The present study aimed to determine the serum sex hormone levels among Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) patients before and after 3 months of oral administration of 5-α reductase inhibitor(finasteride). Forty BPH patients and 40 healthy men from Amara city were involved in this study, their ages were between 40-59 year. They were all subjected  to direct estimation of hormones by MinVidas method including Testosterone (T), Estradiol (E2), Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing Hormone (LH), Prolactin (PRL), and Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) before and after 3 months of treatment with 5α-reductase inhibitor (finasteride) (the healthy individuals didn’t take finasteride).The results showed that T level was significantly lo

Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived mitral annular displacement (MAD) utilizes the speckle tracking technique to measure strain vectors, which provides accurate estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).Objectives: To validate the accuracy of mitral annular displacement (MAD), assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE), as a surrogate for determination of left ventricular systolic function in comparison to 2-Dimensions Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases.Methods : This cross-sectional study included patients who referred to outpatient department of Ibn Albitar Center for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad, Iraq, between October 2012 and April 2013. STE continuously tracked annular

Background: This in vitro study evaluated the fracture resistance of weakened endodontically treated premolars with class II MOD cavities restored with different composite restorations (Low-shrinkage Filtek P90, nanohybrid Filtek Z250 XT and SDR bulk fill). The type and mode of fracture were also assessed for all the experimental groups. Materials and Method: Fifty human adult maxillary premolar teeth were selected for this study. Standardized extensive class II MOD cavities with endodontic treatment were prepared for all teeth, except those that were saved as intact control. The teeth were divided into five groups of ten teeth each (n=10): (Group 1) intact control group, (Group 2) unrestored teeth with endodontic treatment, (Group 3) resto

The present work aimed to investigate the neuraminidase (nan1) gene expression in 32 different clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to explore the role of the enzyme in different types of infection and might give a better understanding of host cell-pathogens interaction. In addition, the effect of monosaccharide D-mannose on neuraminidase gene expression in eight isolates was studied by utilizing a reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The results demonstrated that the highest expression of nan1 gene was in otitis samples (208,913.81) which were significantly higher than that from other infections (P < 0.01). While, the concentrations of gene copies obtained from urin

The clinical response to natalizumab in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) may be significantly influenced by genetic variation. Mutations in genes related to the drug’s mechanism of action or the pathological milieu of MS can contribute substantially to interindividual differences in treatment outcomes. This review aims to provide an overview of previous studies that have examined genetic polymorphisms associated with the clinical efficacy of natalizumab. A systematic literature search was conducted across the PubMed, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate databases using targeted keywords relevant to the subject matter. Several genetic loci were found to be linked to natalizumab responsiveness, including the integrin subunit alpha 4 (ITGA4

A superb demonstration of one of the wonders of technology providing the people with great aid is the employment of Artificial Intelligence in the medical field, and mainly the introduction of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). Nevertheless, non-’black-box’ AI systems have a significant problem, that is, although they are visible and understandable, there is still a considerable issue of trust by healthcare professionals. Explainable AI (XAI) technology is a means to overcome all the obstacles by unveiling more and offering the explanations of the procedures that AI performs in decision making. This study was conducted by examining various widely used approaches to XAI, which illustrate how XAI verifies the trustworthiness of CDS

Breast cancer constitutes about one fourth of the registered cancer cases among the Iraqi population (1)
and it is the leading cause of death among Iraqi women (2)
. Each year more women are exposed to the vicious
ramifications of this disease which include death if left unmanaged or the negative sequels that they would
experience, cosmetically and psychologically, after exposure to radical mastectomy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) documented that early detection and screening, when coped
with adequate therapy, could offer a reduction in breast cancer mortality; displaying that the low survival rates
in less developed countries, including Iraq, is mainly attributed to the lack of early detection programs couple