Leishmania species are intracellular protozoan parasites that spend a portion of their life cycle in the midgut of sand flies and the remainder in the tissues of mammals. These parasites, which cause a class of human disorders known as leishmaniasis, live mostly in macrophages, where they multiply and survive by employing a variety of defense mechanisms against the oxidative stress and acidity generated by these immune cells. To help control their reaction to heat stress, they also produce heat shock proteins. Furthermore, the promastigote form has a glycocalyx that is necessary for colonizing the gut wall of the sand fly and completing its life cycle. Consequently, a variety of virulence factors contribute to the parasite's pathoge

Sixteen species of Armored Scale insects were recorded from Baghdad city during 2001-2005. Three of these are reported here for the first time Abgrallaspis cyanophylli (Signoret, 1869), Aonidiella citrina (Craw,1870) and Chrysomphalus aonidium (Linnaeus,1758). The other thirteen species were recorded earlier Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), Aonidiella orientalis (Newstead), Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morgan), Diaspidiotus ostreaeformis (Curtis), Diaspidiotu perniciosus (Comctock), Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret), Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman), Lepidosaphes conchiformis (Gmelin), Lepidosaphes ulmi (Linnaeus), Mercetaspis halli

The study aims to detail the chemistry of Sabkha located in Abu-Graib, western Baghdad to know the content of the rare elements distributed. Sabkhas are found in dry areas with significant evaporation rates. The quantity of dissolved salts rises as water evaporates from the shallow basins, eventually causing salt to crystallize. The creation of the distinctive salt pans and crusts on the top is greatly influenced by this process. The trace elements (Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Sn, Ba, Ta, Tl, Pb, Th, U, I, and Br) beside the major oxides were analyzed using XRF technique. There are no clear significant differences in the distribution of the elements between the two Sabkhas in the village of Kadim Al

    Ziziphora persica Bunge is recorded as a new Study in Iraq. This species has been collected from Jabal Sinjar in Nineveh province in the north western part of Iraq. The morphological characters, habitat and geographical distribution of the species with a key to Ziziphora L. species in Iraq have been provided.

Shiranish formation has been divided into two microfacies units: 1 - Many biowackestone facies and 2 - maly packstone using planktonic foraminifera and other carbonate components in the rock cutting and core slides. Microfacies reflect marin deep shelf margin in the lower part of the formation, the upper part was deeper. The thickness of the formation is determined, depending on addition to the presence of echinoderm framents debris and spines. This is in disagreement with the 195 ft thickness reported by the Oil Exploration Company The age of the formation is estimated depending on the recognized biostratigraphic zone using the index fossils to be Upper - Middle Mastrichtion.

     Stable isotopic technique and hydrochemistry was used in studying the water resources interaction of near Haditha Reservoir area, western Iraq. Throughout the study area, 14 groundwater samples (Bashina, Zwachi springs and Wells), 8 surface water samples from the study area, and 7 spring samples were analyzed for 2H and 18O stable isotopes and hydrochemical analysis. In this study, the temperature, altitude and continental effects on the isotopic composition of rain water in Iraq were studied. The climate of the study area is classified as semi-arid to arid region. The results show a variation in the isotopic values of Haditha reservoir and Euphrates river. This variation is due to the effect of the low surface area and the