Background Type two diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by insufficient insulin production and secretion. Additionally, the body develops insulin resistance which affects 90–95% of diabetics. Complex cytokines, receptors, genetic pathways, and the immune system are involved in T2DM. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is one of the inflammatory cytokines associated with Type 2 diabetes. Environmental and genetic variables, including genetic polymorphisms, can increase T2DM risk and its consequences. Single nucleotide gene polymorphisms (SNPs) are important risk factors for diabetes that can be used to find the disease early and treat it better. Objective This study aimed to determine the levels of IL-18 in the serum of Iraqi patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, as well as the effect of IL-18 SNP rs1946518 (-607 G/T) in the etiology of T2DM. Materials and Methods This study involved 100 T2DM patients (52 males and 48 females) who visited Al-Karamah Teaching Hospital and Baghdad Teaching Hospital. 52 Iraqi control subjects (26 males and 26 females) were included. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantify the IL-18 serum levels of 48 patients and 40 healthy controls. The genotype of IL-18 was determined using Real-time (RT) Taqman PCR. Results According to age, the current study revealed a non-significant correlation (p-value > 0.05) among the studied groups. IL-18 levels in the T2DM group were substantially greater than in the healthy control. In addition, the genotyping frequencies revealed that the frequency of TT genotyping was higher in T2DM group than in healthy control (80% versus 66.7%, OR: 2.0), whereas the frequency of GT genotyping was lower in T2DM than in healthy persons (20% versus 33.3%, OR: 0.5). Conclusion: This Iraqi’s novel study indicated that IL-18 and it’s SNP(rs1946518) contributes to the pathophysiology of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) mostly associated with renal and hepatic adverse effects, and the adjunct use of compounds with potent protective effects, like silymarin, may be one of the choices to avoid these effects. This project was designed to evaluate the protective effect of silymarin against the suspected renal and hepatic injury induced with long term use of NSAIDs; 220 patients with osteoarthritis were randomized into 5 groups and treated with either silymarin 300mg/day alone, piroxicam 20mg/day alone, meloxicam 15mg/day alone or the combination of each of them with silymarin for 8 weeks. The renal and hepatic functions were evaluated before starting treatment and after 8 weeks including assessm
... Show MoreBackground: Imaging techniques play a very important role in the specialty of endodontic. The ultrasonographic technique is non-expensive procedure, safe, and reproducible. The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ultrasound and color Doppler ultrasonography in evaluation of periapical lesions (cyst, granuloma, mixed lesion “cyst within graulomas mass”, and abscess. Subject, Material and method: The sample consists of prospective study for 64 Iraqi participants who attended Karbalaa Specialized Center for Dentistry (males & females). Those patients were diagnosed clinically and radiographically as having periapical lesions of dental origin. They were examined by real time ultrasound and color
... Show MoreChukar partridge Alectoris chukar (Gray, 1830) is the only species of the 46 species of the genus Alectoris to be found in Iraq. At least there are fourteen subspecies of chukar were described from east Europe, the Middle East and west Asia, two of them were known to be found in Iraq, A.c. Kurdestanica (Meinertzhagen, 1923) from Alpine bio-geographical zone of altitude more than 2000m high, and A.c. werae Zarundny and Loudon, 1904, from the foothills of altitude not more than 400m. In between these two regions, there is another bio-geographical region known as the Irano-toranian zone 400-2000m high. Using morphological, ecological, behavioural, reproduction and hybridization criteria this study discove
... Show MoreThis study investigates the stomach morphology and histochemistry of Clarias gariepinus. Grossly, the stomach is a J-shaped organ with three distinct regions: cardiac, fundic, and pyloric. Histologically, its wall comprises four layers: mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and serosa. The mucosa exhibits broad longitudinal folds lined by high columnar cells with basal oval nuclei. These cells contain apical mucosubstances that react positively with Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) stain and negatively with Alcian Blue (AB). Gastric pits result from mucosal invaginations. Glands are present in the fundic and cardiac regions but absent in the pyloric. Oxynticopeptic cells exclusively line the fundic glands. Enteroendocrine cells are distr
... Show MoreThe present study introduced a new description of the last larval instar of the oak tree borer, Latipalpis johanidesi Niehuis, 2002 (Coleoptera, Buprestidae). The larval specimens were collected from the oak trees within the mountainous areas, Erbil governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan Region, during the beginning of April till the end of May 2019.
Schematic sketches were provided to illustrate unclear morphological features, and the results presented importance morphological evidence for confirming the identification of this species in the larval stage precisely.
This study investigates the stomach morphology and histochemistry of Clarias gariepinus. Grossly, the stomach is a J-shaped organ with three distinct regions: cardiac, fundic, and pyloric. Histologically, its wall comprises four layers: mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and serosa. The mucosa exhibits broad longitudinal folds lined by high columnar cells with basal oval nuclei. These cells contain apical mucosubstances that react positively with Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) stain and negatively with Alcian Blue (AB). Gastric pits result from mucosal invaginations. Glands are present in the fundic and cardiac regions but absent in the pyloric. Oxynticopeptic cells exclusively line the fundic glands. Enteroendocrine cells are distr
... Show MoreAl-Dalmaj marsh and the near surrounding area is a very promising area for energy resources, tourism, agricultural and industrial activities. Over the past century, the Al-Dalmaje marsh and near surroundings area endrous from a number of changes. The current study highlights the spatial and temporal changes detection in land cover for Al-Dalmaj marsh and near surroundings area using different analyses methods the supervised maximum likelihood classification method, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Geographic Information Systems(GIS), and Remote Sensing (RS). Techniques spectral indices were used in this study to determine the change of wetlands and drylands area and of other land classes, th
... Show MoreThe Capparis spinosa L. is a species has a great interest in the field of traditional medicine for its pharmacological properties with many bioactive compounds. Our study is aiming at the recovery of this species through a phytochemical analysis and an evaluation of antibacterial and antioxidant activities of leaves of Capparis spinosa L. collected from natural habitats within the region of Al-Jadriya, Baghdad, Iraq. Phytochemical investigation demonstrated the presence of flavonoids, phenols, alkaloids, tannins, and glycosides in the methanolic extract of leaves. The quantitative analysis of total phenolic contents is being performed by Folin-Ciocalteau method and expressed in terms of gallic acid equivalents. C. spinosa exhibited progress
... Show MoreUndoubtedly, Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are a major dilemma in term of mortality and morbidity facing the road users as well as the traffic and road authorities. Since 2002, the population in Iraq has increased by 49 percent and the number of vehicles by three folds. Consequently, these increases were unfortunately combined with rising the RTAs number, mortality and morbidity. Alongside the humanitarian tragedies, every year, there are considerable economic losses in Iraq lost due to the epidemic of RTAs. Given the necessity of understanding the contributory factors related to RTAs for the implementation by traffic and road authorities to improve the road safety, the necessity have been a rise for this research which focuses into
... Show MoreBegomoviruses infecting zucchini squash were investigated. Leaf samples were collected from zucchini squash growing areas in Baghdad (Jhadryaa and Yusufiyah), Babylon (Jibela and Mahmudiyah) and Diyala (Khan Bani Saad) Provinces. Samples were screened for the presence of begomoviruses using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Deng genus specific primers. Sixteen out of 40 samples were begomovirus positive. Sequence analysis confirmed the detection of Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (TLCPALV)