The present study aimed to assess the potential impact of serum concentration of undercarboxylated osteocalcin (the active form of osteocalcin) and fibroblast growth factor-23 on the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in type 2 diabetics with carotid artery calcification and the possible association with metabolic changes in relation to glucose and minerals homeostasis.

This study included 52 men with carotid artery calcification type 2 diabetes mellitus. These patients were categorized; as follows: group A includes 30 patients who had cardiovascular disease and group B includes 22 patients who had no cardiovascular disease. These groups were compared with 25 apparently healthy control (Group C). 

It has been shown

In petroleum industry, the early knowledge of “pore pressure gradient” is the basis in well design and the extraction of these information is more direct when the pore pressure gradient is equal to normal gradient; however, this matter will be more complex if it deviate from that limit which is called “abnormal pore pressure”, if this variable does not put in consideration, then many drilling problems will occur might lead to entire hole loss. To estimate the pore pressure gradient there are several methods, in this study; Eaton method’s is selected to extract the underground pressure program using drilling data (normalized rate of penetration) and logs data (sonic and density log). The results shows that an abnormal high press

Benthic algae of Tigris river and one of its northern tributary the lower Zab were study at monthly intervals during Nov. 2001-Oct. 2002. Four sites were selected, a total of 115 species of algae were identified during this study, diatoms was the dominating group (86 species) followed by Chlorophyta (18 species), Cyanophyta (7species), Euglenophyta (2 species) and one species for each of Pyrrophyta and Chryzophyta. Pennate diatoms formed the major density within the identified algae and distributed among all stations especially the species Achnanthes minutissima, Navicula gracilis and Nitzschia palea, the diatoms bloomed in spring and autumn seasons. Bio-diversity and density of benthic algae in Tigris river was affected negatively by the e

This paper deals with defining Burr-XII, and how to obtain its p.d.f., and CDF, since this distribution is one of failure distribution which is compound distribution from two failure models which are Gamma model and weibull model. Some equipment may have many important parts and the probability distributions representing which may be of different types, so found that Burr by its different compound formulas is the best model to be studied, and estimated its parameter to compute the mean time to failure rate. Here Burr-XII rather than other models is consider  because it is used to model a wide variety of phenomena including crop prices, household income, option market price distributions, risk and travel time. It has two shape-parame

Background: Osteoporosis is a frequent disease that is manifested by reduced in mineral density and raised in fracture risk. Recent studies have indicated that osteoporosis is caused by composite connections among local and systemic regulators of bone cell function.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between interleukin-2, interleukin-4, and some biochemical markers in Iraqi patients with osteoporosis.
Patients and Methods: Forty five osteoporotic patients were incorporated in this study (30 women and 15 men). Serum fasting glucose, lipid profile, alkaline phosphatase activity, calcium, magnesium, interleukin-2, and interleukin-4 were measured in osteoporotic patients and compared them with the

Background: Among many possible causes, CD14, CD 56, were implicated in immune mechanisms and might be involved in pregnancy loss. However the role of these Immunological factors has not been clearly elucidated. Some authors have shown that women with reproductive failure (such as spontaneous miscarriage) have increased CD14, uNK cells numbers; where as other authors reported no difference or even reduced numbers.
Objective: The aim of this study was to have an insight in a panel of the immunological factors shared in the placental microenvironment in an attempt to find a close relationships of these markers to the state of abortions.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry technique assay was used to detect CD14 and CD56 in 40 women with sp

Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is becoming one of the most common procedures performed for the treatment of morbidly obese patients in the last few years until now.
Objectives: This type of surgery needs to be evaluated regarding the various techniques used and the possible post-operative complications with the exact methods of treating them.
Patients and methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 240 consecutive morbidly obese patients over a period of 3 years (Feb 2011- Mar 2013) in the Saint Raphael Centre of morbid obesity with an average patient body mass index of 45 (35 - 61). They all underwent LSG, and the decreased weight resulting from surgery was analyzed regarding early and late complications. In 40 of

Background: Literature documented that depression is a sequelae of exposure to wars and widespread violence. In Iraq, high figures of depression were published.
Objectives: To report on the prevalence of depression among women in the high crowded area, Al-Sader city, Baghdad.
Method: A total of 440 females were included in this study. There were selected randomly from relatives of patients accompanied them in attending to primary health care centers. Beck –Depression Inventory (BDI)-II was used to assess depression. Demographic data were requested, too.
Result: The prevalence of depression was 68.4%. Old age women, divorced and widows were determinants of depr

Diabetic retinopathy is one of most important complications of diabetes mellitus that can be treated by Nd:YAG laser. Laser is used in ophthalmic practice for photocoagulation and photodisruption. The purpose of this study is to evaluate changes in immunological ,hematological and biochemical values after treatment of diabetic retinopathy by laser. Blood samples from 10 patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy were taken before and after laser treatment to coagulate retina to prevent leakage and hemorraghe to avoid deterioration of vision.In group one (4 patients = 40%), blood tests were done one day after treatment. In group two (6 patients =60%) tests were done 7 days after treatment with laser. The study showed no clear changes in