-anti HCV , IgM-anti HEV, IgM-anti HDV and anti-HIV tests . The frequency of IgM-anti HAV was 113 and the percentage was 32 % in all ages but when these patients divided into five groups dependent on ages. The highest percentage of IgM-anti HAV was (45%) in age <10 and the percentage declined with age increase till to 9% in age >41 year.

the association between celiac disease and viral infection

Background: Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is the most polymorphic genetic system in man. The genes of this region seem to influence susceptibility to certain diseases.
Patients and methods: Polymerase chain reaction-Sequence Specific Primers PCR-SSP is the method used to asses HLA-typing of 100 blood samples of 60 AIH patients and 40 healthy normal controls.
Results: An increased frequency of HLA-DR3, DR4 and DR7 was observed for patients group versus control group with P-value (0.0001, 0.05, and 0.001) respectively, while DR*0211 (DR2) may be formed the basis for protection against the disease. HLA-DQ on the other hand, yielded on association in Iraqi patients with AIH.
Conclusions: This finding de