The Growth Differentiation Factor -15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily. İt represents an example of the stress response cytokines. It's mostly found in cardiac myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vascular endothelial cells, whether they're generated normally or not. GDF-15 levels have increased and are associated with cardiovascular risk. Aim of the study: To investigate the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with the level of plasma GDF-15 in a group of hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A case-control study involved 90 individuals, 60 hypertensive patients (36 on ACE inhibitors and 24 on ARBs)

Cytokines are a group of immunomodulatory proteins leading to a variety of immune reactions in the human; these cytokines play a significant role in the development of appropriate immune responses against T. gondii. This study aims to reveal the association of toxoplasmosis with serum levels of IL-3, IL-17A, and IL-27 in aborted women. The blood samples of patients and controls were collected from Al-Alawiya Maternity Teaching Hospital/Baghdad/Iraq from 2019 to 2020 for detecting anti-T. gondii antibodies (IgG and IgM) and the level of interleukins by ELISA. The results of TORCH by rapid test for recurrent abortion recorded 25.3% seropositive for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, and 31.5% seropositive for one or more cases of TORCH test (Cytomeg

Objective: To Evaluate the Roley of Cytotoxic T-Lymphocytek antigen 4 Polymorphism and soluble immune checkpoint level (PD-1,PDL-1 and CTLA-4 ) in SARS-Cov-2 patients. Methods: Fromt October 2020 to April 2021, the currentk study was conducted in Baghdad-Iraq. Ninety patients with Confirmatory SARS-Cov-2 by PCR were inclusion in the study, and they were seeking treatment at Medical City in Baghdad's Teaching Hospital (BTH). Patients with SARS-Cov-2 were divided into two groups: those with Sever SARS-Cov-2 symptom and those with mild - moderate SARS-Cov-2 symptoms (cross sectional study. Patients with another form of autoimmune illness, malignant, diabetes, under the age of 18 and pregnant women were excluded. Results: Data rega

Background: Sex variations in coronary artery disease (CAD) are well documented. However, sex differences in coronary artery calcium (CAC) and its role in the detection of coronary artery stenosis remain controversial. Objective: To assess the impact of sex variation on coronary artery calcification and its efficacy in predicting coronary artery stenosis. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study including 230 consecutive patients with suspected CAD (120 men and 110 women) referred for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). The study analyzed sex-based differences in the sensitivity and specificity of coronary artery calcification (CAC) for detecting moderate to severe stenosis across various coronary arteries

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the top ten most common cancers worldwide. There are multiple risk factors for CRC, one of which is aging. However, in recent years, CRC has been reported in children. Objective: To describe the main characteristics and symptoms of CRC as well as highlight pathologic data for early-onset CRC. Methods: 79 CRC patients were recruited from the Oncology Teaching Hospital in the period February–December 2022. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Results: 25 (31.6%) of patients were below 50 years of age. 52 (65.8%) patients had tumors in the colon. The most common symptom is bleeding per rectum in both age groups. There was no significant difference in patholog

The research aims to reach a set of objectives concerning creation a clear vision about conceptual, philosophical and practical dimension of relations, and effects between knowledge management, costumer orientation and competitiveness to construct a framework of a pragmatic model as a solution to research problem and its questions which the main one is about the role of knowledge management and costumer orientation in competitiveness of business organizations. To achieving this goal, it was necessary to make, in priory, a review and discussion to the theoretical dimension of research variables to have a clear vision about constructing hypostatical research model implying a set of hypotheses which, by proving them in companies studied, repr

Due to the continuous development in society and the multiplicity of customers' desires and their keeping pace with this development and their search for the quality and durability of the commodity that provides them with the best performance and that meets their needs and desires, all this has led to the consideration of quality as one of the competitive advantages that many industrial companies compete for and which are of interest to customers and are looking for. The research problem showed that the Diyala State Company for Electrical Industries relies on some simple methods and personal experience to monitor the quality of products and does not adopt scientific methods and modern programs. The aim of this research is to desi

Identify the effect of an educational design according to the repulsive (allosteric) learning model on the achievement of chemistry and lateral thinking. The sample consisted of (59) students from third-grade intermediate students. They were randomly distributed into two groups (experimental and control), and the equivalence was done in (chronological age, previous achievement in chemistry, intelligence, lateral thinking). The (30) students from experimental group were taught according to the instructional design, other 29 students from the (control) group were taught according to the usual method. Two tests done, one of them is an achievement test consisted of (30) items of the type of multiple choice, the other was a lateral think

Aims: To assess the success rate and implant stability changes of narrow dental implants (NDIs) during the osseous healing period. Materials and methods: This prospective observational clinical study included 21 patients with narrow alveolar ridge of restricted mesiodistal interdental span who received NDIs. The alveolar ridge width was determined by the ridge mapping technique. Implant stability was measured using Periotest® M immediately after implant insertion then after 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks postoperatively. The outcome variables were success rate and implant stability changes during the healing period. The statistical analysis included one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey\'s multiple comparisons test, values < 0.05 w