Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune vesiculobullous mucocutaneous disease with life-threatening consequences. Rituximab (RTX) has recently emerged as an effective treatment for PV. Objectives: This study aims to determine changes in neutrophil and platelet counts for PV patients treated with RTX or corticosteroids combined with Imuran (azathioprine). Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Dermatology at Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq. Thirty PV patients received two types of treatment: 15 patients were administered RTX and 15 patients took corticosteroids with Imuran (azathioprine). Neutrophil and platelet counts were detected at the hospital laboratory. Results

Background: There is a pronounced controversy regarding the dental and mental consequences of thumb sucking habit, which is a familiar nonnutritive pattern of sucking. Commonly, this behavior is harmless, yet those who sustain this pattern may have dental alterations and emotional difficulties. Children’s intelligence level influences their capabilities to judge, evaluate and handle priorities and/or problems profoundly and precisely. Thumb sucking habit might be a manner of liberating the psychological tenseness among several children. Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of thumb sucking habit and its relation to the eruption of permanent teeth and IQ among children aged 6-7 years old. Subjects and methods: I

Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is an important respiratory bacterial pathogen, especially among children. It causes acute upper and lower respiratory infections.Objective: This study was aimed to measure anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies among hospitalized children who were admitted to hospital diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infections.Method: Automated ELISA technique was performed to detect anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies (IgM and IgG antibodies) in serum from 108 children less than 5 years old. The children were admitted to the Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Suleimani city/Kurdistan Region/Iraq because of acute respiratory tract infections. A questionnaire was designed to collect demographic and clinical data fr

This study aimed to evaluate good manufacturing practices in food safety of ten different restaurants in the Al-Karkh area of Baghdad, Iraq. Forty samples collected from were collected from knives, food cutting boards, tables, hands and nails workers in restaurants. In addition. 70 food handlers were selected. Through structured interviews, information on the checklist for Good Manufacturing Practices in Food Safety, Food handlers’ general checklist for good hygiene, and Personal Hygiene Checklist were collected. The overall viable bacterial count before Good Hygiene Practices was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the total bacterial counts after Good Hygiene Practices. The highest viable bacterial counts before Good Hygiene P

Objectives: To highlight the knowledge of Al-Kindy medical students regarding varicella infection and to assess their knowledge and attitude toward its prevention. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study enrolled academic year 2020/2021 students at Al-Kindy College of Medicine from first to final year. We used an online questionnaire by Google forms to collect data, which were analyzed with SPSS 26. Results: A total of 208 students participated with 126 in the preclinical and 82 in the clinical grades. Generally, most clinical students were more aware about epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and complications of varicella infection than the preclinical students. Conclusion: Educational stage is a significant variab

It is well known that the rate of penetration is a key function for drilling engineers since it is directly related to the final well cost, thus reducing the non-productive time is a target of interest for all oil companies by optimizing the drilling processes or drilling parameters. These drilling parameters include mechanical (RPM, WOB, flow rate, SPP, torque and hook load) and travel transit time. The big challenge prediction is the complex interconnection between the drilling parameters so artificial intelligence techniques have been conducted in this study to predict ROP using operational drilling parameters and formation characteristics. In the current study, three AI techniques have been used which are neural network, fuzzy i

Twelve species of Tubuliferous thrips, of the family Phlaeothripidae had been reported from Iraq. Two of these were reported previously, Haplothrips cerealis Priesner, by El-Haidari and Daoud 1971 and Haplothrips tritici kurdjumov by Al-Ali 1977 and the rest were recorded for the first time: these are Haplothrips hukkineni Priesner; Haplothrips subtilissimus (Haliday); Haplothrips reuteri Karny; Haplothrips jasonis Priesner; Haplothrips sallloumensis Priesner; Haplothrips pharao Priesner; Phlaeothrips sycomri Priesner; Karnyothrips flavipus (Jones); Karnyothrips melaleucus (Bagnall); Dolicholepta micrurus (Bagnall). Number of insec

The city of Ghana is one of the important commercial cities in the country of Sudan, as it was a major source of commercial exchanges, and a commercial mediator across the countries of the Maghreb and the metropolises of the countries of Sudan. Many, and most of them take the desert road,    Which traders had to endure the hardships of these roads from the insecurity, high winds and dust that sometimes destroyed the trade convoys, in order to obtain gold, which is one of the most important minerals that Ghana traded with various countries, in addition to the different goods that the merchants carried In particular, salt and its trade with Ghana, and also taxes, which were an important financial resource imposed by some gov

Background: Prematurity and its complications are the major causes of neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality. Although the cause of preterm labor is often unknown, numerous etiological risk factors may be implicated. To identify the risk factors that lead to prematurity and assess the neonatal outcomes that preterm neonates may develop. Methods: This case-control study was conducted at AL-Elwiya Pediatric Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from the 1st of June to the 31st of December 2019. A non-randomized sample of 700 neonates admitted to the neonatal care unit was included in this study and divided into two groups of preterm full-term neonates as the experimental and control groups, respectively (n=350 each). The same questionnaire w