Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and systemic autoimmune disease that is characterized by severe synovial inflammation, cartilage erosion, bone loss, and generalized vasculopathy. Although the immunologic mechanism of RA is still unclear, it is now thought to be a primarily Th17-driven disease. Along with other factors, IL-23 stimulates the expansion of Th17 cells from naive CD4+ T cells.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the circulating levels of interleukin (IL)-23 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and determine the correlation between plasma/serum IL-23 levels and disease activity. So, we performed a systematic review with meta-analysis comparing

Abstract: The aim of this study was to identify the Distress Tolerance among the Employees in  Media and Communication in Baghdad.and to identify the significance of the differences between sex ,scientific specialization ,age,and marital status. and the researcher used the Distrees  Tolerance measure for Simon &Gahar 2005.  The sample of the study consisted of(37)Employees.The Scale of Distrees Tolerance were used as the study tools after being checked for their Validity and Reliability. The research results indicated that employees have high scores on the scale of stress tolerance and that there are statistically significant differences between the age groups and between married and unmarried people a

Background: To elucidate the possible role of human cytomegalovirus in pregnancy loss through induction of certain pro-inflammatory adhesion molecules.
Methods: Paraffin embedded sections of curate samples were obtained from 34 women had spontaneous abortion, and 5 women had elective termination of pregnancy (as control), and then subjected for immunohistochemistry analysis to detect human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) early protein and VCAM-1 molecule.
Results: Nine out of 34 women with spontaneous abortion were positive for HCMV early protein, with a
significantly higher expression of VCAM-1 in HCMV positive cases as compared with HCMV negative and the control groups (p = 0.05, 0.001 respectively).
Conclusion: HCMV infection may p

The high mobility group A1 gene (HMGA1) rs139876191 variant has been related to metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, but data are lacking in Middle Eastern populations. The study aimed to assess whether the HMGA1 rs139876191 variant is associated with metabolic syndrome risk and whether this variant predicts the risk of insulin resistance. This case-control study was carried out at single center in Kirkuk city/ Iraq from February to August 2022. Polymorphisms in HMGA1 and genotyping were identified by Sanger sequencing of genomic DNA obtained from 91 Iraqi participants (61 patients with metabolic syndrome and 30 control). Lipid profile, serum (glucose and insulin), glycated hemoglobin, blood pressure, body mass index, and waist circumfer

Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical abdominal emergency. Its clinical diagnosis remains a challenge to surgeons, so different imaging options were introduced to improve diagnostic accuracy. Among these imaging modality choices, diagnostic medical sonography (DMS) is a simple, easily available, and cost effective clinical tool. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of DMS, in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis compared to the histopathology report, as a gold standard. Between May 2015 and May 2016, 215 patients with suspected appendicitis were examined with DMS. The DMS findings were recorded as positive and negative for acute appendicitis and compared with the histopathological results, as a gold standard

Background: Dental caries is a localized, progressive destructive, largely irreversible microbial based disease of multifactorial nature; these factors include (host, microbes and food) they influence differently on the initiation and progression of dental caries. The aims of the study: was to evaluate the effect of smoking on salivary flow rate, secretory immunoglobulin (SIgA) level and viable count of mutans streptococci (M.S) bacteria in oral cavity and their relation to dental caries experience. Material and method: The samples were collected from 80 male students ranging in ages from 18-22 years old. Where they divided in to two groups, 40 non-smokers (control group) and 40 smokers (study group). Unstimulated salivary samples were c

In Iraq 1.4 million of people have diabetes, the prevalence of T2DM was ranged (8.5%—13.9%), and the cluster of metabolic abnormalities has long been identified as the risk factors for type 2 diabetes and is now commonly described as metabolic syndrome/MetS. Insulin resistance takes a key role in the process of the MetS and has even been hypothesized as its underlying cause. Clinical and epidemiologic studies also indicate that obesity and life style habit might be correlated with IR. This study examined the relationship between IR and MetS in a sample of young, healthy university students in Iraq. It discovered that the severity of IR is positively correlated with the clustering of MetS risk factors in Iraqi students, suggesting

This study included 50 blood samples that were collected from patients with age ranged between 35-65 years. Thirty samples were collected from patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), while 20 blood samples were collected from healthy individuals as a control sample. The polymorphism results of TGF-β1 gene in codon 10: +869*C/T position by using amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS-PCR) showed that the T allele was suggested to have a protective effect, while C allele was associated with an increased risk of T2DM. The TT and CT were suggested to have a protective effect, while CC genotype was associated with an increased risk of T2DM. The polymorphism results of TGF-β1 gene in codon 25: +915*G/C position in samples