Toxicity with advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is a major problem in uremic patients. Treatment with peritoneal dialysis (PD) exacerbates AGE formation as a result of bioincompatibility of the conventional peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF). The presence of glucose degradation products (GDPs) in PDF is the main cause of its bioincompatibility. Carnosine is an endogenous dipeptide with a powerful antiglycation/antioxidant activity. In an attempt to improve PDF biocompatibility, we evaluated the effect of carnosine in human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC) incubated with PDF or GDPs in vitro. Methods: HPMC were incubated for short or prolonged time with PDF in the presence or absence of carnosine. Similarly, HPMC were incubated in the s

Background: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the largest causes of mortality worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of clopidogrel on the oxidative stress in CAD patients. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after receiving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in this study. Parameters include catalase (CAT), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidant capacity (TOC), total protein, albumin, and globulins were determined before and after treatment with clopidogrel. Results: CAT, TAC, and Tp were significantly decreased (P<0.0001) in CAD patients compared to healthy control and

The research aims to study Sabkha mineralogy to determine the mineral types, the nature of the precipitation, and the patterns of salt crystallization. Two Sabkhas in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, were studied. It was found that the Sabkhas were formed in flat ponds from saturated solutions in a semi-arid to arid climate. Halite predominates, followed by anhydrite and gypsum as evaporite minerals. As for the minerals of the Sabkha soil, it consisted of feldspar, calcite, quartz, and dolomite, in addition to the clay minerals represented by kaolinite, illite, and chlorite. Needle forms, hopper shapes, dendritic crystals, and polygon shapes are the main crystallization patterns dominantly found in the Sabkhas. All these types of crysta

Background: Gingivitis is one of the most common and widely spread oral diseases in adolescents after dental caries occur in both developed and developing countries. Dental plaque is the main etiological factor of gingivitis. Another oral problem is enamel defect. The aim of this study was to estimate the oral hygiene (dental plaque), and determine the prevalence and severity of gingivitis and enamel defects among 16-17 years old secondary school female students in urban areas of Kirkuk city/Iraq. Materials and methods: A representative sample included in this study consisted of 750 secondary school female students distributed into 387 for the age sixteen and 363 for the age seventeen, they were selected randomly from different female secon

The liver is one of the largest glands in the digestive system and performs 13 various functions, including the secretion of hormones and enzymes. The gallbladder serves as a storage reservoir for secretions before they are released into the digestive system through the duodenum. The bile ducts branch from the liver’s lobes and ultimately connect to the digestive system, making this structure significant and distinct among different animal species. This review focuses on the differences between dogs and cats, highlighting the importance of these differences from both health and pathological perspectives. After conducting a detailed scientific review of the biliary tree in dogs and cats, we concluded that cats are more susceptible to the d

The embryonic development of the Mosquito fish(Gambusia affinis) eye lens was investigated using light microscopy .The results indicated that the embryonic development of the lens does not correspond to that of the non spherical lenses of terrestrial vertebrates .This study showed that a very small cavity in the lens vesicle appears during development ,but it differs from that of the mammalian lens. The most important aspect in this study is that ,the posterior edge of the simple cuboidal epithelium which covers the anterior half of the surface of the lens is situated well beyond the equatorial region of the lens .As a result , the germinal and transitional zones became closer to the posterior pole rather than the anterior pole of the le

Abdominal fat synthesizes a variety of adipokines, including vaspin and chemerin, that affect the resistance to insulin. This research was conducted to demonstrate the effect of pioglitazone, one insulin sensitizer used to decrease insulin resistance, on these adipokines in   obese patients with polycystic ovary (PCOS). Twenty-five obese women with PCOS were treated with pioglitazone 15mg/bid for 12 weeks. Modifications in fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum fasting insulin (FSI), chemerin and vaspin serum levels, follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T), and in baseline and post-therapy were assessed. Body mass index decreased without any substantial variance after 12 weeks of piogl

Uropathogenic specific protein is a genotoxic protein targeting the DNA, leading to mutations and modifications in the normal cell's DNA and subsequently, cancer development. This study aims to determine the prevalence of the usp gene in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from females with urinary tract infections and study its correlation with biofilm formation. One hundred and five urine specimens were collected from female patients (20 to 55 years old) with urinary tract infections attending hospitals. Traditional laboratory methods using selective and differential culture media were used for initial bacterial isolation and identification, and molecular techniques that targeted a segment of the 16SrRNA gene with a specific primer pa