Background: Beta thalassemia major (β-TM) is an inheritable condition with many complications, especially in children. The blood-borne viral infection was proposed as a risk factor due to the recurrent blood transfusion regimen (hemotherapy) as human parvovirus B19 (B19V). Objective: This study investigated the B19V seroprevalence, DNA presence, B19V viral load, and B19V genotypes in β-TM patients and blood donors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study incorporating 180 subjects, segregated into three distinct groups each of 60 patients, namely control, β-TM, and β-TM infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV).  For the B19V prevalence in the studied group, the ELISA technique and real-time PCR were used. The genotyping was follo

The Vulnerable Indian Roofed Turtle Pangshura tecta (Gray, 1831) (Testudines: Geoemydidae) occurs in the Sub-Himalayan lowlands of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Little is known about its natural history, no studies have been conducted revealing its natural predators. In this study, a group of Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos Wagler, 1827 (Passeriformes: Corvidae) was observed hunting and predating on an Indian Roofed Turtle carcass in the bank of river Kuakhai, Bhubaneswar, India. The first record of this predation behaviour is reported and substantiated by photographic evidence.

To determine the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and skin disorders, sixty six patients who suffering from skin diseases include chronic urticarial (CU) and atopic dermatitis (AD) who attended at Dermatological Clinic/ Al-Numan Teaching Hospital from the beginning of October 2015 to the end of January 2016 with age (6-62) have been investigated and compared to twenty two samples of apparently healthy individuals were studied as control group. All the studied groups were subjected to measurement of antiHelicobacter pylori IgG antibodies by enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) and detection of 16S rRNA and CagA genes by using singleplex and multiplex PCR methods. The results of current study revealed that there was a

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm arises from Bcr-Abl gene translocation (called Ph chromosome) in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This genetic abnormality results in constitutive activation of tyrosine kinase and subsequent uncontrol growth and multiplication of granulocytes. The cornerstone in treatment of CML are tyrosine kinase inhibitors, of which imatinib is the most effectively used. JAK2V617F mutation is an acquired single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) occurs in JAK2 gene and is associated with many hematological malignancy other than CML. It was thought that the two genetic abnormalities (Bcr-Abl and JAK2V617F) occur mutually; however, growing body of evidences suggested the reverse. This study a

In this study, a genetic algorithm (GA) is used to detect damage in curved beam model, stiffness as well as mass matrices of the curved beam elements is formulated using Hamilton's principle. Each node of the curved beam element possesses seven degrees of freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The curved beam element had been derived based on the Kang and Yoo’s thin-walled curved beam theory. The identification of damage is formulated as an optimization problem, binary and continuous genetic algorithms
(BGA, CGA) are used to detect and locate the damage using two objective functions (change in natural frequencies, Modal Assurance Criterion MAC). The results show the objective function based on change in natural frequency i

The current study was designed to investigate the presence of aflatoxin M1 in 25 samples of pasteurized canned milk which collected randomly from some Iraqi local markets using ELISA technique. Aflatoxin M1 was present in 21 samples, the concentration of aflatoxin M1 ranged from (0.25-50 ppb). UV radiation (365nm wave length) was used for detoxification of aflatoxin M1 (sample with highest concentration /50 ppb of aflatoxin M1 in two different volumes ((25 & 50 ml)) for two different time (15 & 30 min) and 30, 60, 90 cm distance between lamp and milk layer were used for this purpose). Results showed that distance between lamp and milk layer was the most effective parameter in reduction of aflatoxin M1, and whenever the distance increase the

Infection with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is widely prevalent in humans and animals. Infection with Toxoplasma may associate with miscarriage in many pregnant women due to infection. In this study, the level of lutetropic hormone (LTH), folliclestimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) was measured in pregnant women suffering from toxoplasmosis using mini-VIDAS®technique. Results showed that pregnant women have high concentration of both LTH and FSH hormone(10.80 ± 6.53) ng/ml and (9.51 ± 2.40) μIU/ml respectively, while the concentration of LH hormone was lower than normal(4.49 ± 0.56) μIU/ml. Such finding is to suggest that infection with T. gondii is interfering with these hormones in pregnant women.

Tuberculosis status as the second leading causes of significant morbidity and mortality from an infectious disease worldwide, after human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Sample collection was conducted at the Institute of Chest and Respiratory Diseases/Baghdad Medical City in Baghdad. The collection interval was from August to October 2014, 629 suspected TB patients were examined during this period. The results revealed among total 629 specimens, 56 (8.9%) of the specimens were positive by direct examination and 573 (91.1%) negative specimens by smear microscopy. Fifty six DNA samples were extracted from positive ZN smears of sputum specimens and 40 samples from healthy persons (as control) were subjected to molecular diagnosis by real tim