Background: Directly observed therapy-short course (DOTS) had been adopted by World Health Organization (WHO) as hopeful strategy for treatment of tuberculosis (TB) since early nineties. Iraqi health authorities started DOTS implementation since 2001 in Baghdad. Coverage expanded gradually till 100% in 2004. War and unstable security condition hit Iraq since March 2003. Objective: The objective of this study was To evaluate the DOTS implementation program in Baghdad in different periods including 2 unstable periods for proper assessment of war and instability on treatment of TB. Patients and methods: This study had been conducted in Baghdad during four different periods (before and during 2003 war, after war; without and with DOTS). Dire

Cysteine-cysteine chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) is known to play an important role with immunoregulatory and inflammatory activities in the formation of granuloma during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. About 90 subjects, involving 50 patients with pulmonary TB and 40 apparently healthy individuals (as a control group) were collected from primary health care center\AL-Sadur city sector/ Baghdad City/ Iraq, and at specialized chest and respiratory diseases center in Wassit City /Iraq during the period from January 2019 to May 2019. The study was carried out to investigate serum level of CCL-5 of both patients and control by using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and to determine the association between CCL5 genotypes with pul

Background: L. sativum, are traditionally used for the treatment of various diseases and thought to have medicinal value. Isolates from many part of the world is now multidrug resistant. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look for and test an alternative herbal drug.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of L. Sativum seed extract against multi drug resistant (MDR) and sensitive Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates.

Subjects and Methods: An ethanolic and aqueous stock extracts were prepared from L.  sativum seed plant then serial dilutions were prepared and the obtained concentrations (50, 25, 12.5 and 6.2 mg/ml) were tested against 30 multidrug-resistan

      Cytokines and chemokines are small-secreted proteins involved in many aspects of cell development, differentiation, and activation functions. A prominent characteristic of these molecules is their effect on the immune system in relation to the development of cell trafficking and immune tissues and organs. Furthermore, they play an important role in initiating and coordinating the organized and sequential recruitment and activation of cells into Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected lungs. We aimed to evaluate the levels of interleukin -17 (IL-17) and the chemotactic chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5 (CCL5) in the sera of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients. About 90 subjects were included, involving 5

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the cause of the major world health issue, tuberculosis (TB). The cytokine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has been implicated in protection against TB in the early stages of the disease. TNF-α is an effective cytokine in the killing of intracellular M. tuberculosis. This study inducted to investigate whether there is any relationship between levels of TNF-α in sera of TB patients and their recovery, and is there any difference in the level of this cytokine in sera of female and male TB patients. This study included 29 patients with pulmonary TB (18 female and 11 male), their ages ranging from 37 to 59 years. All of them received first line TB therapy. They were consulted at Pasture Center during Septem

Background: In the past, an association between Tuberculosis (TB) and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) was widely accepted, today the potential public health and clinical importance of this relationship seems to be largely ignored. The national clinical and policy guidance in the UK on the central of TB, for example, does not consider the relationship with DM.Objectives: To determine the risk of association between diabetes mellitus and pulmonary TB.Methods: A retrospective study conducted in Ibn Zuhr hospital for chest diseases from Jan 2008 – sep 2010 , included in the study 402 patients with TB divided into diabetic & non diabetic, 96 (23.8%) were diabetic while other 306 were TB not diabetic.Results: Risk of TB among DM patients were cle

Background: clinically significant macular edema (CSME) is the commonest cause of visual loss in patients with diabetes mellitus and laser focal photocoagulation is the golden standard for treating it. Patients and Methods: A frequency doubled Nd: YAG laser was used to treat all eyes included in this study with diabetic maculopathy. Thirty eyes of three insulin dependent and twenty six non insulin dependent diabetic Iraqi patients were included. The study involved twenty six males, three females and followed for one year. Their ages were ranging between 36- 59 years, all of them from patients attending ophthalmic out-patient department in the medical city in the period between January 2005 and June 2006. Eyes divided in to two groups (fifte

It has been well documented that hemodialysis patients have impaired immune response, which may result in higher prevalence rates of viral infections, including CMV. Infections in these patients may be due to primary infection or, more commonly, by reactivation of latent virus or re-infection with exogenous virus, which may be introduced by blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of CMV-IgG and IgM antibodies among hemodialysis patients. The current research included 116 hemodialysis patients (69 male and 47 female) who attended to Tikrit Teaching Hospital for the period from beginning of October/2013 to the end of April/2014. CMV-IgG was found in 102 out of 116 (87.9%), while CMV- IgM was detected in 10 ou