Background Several studies have addressed the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), among Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients in different countries, and the potential association between the infection and PD; the results of these studies were conflicting. The study aims to investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection among sample of Iraqi PD patients. Also, to examine the potential association of age, PD duration, gender, smoking habit, zone of residence and family history of PD, with the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in PD patients.

Patients and Methods Seventy-four PD patients attaining Dr. Saad Al-Witry Neuroscience Hospital in Baghdad/ Ir

This research is a pragmatic study of political blame in British and Iraqi Parliaments. It aims to unfold the similarities and/or differences in terms of the pragmatic and pragma-rhetorical strategies used by British and Iraqi politicians when they exchange blame in both offensive and defensive situations. A statistical analysis is conducted to quantitatively support the findings of the pragmatic analysis. The analyses conducted have yielded different results among blame is a process composed of two stages. Each stage is distinct for its pragmatic components and pragma-rhetorical strategies. British and Iraqi MPs at the blame stage tend to utilize impoliteness as their main strategy. However, British and Iraqi MPs perform differently at the

Forty-eight aborted women (Iraqi Arab Muslims) at the first trimester with a serological evidence of toxoplasmosis were investigated. Two age- and ethnic-matched control groups were included: 40 aborted women due to accidental events (Control I), and 40 unmarried (virgin) women (Control II). The subjects were evaluated for the following parameters: HLA-class I antigens (A, B and Cw), blood groups, total and differential counts of leukocytes, lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+ and CD20+ cells), phagocytosis of heat-killed yeast (phagocytic index and NBT index), and total serum levels of immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG and IgM) and complement components (C3 and C4). The HLA-A2 and -Cw8 antigens were significantly increased in the patien

The current study was conducted in the period extending from November 2018 to October 2019 and designed as a case-control study and aimed to assess the seroprevalence of HCMV. However, a total number of 91serum specimens were collected to fulfill this purpose from females (71 breast cancer patients, and control group of 20 females) attending Al-Amal hospital for cancer management and Baghdad teaching hospital and the practical part was performed in College of Science, University of Baghdad. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Department of Biology (Reference: BEC/0220/0011). The immunological part for evaluation of seroprevalence of HCMV was accomplished by ELISA technique which revealed that anti-HCMV IgG was sco

Background: Diabetic cheiroarthropathy is a term derived from the Greek word “cheiros” meaning “of the hand”, It is characterized by stiff hands with distinctively thick, tight, and waxy skin, especially on the dorsal aspects of the hands. It is part of long term complication of diabetes and many suggest it is associated with microvascular complication. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of diabetic cheiroarthropathy in Iraqi patients with diabetes, and to study its association with diabetic retinopathy and glycemic control. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study in which 110 diabetic patients and 110 non-diabetic healthy people who accepted to take part in the study were ran

A summary of zooplankton research done in Peruvian marine waters is presented. We first provide a brief overview of the evolution of zooplankton studies off Peru before reviewing zooplankton biodiversity, regional distribution, seasonal and interannual fluctuation, trophodynamics, secondary production, and modeling are some of these topics. We evaluate research on various meroplankton, macroplankton, mesoplankton, and microplankton groups and provide a list of species from both published and unpublished sources. Three regional zooplankton groups have been identified: A shelf group on the continental shelf dominated by Acartia tonsa and Centropages brachiatus; A slope group on the continental shelf with siphonophores, bivalves, foramin

The developments in forensic DNA technology have led us to perform this study in Iraqi population as reference database of autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (aSTR) DNA markers . A total of 120 unrelated individuals from Wasit province were analyzed at 15 STR DNA markers. Allele frequencies of DNA typing loci included in the AmpFlSTR1 IdentifilerTM PCR Amplification Kit panel from Applied Biosystems (D3S1358, vWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, TH01, TPOX, CSF1PO, D19S433, D2S1338, D16S539) and several forensic efficiency statistical parameters were estimated from all the sample. the combined Matching Probability (CMP) using the 15 STR genetic loci in Iraqi population was estimated at 1 in 2.08286E-18 and the Combined

The design, construction and investigation of experimental study of two compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs) with tubular absorber have been presented. The performance of CPCs have been evaluated by using outdoor experimental measurements including the instantaneous thermal efficiency. The two CPCs are tested instantly by holding them on a common structure. Many tests are conducted in the present work by truncating one of them in three different levels. For each truncation the acceptance half angle (θ_c) was changed. Geometrically, the acceptance half angle for standard CPC is (26^o). For the truncation levels for the other CPC 1, 2 and 3 the acceptance half angle were 20^o, 26^o and 5