Medical research centre, Hawler medical university, Erbil, Iraq.

Background: Effective drug regimens for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are essential to achieve the World Health Organisation commitment to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Lamivudine (3TC) is widely used in countries with high levels of chronic HBV, however resistance has been shown to occur in up to 50% of individuals receiving continuous monotherapy for 4 years. Telbivudine (LdT) is now more commonly used in place of lamivudine but is ineffective against 3TC-resistant HBV. Genotyping and identification of resistance-associated substitutions (RAS) is not practical in many locations.Objectives: A novel assay was designed to enable HBV genotyping and characterisation of resistance mutations directly from serum samples stored on filter paper, using Sanger and MinION sequencing. Study design:The assay was applied to a cohort of 30 samples stored on filter paper for several years with HBV viral loads ranging from 8.2x10 8 to 635 IU/mL. A set of 6 high-titre samples were used in a proof-of-principle study using the MinION sequencer. Results:The assay allowed determination of HBV genotype and elucidation of RAS down to 600 IU/mL using a 550bp amplicon. Sequencing of a 1.2kb amplicon using a MinION sequencer gave results consistent with Sanger and allowed the identification of minor populations of variants. Conclusions:We present two methods for reliable HBV sequencing and RAS identification using methods suitable for resource-limited environments. This is the first demonstration of extraction-free DNA sequencing direct from DSS using MinION and these workflows are adaptable to the investigation of other DNA viruses.

Objectives Early-onset myocardial infarction constitutes nearly one third of cases of myocardial infarction among Iraqis, which is rather higher than the proportions reported in many Western countries. Thus this study was initiated to investigate the role of some genetic polymorphisms, as well as acquired risk factors in this condition. Results A total of 102 Iraqi patients with first myocardial infarction aged 50 years, and 77 matched controls were enrolled. The DNAs of participants were screened for nine polymorphisms, namely: β-Fibrinogen (− 455G > A), Factor XIII (V34L), Plasminogen Activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1, 4G/5G), Human Platelet Antigen-1 (HPA1a/b), 5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase MTHFR (C677T) and MTHFR (A1298C), Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) 287 bp insertion/deletion (I/D), Apolipoprotein-B (ApoB: R3500Q), and Apolipoprotein-E (Apo E: E2/E3/E4), using PCR and reverse hybridization technique. Among traditional risk factors, univariate analysis revealed that smoking (OR 2.86 [95%CI 1.53–5.34]), hyperlipidemia (OR 5.23 [95%CI 2.66–10.29]), and diabetes mellitus (OR 4.05 [95% CI 1.57–10.41]) were significantly higher among patients compared to controls (P<0.001, <0.001 and 0.002 respectively), while none of the nine genetic polymorphisms reached significance. Multivariate Logistic regression, however, revealed that only smoking and hyperlipidemia retained significance (P of < 0.001 each). The need to initiate further studies on larger cohorts is paramount to understand the higher than expected frequency of early-onset myocardial infarction in our population.

Background: Smoking is the foremost public health problem affecting the world and it has a crucial implication in causing many common diseases due to Helicobacter pylori infection which is globally distributed. Smoking is considered a critical risk factor that accelerates infection with this bacterium.Objectives: The study's goal was to find out how common Helicobacter pylori infections were among male cigarette and nargileh smokers. Materials and methods: A case-control study was performed between August and December 2021in Erbil Teaching Hospital in Erbil City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Blood samples were collected and used for detection of anti-Helicobacter pylori IgG Ab for 80 males who were smokers and 80 who were non-smoker. Results: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori positivity was 64.9% in smokers and 45.5% in nonsmokers (P-Value = 0.03). The highest percentage (54.1%) was found in the young age group (25-34) years (P-Value = 0.05), and 89.2% of Helicobacter pylori-positive individuals exhibited stomach symptoms (P-Value = 0.01). Fifty percent of Helicobacter pylori-infected individuals were nargileh smokers. Conclusion:The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori showed significant value in nargileh smoking males. Therefore, smoking was a key factor in the seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori and had a substantial impact on it.

The conducted study compares the phytochemical and the antimicrobial potential of four varieties of Brassica napus seed oils. The plant seeds were cultivated during the winter growing season. Soxhlet extractor and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) were used for essential oil analysis. The micro broth dilutionassay was applied to test the antimicrobial potential (MIC: Minimum inhibitory concentration, MBC: Minimum bactericidal concentration) of the extracted essential oils against different bacterial strains. A total of 56 phytochemicals were found, including 23 and 25 compounds in the oils of Pactol and Rapifera seed varieties,respectively, and 21 compounds in each of Bacara and Rally seed oils. Oleic acid constituted about 35.79 %, 15.62%, 7%, and 2.41 % for Rally, Bacara, Rapifera, and Pactol seed oils, respectively. Gram-positive bacteria, Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus agalactiae, showed lower resistance potentials (MIC= 0.78%, 3.125%respectively) (MBC=1.36%, 6.25% respectively) to the essential oils compared with Staphylococcus aureus. Escherichia coli showed higher sensitivity (6.25% and 12.5% for MIC and MBC, respectively) than Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the B. napus seed oils. Gram-positive bacteria weremore sensitive to the tested essential oils than Gram-negative bacteria. Overall, four different seed varieties have important chemicals and fatty acids. Oleic acid was the most common carboxylic acid (fatty acid) and 2,4-decadienal with hexanal were the most prevalent aldehydes in four seed oils. Tested B. napus seed essential oilsshowed antimicrobial activities against various Gram-positive and negative bacteria and Candida albicans, with Pactol seed oils exerting the highest activity.

No abstract

No abstract

Background: In patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) the most frequent acquired molecular abnormalities and important prognostic indicators is nucleophosmin-1 (NPM1) mutations. Our study aims was molecular study of Nucleop- hosmin -1 gene in Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Kurdish population. Patients &Methods: A total of 50 patients with AML, (36) of them attended Nanakaly Hospital and (14) attended Hiwa Hospital and 30 healthy subjects as control were selected randomly, all were matched of age and gender. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for detection of NPM1 gene mutation. Three samples of PCR product for NPM1 gene mutations were sequenced, and mutations were determined by comparison with the normal NPM1 sequence NCBI (GenBank acces- sion number NM_002520). Results: Out of 50 patients with AML, 5 (10%) of them were NPM1 gene mutation positive, and 45 (90%) were negative. The mutation were a base substitution (C to A), (G to C), (G to T), transversion mutation in addition of frame shift mutation and all mutated cases were heterozygous and retained a wild type allele. Conclusion: Identification of NPM1 mutations in AML are important for prognostication, treatment decision and optimi- zation of patient care. Keywords: Acute myeloid leukemia; Nucleophosmin-1 (NPM-1) gene mutation; PCR.