Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common oral mucosa diseases characterized by recurrent, shallow, round or oval painful oral ulcers surrounded by inflammatory erythematous halos, the condition is chronic and self-limiting in immunocompetent patients. Aim of the study: to investigate the serum vitamin D levels in Iraqi female patients with RAS and the relationship between vitamin D levels and the severity of RAS. In this cross sectional study 30 female patients with idiopathic RAS, and 30 age and sex matched healthy controls were included, the severity of RAS is assessed by the number of oral aphthous ulcers in each attack and the frequency of attacks. Serum 25(OH) D levels were determined by the Enzy

Background and Objective: Public demand for procedures to rejuvenate photodamaged facial skin have stimulated the use of fractional CO2 laser as a precise and predictable treatment modality. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of fractional CO2 laser system for reducing periorbital rhytids.

Materials and Methods: twenty seven subjects with mild periocular wrinkles, and photoaged skin of the face were prospectively treated two to three times (according to clinical response) in the periorbital area with a fractional CO2 laser device equipped with a scanning hand piece. Improvements in eyelid wrinkles was evaluated clinically and photographically. Subjects also scored satisfaction and

Background: Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a malignant hematological disease of hematopoietic stem cells. It is difficult to adapt treatment to each patient's risk level because there are currently few clinical tests and no molecular diagnostics that may predict a patient's clock for the advancement of CML at the time of chronic phase diagnosis. Biomarkers that can differentiate people based on the outcome at diagnosis are needed for blast crisis prevention and response improvement. Objective: This study is an effort to exploit the SLC25A3 gene as a potential biomarker for CML. Methods: RT-qPCR was applied to assess the expression levels of the SLC25A3 gene. Results: In comparison to the mean ΔCt of the control group, which was found to b

Blastocystis is a ubiquitous human and animal protozoa that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Metronidazole is considered the standard drug for the treatment of Blastocystis infection; however, there is growing evidence of treatment failure, hazardous side effects, and appearance of strains resistant to metronidazole. In the last era, many studies have been implicated in the quest for new treatments for Blastocystis infection, especially natural products. Attention has been focused on the effect of Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seed on eradicating parasitic infections. The current work was built up to explore the in vitro efficacy of two natural compounds, Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seeds against

Systemic lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology affecting multiple organ system. Reactive nitrogen and oxygen species are claimed to play a role in this disease. However, the potential of Nitrosative/Oxidative Stress to elicit an autoimmune, response remain till now largely unexplored in humans. This study was done to investigate the status and contribution of nitrosative/oxidative stress in Iraqi patients for systemic lupus erythematosus. Blood samples from 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 19 age-and sex- matched apparently healthy controls were evaluated for serum levels of nitrosative/oxidative stress markers including nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and malondialdehyde. Nitric oxide levels were

The oncolytic viruses are promising form of cancer therapy which is based on the selectively killing of the cancer cells. This study was aimed to investigate the role of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) Iraqi strain AD2141 in apoptosis. Firstly, the virulence of AD2141 was detected in embryonated chicken eggs after 48hrs of infection. It was observed a hemorrhage in the skin of infected embryos that led to death. Then, the ability of this strain for regression cancer cell lines was examined. By using cytotoxicity test, it was found 128 HAU/ml of AD2141 had a potent inhibition against growth of RD and AMN3 after 72hrs of exposure time; the inhibition rate was 86.8% and 86.98% respectively. Moreover, the apoptotic activity of AD2141 was exami

The members of the family of Eentrobacteriaceae harbour a gene cluster called polyketide synthase (pks) island. This cluster is responsible for the synthesis of the genotoxin colibactin that might have an important role in the induction of double-strand DNA breaks, leading to promote human colorectal cancer (CRC). Eleven out of the eighty eight isolates (12.5%) were pks+, distributed as 7 (8%) isolates of E. coli, 2 (2.25%) of K. pneumoniae and 2 (2.25%) of E. aerogenes. The cytotoxic effects of selected pks+ isolates (E. coli and E. aerogenes) on HeLa cells were represented by decreasing cell numbers and enlarged cell nuclei in comparison to the untreated cells. Cyt