Cities witnessing mass-gathering events, such as Kerbala-Iraq, are peculiar in respect to their needs in controlling tuberculosis. DOTS was implemented in Kerbala almost two decades ago. GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay is adopted in the hope to escalate case detection rates, however, its performance is not evaluated yet. Records of 3254 patients suspected to have pulmonary TB whom they referred to the chest and Respiratory illnesses center of Kerbala governorate were analyzed. The overall trends of TB detection rates showed declining pattern over the year before the adoption of GeneXpert MTB/RIF. In the year of adoption of Xpert MTB/RIF, the detection rates raised, then after declined again. The GeneXpert MTB/RIF has add

Background: Tobacco smoking and tuberculosis (TB) are two major public health problems; Associations between smoking and tuberculosis including death from tuberculosis have been reported , A reduction in smoking could be expected to have a significant impact on TB incidence and prevalence .
Objectives: to assess the effect of smoking on tuberculosis.
Methods: This study was conducted from June 2011 to June 2012 in 200 patients, adult ( aged 17 years and more), newly diagnosed patients of pulmonary tuberculosis, at the chest and Respiratory Disease Specialized Center in Baghdad. Demographic data, presenting symptoms, data on smoking, and recurrence of disease were compared. Information on smoking status, tobacco smoking was collecte

Congenital toxoplasmosis (CT) and congenital rubella (CR) infections are well-known causes potentially leading to devastating consequences. This report aims to address the prevalence of each of these infections among suspected infants in a pediatric hospital in Baghdad.

The study sample includes 120 blood samples of suspected infants consulting Al-Alwyia pediatric teaching hospital over one year. This report represents an extension of a previous article published in Al-Kindy College Medical Journal KCMJ about cytomegalovirus infection (CMV). Using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, the results show that 5.8% and 5% were positive for specific IgM antibodies for rubella and toxoplasmosis respectively. Results also

Background:
Percutaneous Balloon Pulmonary Valvuloplasty (BPV) is now the treatment of choice for pulmonary valve stenosis (PS) Patients and Methods. It is a retrospective
study involving 40 consecutive patients with moderate to severe PS underwent BPV in Ibn Albitar Hospital for Cardiac Surgery from Sept. 2003 to Sept. 2004 ,
were medical records , Electrocardiograms ( ECG ) , Echo Doppler studies , and Catheterization data were reviewed carefully.
Results:
Mean pressure gradient across pulmonary valve (PV) was reduced from 112 +/- 46 mmHg before intervention to 49 It/- 34.7 after intervention.
Procedure failure occurred in one patient (2.5 %), four patients (10%) developed mild to moderate pul

Tuberculosis (TB) still remains an important medical problem due to high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A series of innate immune mechanisms that create a cytokine network control the pathogenesis of tuberculosis and this response has the capacity to modify the host genomic DNA structure through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation which could constantly alter the local gene expression pattern that can modulate the metabolism of the tissues and the immune-response. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine regulator of the innate immune response to TB. This study aims to determine DNA methylation patterns of INF-γ gene promoter and measure serum IFN- γ level in newly diagnosed TB patient

   In the present study, serum GOT(Glutamic Oxalacetic Transaminase) was purified, the purified enzyme showed the maximum activity at 37ºC and pH 7.5. During purification of serum GOT ion exchange chromatography lead to four separate forms (termed I, II, III and IV). GOT II with  the highest specific activity was pure after chromatography on Sephacryl S300. . S.GOT levels were investigated in serum samples from patient with pulmonary tuberculosis .The S.GOT levels were determined at and 37ć .The study revealed that the serum GOT activity was higher in patient of tuberculous pulmonary than in control subjects.The mean serum GOT activity in the patients group was(90±8 IU/L) as compared to control group (27±0.65I

The aim of the research was to investigate the use of non-parametric tests in the analysis of the questionnaire and how to choose the appropriate test for testing the hypothesis of the study of crime motives in Khartoum State. The data were collected through the primary sources by designing a questionnaire and distributed to a sample of inmates in Khartoum state; the data were analysis by SPSS program using the analytical statistical method through using some of the suitable non-parametric tests for each case. The most important results of the research were: there was significant relationship between the type of crime and the age group therefore, we found that the age group (20-29) was the most frequent crime particularly, the fi

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease and it accounts for over 10% of all hospital medical admission. Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PHT) is a common complication of COPD and the increase in pulmonary artery pressure is often mild to moderate. The presence of pulmonary arterial pressure and its severity is readily and reliably determined by transthoracic echocardiography in majority of COPD patients.
Patients and Methods: This study included 55 patients with mean age 65.6 ±8.2 years .The mean duration of symptoms was 18 ±10 months. 32 patients (58%) were current smoker, 18 patients (33%) were exsmoker and 5 pat

In this study ,the Aspergillus fumigatus histopathological activity on the mice livers during aspergillosis became more obvious. The total number of 40 male Albino swiss mice were randomly divided into 8 groups (Five mice/group). The 1st group were immunosuppressed , while the 2nd group are not immunosuppressed , and control mice were instilled nasally with Phosphate buffer saline and Tween 20 ( five mice / control). The mice were sacrificed after 7th , 14th and 21st day post infection. It was found that immunosuppressive treatments increase substantially the susceptibility of animals to infection by invasive aspergillosis, with higher progression of disease and earlier expression of inflammatory cells comparing with the non immunosuppre

Synthetic anti-TB drugs are being used to treat tuberculosis (TB) as they are effective, however, they are accompanied by many side effects. The disease has remained largely uncured till date. The use of plant extracts or phytochemicals along with the anti-TB drugs is a very attractive strategy to make the treatment more effective as phytochemicals have no side-effects, are much less toxic than synthetic anti-TB drugs, are safe to use and most importantly, do not produce resistant strains as opposed to synthetic anti-TB drugs. Approximately 420,000 plant species have been identified globally and among them only a few have been explored for their therapeutic potential. Traditional medicine in different parts of the world has employed crud