COVID-19 is a unique viral infectious illness that causes a variety of symptoms and health hazards, particularly to the respiratory system and has been declared a worldwide pandemic. The disease is characterized by a cytokine release in severe conditions. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine, mediates an important immunomodulatory process. Also, vitamin D was identified to have a role in the innate immunity of individuals. Our study was designed to find the role of IL-6 and vitamin D in COVID-19 patients, as well as, to see whether there is a link between vitamin D deficiency and cytokine syndrome development. The study included 90 COVID-19 patients and 30 control people from Baghdad, Iraq. The age of the participants was non-s

This study evaluated the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination (BSE), among a sample of educated Iraqi women. The study sample comprised 858 women aged 18–62 years affiliated to 6 major Iraqi universities, categorized according to occupation as teaching staff (11.5%), administrative staff (18.0%) and students (70.5%). Data were collected by a self-completed questionnaire. In all, 93.9% of the women had heard about BSE, the main source of information was television (39.9%), doctors (18.4%) and the awareness campaign of the Iraqi National Breast Cancer Research Programme (11.6%). Only 53.9% of the women practised BSE; the most common excuses by those that did not were lack of knowledge of the significance of BSE (42.0%) and lack

The main problem established by a discovery of a thyroid nodule is to discriminate between a benign and malignant lesion. Differential diagnosis between follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) and benign follicular thyroid adenoma (FTA) is a great challenge for even an experienced pathologist and requires special effort. A developing number of some encouraging IHC markers for the differential diagnosis of thyroid lesions have emerged, including, Hector Battifora mesothelial (HBME-1) and galectin-3 (Gal-3). There was significant positive correlation between Galectin-3 and HBME-1 in follicular carcinoma and follicular variant of papillary carcinoma (r= 0.380, P= 0.041) and (r= 0.315, P=0.047) respectively. There was no significant correlation between

The thermal properties (thermal transfer and thermal expansion coefficient) of the enhanced epoxy resin (MWCNT / x-TiO₂) were studied by weight ratios with the values (0%, 3%, 5%, 7% and 10%) and a constant ratio of 3% of MWCNT. The ultrasonic technology was used to prepare the neat and composites which were then poured into Teflon molds according to standard conditions. Thermo-analyzer sensor technology was used to measure thermal transfer (thermal conductivity, thermal flow, thermal diffusion, thermal energy and heat resistance). The thermal conductivity, flow, and thermal conductivity values were increased sequentially by increasing the weight ratio of the filler while the results of stored energy values an

 في البحث الحالي تم تحضير ودراسة النشاط الحيوي لسلسلة من البوليمرات الجديدة المحورة  من الكيتوسان مع مركبات تحتوي على مجموعة الآزو. في البداية تم تحضير ملح الديازونيوم من  تفاعل  3,3'-dimethyl-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine مع حامض الهيدروكلوريك المركز ونتريت الصوديوم .ثم تفاعل  الازدواج بين ملح  الديازونيوم مع الديهايدات اروماتية معوضة  لإنتاج مشتقات الازو (1-6). ازو شف بيس كيتوسان((12-7 والتي حضرت من تفاعل الكيتوسان مع مشتقات

Cerium oxide (CeO2), or ceria, has gained increasing interest owing to its excellent catalytic applications. Under the framework of density functional theory (DFT), this contribution demonstrates the eect that introducing the element nickel (Ni) into the ceria lattice has on its electronic, structural, and optical characteristics. Electronic density of states (DOSs) analysis shows that Ni integration leads to a shrinkage of Ce 4f states and improvement of Ni 3d states in the bottom of the conduction band. Furthermore, the calculated optical absorption spectra of an Ni-doped CeO2 system shifts towards longer visible light and infrared regions. Results indicate that Ni-doping a CeO2 system would result in a decrease of the band gap. Finally,

The aim of the present study was to develop theophylline (TP) inhalable sustained delivery system by preparing solid lipid microparticles using glyceryl behenate (GB) and poloxamer 188 (PX) as a lipid carrier and a surfactant respectively. The method involves loading TP nanoparticles into the lipid using high shear homogenization – ultrasonication technique followed by lyophilization. The compositional variations and interactions were evaluated using response surface methodology, a Box – Behnken design of experiment (DOE). The DOE constructed using TP (X₁), GB (X₂) and PX (X₃) levels as independent factors. Responses measured were the entrapment efficiency (% EE) (Y₁), mass median