Background Type two diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by insufficient insulin production and secretion. Additionally, the body develops insulin resistance which affects 90–95% of diabetics. Complex cytokines, receptors, genetic pathways, and the immune system are involved in T2DM. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is one of the inflammatory cytokines associated with Type 2 diabetes. Environmental and genetic variables, including genetic polymorphisms, can increase T2DM risk and its consequences. Single nucleotide gene polymorphisms (SNPs) are important risk factors for diabetes that can be used to find the disease early and treat it better. Objective This study aimed to determine the levels of IL-18 in the serum of Iraqi patients with Type 2 diabetes

In line with the advancement of hardware technology and increasing consumer demands for new functionalities and innovations, software applications grew tremendously in term of size over the last decade. This sudden increase in size has a profound impact as far as testing is concerned. Here, more and more unwanted interactions among software systems components, hardware, and operating system are to be expected, rendering increased possibility of faults. To address this issue, many useful interaction-based testing techniques (termed t-way strategies) have been developed in the literature. As an effort to promote awareness and encourage its usage, this chapter surveys the current state-of-the-art and reviews the state-of-practices in t

In line with the advancement of hardware technology and increasing consumer demands for new functionalities and innovations, software applications grew tremendously in term of size over the last decade. This sudden increase in size has a profound impact as far as testing is concerned. Here, more and more unwanted interactions among software systems components, hardware, and operating system are to be expected, rendering increased possibility of faults. To address this issue, many useful interaction-based testing techniques (termed t-way strategies) have been developed in the literature. As an effort to promote awareness and encourage its usage, this chapter surveys the current state-of-the-art and reviews the state-of-practices in t

    The aim of this study was the isolation and characterization of Klebsiella pneumonia from 160 urine samples of patients hospitalized in children hospital in AL-Ramadi Proveng during October 2006 to May 2008. Also determination of the susceptibility of K. pneumoniae against a number of antibiotics to explain resistance mechanism for these antibiotics by using interpretative reading to avoid using it in treatment.           Forty two isolates were detected as K. pneumoniae with resistance to a number of antibiotics . These isolates were  tested to determine their sensitivities to a wide number of antibiotics which included  β-lactum group and aminoglicosides

             Polycystic syndrome (PCOS) is a considerable infertility disorder in adolescents and adult women in reproductive age. Obesity is a vigorous risk factor related to POCS.  This study aims to evaluate the association of obesity and PCOS by investigating several parameters including:  anthropological, biochemical (lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, glucose tolerance test, and hormone levels (LH, FSH, LH/FSH ratio, Estradiol2 and Testosterone),and genetic parameters (Fat mass and Obesity associated gene (FTO) polymorphism at rs17817449) in 63 obese and non-obese PCOS women. The biochemical tests were investigated by colorimetric methods while FTO gene polymorphism was detected by PCR–RFLP.  Lipid profile, F

             Polycystic syndrome (PCOS) is a considerable infertility disorder in adolescents and adult women in reproductive age. Obesity is a vigorous risk factor related to POCS.  This study aims to evaluate the association of obesity and PCOS by investigating several parameters including:  anthropological, biochemical (lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, glucose tolerance test, and hormone levels (LH, FSH, LH/FSH ratio, Estradiol2 and Testosterone),and genetic parameters (Fat mass and Obesity associated gene (FTO) polymorphism at rs17817449) in 63 obese and non-obese PCOS women. The biochemical tests were investigated by colorimetric methods while FTO gene polymorp

             Polycystic syndrome (PCOS) is a considerable infertility disorder in adolescents and adult women in reproductive age. Obesity is a vigorous risk factor related to POCS.  This study aims to evaluate the association of obesity and PCOS by investigating several parameters including:  anthropological, biochemical (lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, glucose tolerance test, and hormone levels (LH, FSH, LH/FSH ratio, Estradiol2 and Testosterone),and genetic parameters (Fat mass and Obesity associated gene (FTO) polymorphism at rs17817449) in 63 obese and non-obese PCOS women. The biochemical tests were investigated by colorimetric methods while FTO gene polymorphism was detected by PCR–RFLP.  Lipid profile, F

     The lymphotoxin alpha is a highly polymorphic gene and any genetic variation in it may lead to an increased production of cytokine LTA thus helping tumor development and progression. The aim of this work was to investigate the association of LTA polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer among Iraqi women. The findings of this study demonstrated that the age group > 50 years old formed 52% of the breast cancer patients (P <0.001). Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium analysis revealed that genotype frequencies of most SNPs in BC patients and HC were consistent with HWE. No association was found between LTA polymorphisms and BC. Moreover, seven haplotypes were detected in BC group. However, only one of them developed sign

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

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) represents a group of multifactorial autoinflammatory arthritis diseases. A dysregulated production of pro-inflammatory cytokines is proposed to have a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is one of these pro-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, this study aimed to define the role of IL-18 in the pathogenesis of JIA. Accordingly, the serum level of IL-18 was determined in 59 Iraqi JIA patients and 58 matched controls. The results revealed a significantly increased median of IL-18 in the patients as compared to the control. A similar increased level was observed in subgroups of patients characterized according to gender, seropositivity for C-reactive protein and rheumatoid facto