Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a well-recognized cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.Objectives: To evaluate the prognostic implications of the restrictive left ventricular filling pattern (RFP) in dilated cardiomyopathy.Methods: Patients with DCM admitted to Ibn AL-Bitar Hospital for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad-Iraq, from May 2006 to August 2008, underwent a full clinical evaluation and Doppler echocardiography study. Patients were classified into three groups: Group I had persistent restrictive filling pattern; Group II had reversible restrictive filling pattern; and Group III had nonrestrictive filling pattern. Results: The current study was conducted on a total number of 80 patients with DCM, fifty (62.5 %) were

Background: Periodontal diseases are one of the major dental pathologies that affect human populations worldwide at high prevalence rates The term periodontal disease usually refers only to plaque related inflammatory disease of the dental supporting tissues. Mouth rinses which act as an anti-plaque agents mostly used as adjuncts to oral hygiene. Aims of the study: To Estimate and compare the effects of Aloe vera relative to chlorhexidine on the clinical periodontal parameters (plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing). Material and method: A total of 44 subjects with plaque-induced gingivitis, baseline of data were collected for (PLI, GI, and BOP) and underwent oral hygiene instruction, scaling and polishing, then divided into:

Background: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a disorder of systemic inflammatory condition. Its important features are represented by recurrent oral, genital ulcerations and eye lesions. Aims. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate and compare cytological changes using morphometric analysis of the exfoliated buccal mucosal cells in Behçet’s disease patients and healthy controls, and to evaluate the clinical characteristics of Behçet’s disease. Methods. Twenty five Behçet’s disease patients have been compared to 25 healthy volunteers as a control group. Papanicolaou stain was used for staining the smears taken from buccal epithelial cells to be analyzed cytomorphometrically. The image analysis software has been used to

Objective To highlight the main demographic characteristics and clinical profiles of female patients registered with breast cancer in Iraq; focusing on the impact of age.Methods This retrospective study enrolled 1172 female patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the Main Center for Early Detection of Breast Cancer/Medical City Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Data were extracted from an established information system, developed by the principal author under supervision of WHO, that was based on valid clinical records of Iraqi patients affected by breast cancer. The recorded information regarding clinical examination comprised positive palpable lumps, bloody nipple discharge, skin changes, bilateral breast involvement, tumor

Background/Aims: Acinetobacter baumannii is a ubiquitous opportunistic microorganism associated with high morbidity and mortality Particularly among burn patients and immunocompromised individuals. This study aimed to assess the time-dependent antimicrobial effectiveness of indolicidin in combination with tigecycline against multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii isolates from patients with wound infections. Methods: The antimicrobial synergy between indolicidin and tigecycline was evaluated using the checkerboard broth microdilution method And anti-biofilm activity was assessed using the crystal violet assay. Ten isolates resistant to multiple antibiotics were identified and confirmed using the API 20-NE system. Results: Fractional

Objective: To investigate the relation between dyslipidemia and insulin resistance where it is one of the metabolic
disorders in patients with type-ΙΙ diabetes mellitus and compare the results with the control group.
Methodology: Blood samples were collected from (35) patients with type-ΙΙ diabetes mellitus, besides (35) healthy
individuals as a control group were enrolled in this study. The age of all subjects range from (20-50). Serum was
used in determination of glucose, insulin, lipid profile (cholesterol (Ch), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein
(HDL-Ch), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-Ch) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), for patients and control
groups. Insulin resistance (IR) was calculated acco

The clinical impact of interaction between body iron status (serum iron and ferritin) and type 2 diabetes has been investigated in this study. Thirty-six females were enrolled, eighteen type 2 diabetes and eighteen apparently healthy. These two groups were matched for age and body mass index BMI. The eighteen diabetes females were matched for age, BMI, pharmacological treatment (oral hypoglycemic agent), and chronic diabetes complications. The biochemical parameters measured for both groups (control and diabetes patient) were fasting insulin (Io), fasting blood glucose (Go), serum iron and ferritin. A significant increase in all parameters in patients compared to healthy control was noticed. The insulin resistance (IR) which was calculat

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a ubiquitous environmental organism, is a difficult-to-treat opportunistic pathogen due to its broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance and its ability to form biofilms. In this study, we investigate the link between resistance to a clinically important antibiotic, imipenem, and biofilm formation. First, we observed that the laboratory strain P. aeruginosa PAO1 carrying a mutation in the oprD gene, which confers resistance to imipenem, showed a modest reduction in biofilm formation.We also observed an inverse relationship between imipenem resistance and biofilm formation for imipenem-resistant strains selected in vitro, as well as for clinical isolates.We identified two clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa from the sputum

A new spectrophotometric method for individual and simultaneous determination of cefixime and cephalexin depending on the first and second derivative mode techniques. The first and second derivative spectra of these compounds permitted individual and simultaneous determination of cefixime and cephalexin in concentration interval of (4– 24μg.ml-1 ) by measuring the amplitude of peak-to-base line, pea to peak at certain wavelengths and the area under peak at selected spectrum intervals. The methods showed reasonable precision and accuracy and have been applied to determine cefixime and cephalexin in two different pharmaceutical preparations.