Interleukins (IL-2 and IL-4) are increased in asthmatics and were reported to induce resistance to steroid therapy in some patients who fail to get benefit from glucocorticoids when used in full dose and for long period of time. In this context, the present study was conducted on Iraqi patients to provide additional laboratory mean, beside the clinical diagnosis, for the decision whether the asthma is steroid sensitive or resistant by monitoring the level of immunoglobulins, complement proteins and interleukins among asthmatic patients (steroid sensitive or resistant) and the possible contribution of other factors like age, sex and environments in the development of steroid resistance. A total number of 55 asthmatics and 28 normal subjec

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the common chronic disease, which lead to great disability and chronic pain, and has a main adverse economic and social effect upon patients. The reason for the addition of quality of life as a pointer for health outcome result is attributed to the affectability of this measure for the evaluation of patient's health status after taken treatment and its health outcome. The purpose of the current study was to assess quality of life among a sample of Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis and to determine the possible association between health’s related quality of life and some patient-certain factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 250 already diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis pat

This study dealt with IL-13 1024 (C/T) gene genotyping among patients with Thyroid goiter in Iraq. Forty blood samples from patients with Thyroid goiter were collected and compared with 30 healthy persons as controls. The genotyping results of IL-13 1024 (C/T) gene using ARMS-PCR revealed presence TT, CC and CT genotypes beside T and C alleles. The T allele and TT genotype frequency were higher in Thyroid goiter patients compared to the same genotype and allele in healthy persons (P = 0.060). These increasing results were related with increasing risk factor of Thyroid goiter (odds ratio [OR] 2.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.99–71.4). No significant differences between genotypes for Thyroid goiter patients and controls were revealed by

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive multisystem disease that results from mutation(s) of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. More than 2100 mutations and polymorphisms have been reported in this gene so far. Incidence and genotyping of CF are under-identified in Iraq. This study aims to determine the types and frequencies of certain CFTR mutations among a sample of Iraqi CF patients. Two groups of patients were included: 31 clinically confirmed CF patients in addition to 47 clinically suspected patients of CF. All confirmed pa

Background; Perforated duodenal ulcer (PDU) is a common surgical emergency that is associated with high mortality and morbidity. Early diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment is required to prevent grave complications.
Objective; The study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of different radiological investigations in the diagnosis of perforated duodenal ulcer.
Methods; A prospective study of 185 pts with PDU at al kindy teaching hospital, Baghdad, Iraq from June 2008- august 2010. patients were examined clinically and investigated by blood test, chest x ray, plain X ray of the abdomen. Ultrasonography (U/S) and CT scanning done for those patients with negative X- ray finding. Resuscitation by intravenous fluid and ant

Background: Acute appendicitis is regarded as one of the most common inflammation that needs surgical intervention. Different scoring systems have been used for diagnosing of acute appendicitis. ALVARADO score is one of the most widely used score in diagnosing of acute appendicitis, but the accuracy of the latter is insufficiently low in Middle-East patients. Thus a new scoring system called RIPASA score has been designed for diagnosing of acute appendicitis in those patients. The aim of this study is to use RIPASA score and compare its result with ALVARADO score in diagnosing of acute appendicitis.

Subjects and Methods: The study includes 200 patients with symptoms and signs of

Background: The Andrews’ six keys of normal occlusion contribute individually and collectively to the total scheme of occlusion and, therefore, are viewed as essential to successful orthodontic treatment. The present research aims to evaluate the presence of the parameters of the Andrews’ Six Keys of normal occlusion in a sample of 100 Iraqi adults with complete permanent dentition and clinically acceptable normal occlusion (Angle’s Class I) in Baghdad city. Their age range 18-25 years (60 males and 40 females). Materials and methods: Each patient was subjected to clinical examination and then study cast models were made, with their occlusal records. The measuring tools that have been used involved: Three-dimensional goniometer to me

Thermal properties of soils are important in buried structures contact problems. Although laboratory is distinctly advantageous in measuring the thermal conductivity of soil under ideal condition, given the ability to simulate relatively large-scale in place of soil bed, the field thermal conductivity of soil is not yet commonly used in many types of research. The use of only a laboratory experiment to estimate thermal conductivity may be the key reason for overestimation or underestimation it. In this paper, an intensive site investigation including field thermal conductivity tests for six different subsoil strata were performed using a thermal probe method (TLS-100) to systematically understanding the effects of field dry density, water c

Two Prototypes of Transversely Excited at atmospheric pressure (TEA) Nitrogen laser systems (One Stage Blumlein Circuit and Two Stage Blumlein Circuit) were fabricated and operated. High voltage power supply with variable operating voltage (0-20 kv) and operating current (1-3A) was built and tested successfully. The gas flow rate of 15 L/ min and 10 L/ min for OSBC and TSBC was used. The performance of the fabricated systems was studied extensively reaching to the optimum operating conditions. The obtained laser output energy for the first system has linear relationship with the applied voltage. The maximum output energy was about (1.14 mJ) with (10.40) ns pulse duration and the half-wave divergence angle was about (0.1455 m rad). In the