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Despite worldwide anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette smoking prevalence is increasing in the third-world countries. It is now regarded as the most important public health issue. Here, we study the current smoking situation and investigate the impact of cigarette smoking on semen quality and hormonal levels among adult people. Furthermore, we suggest various strategies to reduce smoking consumption among young individuals. A cross-sectional data from 804 adult smoker subjects (male n=530 and female n=274) aged between 15 and 45 years were analyzed. One hundred and eleven males were agreed for further evaluation of their semen quality and hormones compared with 93 age-matched non-smoking males. This study showed that the major factors initiating smoking among women were friends' influence (49%), life pressures (16%) and parental imitation (14%). The major reasons in men was friends' influence (65%). Furthermore, 61% of women and 89% of men smoke in public implying social acceptance or even encouragement of this habit. This study also found that low-income Jordanians consume more tobacco materials than those in the middle-and higher income. Furthermore, smokers had significantly lower (p<0.001) sperm concentration and motility values and higher (p<0.001) serum testosterone and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels than non-smokers.

Peripheral sensory-motor neuropathy is one of the most frequent side effects of vincristine (VCR) administration, which often limits its usefulness in the treatment of a wide range of neoplastic diseases. The purpose of this work is to study VCR neurotoxicity in experimental animals from clinical, electrophysiological, and histological points of view. Sixty-five rats were used as a control group and 31 rats were divided into two groups and given VCR in two different regimens: the fixed-dose group (0.2 mg/kg) and the increasing-dose group (0.1 mg/kg, by an increment of 0.05 mg/kg/week). VCR was given intraperitoneally once weekly for five consecutive weeks. Electrophysiological examinations of the control and both treated groups were performed and included measurements of nerve conduction velocity and action potential (AP) amplitude of sciatic and tail nerves weekly during the period of treatment and 14 weeks after discontinuation of treatment. Histological sections of sciatic nerves were examined after the appearance of early electrophysiological changes, at the end of the 5th, and 19th weeks of the study (14 weeks after discontinuation of treatment). With the progress of the treatment, an increasing number of rats showing signs of neurological deficits were observed. During the first 5 weeks of this study, electrophysiological testing showed a nonsignificant difference in the conduction velocities of sciatic and tail nerves between the control and the treated groups, whereas a significant decrease in the amplitude of the sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) and compound muscle action potential (CMAP) of the tested nerves was recorded. The reduction in the AP amplitude was associated with histological changes characterized by axonal degeneration with relative demyelination. Fourteen weeks after discontinuation of treatment, a significant increment in the SNAP and CMAP amplitudes of both sciatic and tail nerves was noticed. While the CMAP amplitude of the distal segment of the tail showed nonsignificant increment, lesser number of fibers with axonal and/or myelin lesions were found. The clinical, electrophysiological, and histological results suggest that VCR induces peripheral sensorimotor neuropathy of axonal type more prominent in the fixed- than the increasing-dose group. The discontinuation of VCR permitted the improvement of the electrophysiological and histological changes. The rat can be used as an animal model for studying VCR neurotoxicity. However, further studies on larger number of animals are required to evaluate the type of nerve fiber involvement and the site of damage.

Kisspeptin-10 level is useful in assessing the severity of preeclampsia and can be a novel marker downregulated in pregnant women with preeclampsia, especially in those who also developed impaired uteroplacental perfusion or intrauterine growth restriction.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) aetiology is multifactorial, including endocrine, neurological, vascular, systemic disease, local penile disorders, nutrition, psychogenic factors, and drug-related. This study was performed to compare the relevant comprehensive biochemical parameters as well as the clinical characteristics in diabetic ED and healthy control subjects and to assess the occurrence of penile neuropathy in diabetic patients and thus the relationship between ED and diabetes. A total of 56 patients accepted to undergo assessment for penile vasculature using intracavernosal injection and colour Doppler ultrasonography. Of the 56 diabetic patients, 38 patients were found with normal blood flow and thus they were considered as the diabetic-ED group, whereas, ED diabetic patients with an arteriogenic component were excluded. These patients with an age range between 17 and 58 years, complaining of ED, with duration of diabetic illness ranging from 2 to 15 years. The Control group comprised of 30 healthy subject aged between 19 and 55 years. Peripheral venous levels of testosterone, prolactin, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), malondialdehyde and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA(1)c) were obtained in all subjects. Valsalva manoeuvre and neurophysiological tests were also determined. Testosterone, prolactine, FSH, LH, and TSH hormones of the diabetic patients were not significantly different from those of the control group. Diabetic patients with ED have higher HbA(1)c and oxidative stress levels while the R-R ratio was significantly decreased. Bulbocavernosus reflex latency was significantly prolonged, whereas its amplitude, the conduction velocity and amplitude of dorsal nerve of penis were significantly reduced in the diabetic patients. We concluded that although ED is a multifactorial disorder, yet, the present study revealed that in ED patients without arteriogenic ED a neurogenic component is present. Furthermore, the complex effect of the Valsalva manoeuvre on cardiovascular function is the basis of its usefulness as a measure of autonomic function. Thus, it can be of value in the diagnosis of ED although these hypotheses require follow-up in a large study cohort.

Background Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by the presence of BCR‐ABL fusion gene (GenBank accession ). In the vast majority of CML patients, the typical subtype of BCR‐ABL transcript are b3a2, b2a2 or both. The aim of this study was to determine the different subtypes of BCR‐ABL transcript and their impact on the demographic and hematological parameters in Iraqi patients with CML. Methods One hundred patients with chronic phase CML (11 newly diagnosed and 89 imatinib‐resistant) were enrolled in this study. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted from leukocytes, and complementary DNA was created using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technique. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction with four specific primers was used to determine the BCR‐ABL fusion subtypes in each patient. Results Male to female ratio was 1.38:1. Fifty‐nine patients expressed b3a2 transcript, whereas 39 of the remaining cases were positive for b2a2 variant. One case expressed b2a3 transcript, while the last case coexpressed the two subtypes of mRNA b3a2/b2a2. Male and female were significantly associated with b3a2 and b2a2 subtypes, respectively. The b3a2 subtype showed higher total leukocyte count than b2a2 subgroup, while b2a2 variant demonstrated significantly elevated platelet counts compared to those with b3a2 transcript. A significantly higher plateletcrit percentage (PCT%) was found in patients with b2a2 transcript whereas. Conclusions The testified Iraqi group expressed M‐BCR‐ABL type with preponderance of b3a2 over b2a2 subtype. There was a gender‐skewed distribution in BCR‐ABL transcript types with b3a2 transcript more prevalent in males. The type of BCR‐ABL transcript is reflected by different leukocyte and platelet counts at diagnosis, which might represent a distinct phenotype and disease biology.

Background: Studies have shown a direct association between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and diabetic neuropathies. As such, ACE gene polymorphisms could be a risk factor for cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in patients with diabetes. The objective of our study was to investigate the association of the ACE I/D gene polymorphism with the development of CAN in Iraqi patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Results: This is a cross-sectional study that included 142 patients with T2DM comprising 62 males and 80 females, and 100 volunteers served as a healthy control group. Cardiac autonomic functions were tested using four standard Ewing's noninvasive tests. Blood samples were taken for genetic evaluation of an ACE gene I/D polymorphism. Analyzing ACE gene polymorphism revealed that the D allele was far more frequent among patients with diabetes than healthy control subjects (76.07% vs. 62.67%). The frequency of I/I, I/D, and D/D genotypes in patients with diabetes was 8.55%, 30.77%, and 60.68%, respectively, compared with 18.67%, 37.33%, and 44%, respectively, in controls with a significant difference in mutant homozygous genotype. However, there were no significant differences in these genotypes between patients with and without CAN. Although patients with CAN showed a much higher frequency of D allele than those without CAN, the difference did not reach significance (p = 0.054). Conclusion: The DD genotype and D allele of the ACE I/D gene polymorphism can be a risk factor for T2DM, and the D allele of this polymorphism can even be associated with the development of CAN in these patients.