Background: The COVID-19 virus outbreak had a massive effect on many parts of people's lives, as they were advised to quarantine and lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading, which had a big impact on people's mental health, anxiety, and stress. Many internal and external factors lead to stress. This negatively influences the body's homeostasis. As a result, stress may affect the body's capacity to use energy to defend against pathogens. Many recent investigations have found substantial links between human mental stress and the production of hormones, prohormones, and/or immunological chemicals. some of these researches have verified the link between stress and salivary cortisol levels. The aim of this study is to measure salivary corti

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative autoimmune disease mediated by autoreactive T cells against myelin-basic proteins. Cytokines are suggested to play a role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Among these cytokines is interleukin-2 (IL-2). Aim of the study: To investigate the association between IL2+166 G/T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP: rs2069763) and MS in Iraqi patients. Serum level of IL-2 was also detected. Anti-rubella IgG antibody was further determined in the sera of patients. Patients and methods: Eighty MS patients (28 males and 52 females; age mean ± SD: 39.2 ± 16.1 years) and 80 healthy control matched patients for age (32.15 ± 16.13 years) and gender (28 males and 52 females) were en

Extensive studies have been conducted on the microbial properties of Streptococcus pneumoniae  all over the world ,but there are few studies in Iraq on the most important factors of virulence possessed by S.pneumoniae isolates found in Iraq , 195 of sputum specimens were collected from patients with pneumonia acquired from the community who were clinically diagnosed by specialized doctors depending on symptoms and  Radiography of Chest . Eighteen isolates of  S.pneumoniae were  diagnosed  by  special traditional methods that used in the phenotypic identification . All isolates 18 (100%) have been  given  positive results for  the optochin test , bile solubility test

Out of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 25 (50%) of isolates were resistant to gentamicin (≥16µg/ml), 22 (44%) of isolates were resistant to amikacin (≥64 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were resistant to ertapenem (≥8 µg/ml), 18 (36%) of isolates were resistant to imipenem (4- ≥16µg/ml), 43 (86%) of isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone (4- ≥64 µg/ml), 42 (84%) of isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (1

Background: Hypertension is probably the most important public health problem around the world. People with periodontal disease may be at greater risk of hypertension. The inflammatory effects of periodontal disease help to promote endothelial dysfunction in arteries which may lead to changes in blood pressure. Salivary MMP-8 has been associated with both periodontal disease and prevalent hypertension. Aim of study: This study was conducted to measure salivary matrix metalloproteinase - 8, in relation to periodontal health condition among a group of patients with hypertension in comparison with control group. Materials and methods: Ninety subjects, aged 45-50 years old were included in this study, seeking treatment for chest pain in Ibn-A

Background: Inhibitor development and HCV are considered the most serious complications of hemophilia treatment. Many factors may increase the risk of complications which include: type of hemophilia, age of the patient, age of onset, duration of the disease, & number of replacement per month. Patients and methods: A descriptive study included 200 patients less than 20 years of age admitted to the Hemophilia Center in Children Welfare Teaching Hospital , medical city in Baghdad , their data ( ag , sex , disease onset and duration , severity of hemophilia ) were collected over 8 months period from 1st January to 31st August 2006. Mixing tests and serology tests for HCV and HBV were performed for all patien

The ABO blood group system is highly polymorphic, with more than 20 distinct sub-groups; study findings are usually related to ABO phenotype, but rarely to the ABO genotype and animal models are unsatisfactory because their antigen glycosylation structure is different from humans. Both the ABO and Rh blood group systems have been associated with a number of diseases, but this is more likely related to the presence or absence of these tissue antigens throughout the body and not directly or primarily related to their presence on RBCs. A total of fifty-two 52 patients without complication of DMII, two hundred sixteen 216 patients with complication of DMII and seventy-one 71 person as healthy control were included in the study. The resu

Background: Despite the importance of vaccines in preventing COVID-19, the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines is lower among RA patients than in the general population. Objective: To determine the extent of COVID-19 knowledge among RA patients and their attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: A qualitative study with a phenomenology approach was performed through face-to-face, individual-based, semi-structured interviews in the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, rheumatology unit. A convenient sample of RA patients using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs was included until the point of saturation. A thematic content analysis approach was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: Twenty-five RA pa

Toxoplasmosis is a widespread infection of great importance, and that the disease does not show any clinical specific signs . this study was performed on 200 patients with schizophrenia were collected from :Al-Rashad Teaching Hospitals and 100 healthy individuals, considered as control group, the samples were collected during the period of December 2012 until the end of February, 2013. Antibodies against T. gondii parasite in the serum were detected by using latex agglutination test (LAT) and showed a percentage of positive antibodies in schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals (control) 143(71.5%) and 45( 45%) respectively.While using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) the positive blood sera in LAT test of the schizophreni