Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive airflow limitation that is preventable but not curable. It is associated with persistent symptoms that cause a considerable burden on individual productivity at work, and daily activities, and reduced quality of life, also burdening the healthcare system and society. Objectives: The study aims to measure the burden of COPD on patients in terms of daily activities and work productivity. It also seeks to investigate some inflammatory biomarkers' levels and their correlation with selected outcomes. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 120 stable COPD patients who were diagnosed and treated according to the GOLD guidelines at Kirkuk General Hospital's

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, complicating 3-14% of all pregnancies. Although the etiology remains unknown, placental hypoperfusion and diffuse endothelial cell injury are considered to be the central pathological process; many endocrinological changes have been linked to the etiology of preeclampsia including parathyroid hormone and calcium level. Objective: to compare serum parathyroid hormone and total serum calcium levels in mild and severe preeclampsia versus normal pregnancy. Patients and methods: Serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) level and total serum calcium level were measured in thirty normotensive pregnant women and thirty women with mild preeclampsia and thi

Background: Osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass and micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue spatially in postmenopausal women and its major complication fractures.
Objective: The aim of this study was to find out the significance of serum OC and serum OPN levels with the incidence of osteoporosis and its major complication (fractures).
Patients and Methods: Eighty-five postmenopausal women (PMW) whose ages were fifty years and over categorized into three groups: osteoporosis PMW without VFs (n=30), osteoporosis PMW with VFs (n=28), and healthy PMW (n=27). Sera samples were analyzed for alkaline phosphatase, calcium and phosphorous by using spectrophotometric kit. Serum OC

Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy among women worldwide, in Iraq it ranks the first among the population and the leading cause of cancer related female mortality. This study is designed to investigate the correlations between serum and tissue markers in order to clarify their role in progression or regression breast cancer. Tumor Markers are groups of substances, mainly proteins, produced from cancer cell or from other cells in the body in response to tumor.  The study was carried out from April 2018 to April 2019 with total number of 60 breast cancer women. The blood samples were collected from breast cancer women in postoperative and pretherapeutic who attended teaching oncology hospital of the medical city in Baghdad and

Background: There are many sources for Leptin secretion, and it is activated by binding with its receptor known as leptin receptor, that play a role in male infertility.
Objective: To assess the levels of leptin and leptin receptors in seminal plasma among primary infertile men and its impact on semen parameters.
Patients and Methods: A case control study of 75 primary infertile males and 40 healthy individuals who were enrolled in this study during March 2013 to May 2013. Estimation of age, body mass index (BMI), semen analysis, seminal plasma leptin, leptin receptor and testosterone hormone concentration were done for all study subjects.
Results: Highly significant difference found in mean of semen parameters of infertile male

The condition of elevated concentrations of ‎triglyceride in ‎the blood is called hypertriglyceridemia, which ‎triggers the onset of some physiological disorder. This study was carried out to find the ‎correlation between body weight and ‎hypertriglyceridemia. ‎Out of 518 cases, 342 individuals were underweight, with body ‎mass index (BMI) values of ≤18, while their mean ‎serum triglyceride level was 172.4 ± 25.2mg/dl. In addition, 99 cases had normal BMI of >18, whereas 60 were overweight (‎BMI = 25-29), with mean serum triglyceride level of 182.3 ± 15.9. Also, 17 cases were obese (BMI >30), where the ‎mean triglycerid

  Recent progress in the understanding of psoriasis has shown that the regulation of local and systemic cytokines plays an important role in its pathogenesis. Different studies evaluated the association of serum levels of some proinflammatory cytokines invivo and their correlation with severity of psoriasis. Eighty cases of psoriatic patients had been studied. Patients were divided into mild psoriasis group (30) and severe psoriasis group (50) according to severity, and (30) apparently healthy individuals ware used as acontrol group. Sera samples of all groups were collected from all individuals for the estimation levels of interleukins (IL-6 and IL-8).  All mean values sera levels (IL-6 32.004 pg/ml and 17.579 pg/ml  for

Background: The role of cytokines in cancer immunity and carcinogenesis in general has been well established, which play an important role in the pathogenesis of many solid cancers.This study aimed to estimate serum levels of IL-2 and IL-4, and to shed light on the correlation of these interleukins with progression of breast cancer.
Patients and Methods: The study included 80 women, it comprised of 45 breast cancer patients, 12 patients with benign breast lesions and 23 apparently healthy controls. ELISA method has been used for estimation the level of IL-2 and IL-4 in serum of three studied groups.
Results: This study showed elevation of IL-4 level in the sera of breast cancer patients with significant dif