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Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a clustering of risk factors, such as central obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis. Cigarette smoking is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular diseases; therefore, smoking may be considered as an important risk factor for MS. Smokers are at greater risk than nonsmokers to become insulin-resistant and develop cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to explore the association of cigarette smoking with MS and its components among Iraqi adults who were already smokers for more than 10 years.

The ethanol extract of Citrus maxima fruit peel was evaluated for its hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic activity in normal and Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats, using fasting and glucose tolerance test measurements. Experiments were performed using Thirty-Two Male Wister albino rats randomly divided into 4 groups and each group have 8 animals. Group1 assigned as a control injected with normal saline only. Group 2 assigned as a diabetic control injected with Streptozotocin 50mg/Kg, Group 3 assigned for diabetic + Citrus maxima in a dose of 400mg/Kg, Group 4 is assigned for the diabetic + Citrus maxima in a dose of 600mg/Kg. The Streptozotocin is injected intraperitonially to all animal in the groups except the control group. Blood samples were collected from animal before and at 21th day end of the study period. Body weight, blood glucose, serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and HDL cholesterol were analysed using diagnostic kits. Serum was separated from blood samples collected. In addition oral glucose tolerance test was performed in overnight fasted control animals. Results showed that Citrus maxima extract possesses significant antidiabetic activity against streptozotocin induced diabetic rats by decreasing blood glucose levels, maintaining body weight, and serum lipid concentrations to approximate normal level. Furthermore, the extract of the title plant possesses dose dependent antidiabetic activity.

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Systemic lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology affecting multiple organ system. Reactive nitrogen and oxygen species are claimed to play a role in this disease. However, the potential of Nitrosative/Oxidative Stress to elicit an autoimmune, response remain till now largely unexplored in humans. This study was done to investigate the status and contribution of nitrosative/oxidative stress in Iraqi patients for systemic lupus erythematosus. Blood samples from 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 19 age-and sex- matched apparently healthy controls were evaluated for serum levels of nitrosative/oxidative stress markers including nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and malondialdehyde. Nitric oxide levels were measured by spectrophetometric method depending on Griss method, while peroxynitrite levels were measured by spectrophetometric method based on peroxynitrite mediated nitration of phenol. Malondialdehyde levels were measured by the thiobarbitoric acid method. Serum nitric oxide levels were significantly elevated in SLE patients (mean + SE 263.58 + 35.42 mmol/L) as compared with healthy control (162.48 +10.42 mmol/L). Peroxynitrite levels were also significantly elevated in a disease group (mean + SE 7.23 +0.92 mmol/L) as compared to healthy control (4.47 + 0.38 mmol/L). On the other hand, malondialdehyde levels were slightly elevated in SLE patient (mean + SE 4.53 + 0.22 nmol/ml) as compared to control group (4.32 + 0.58nmol/ml). The study findings support an association between nitrosative/oxidative stress and SLE through elevated level of NO, peroxynitrite and MDA in the serum of SLE patients. Key words: Nitric oxide, Peroxynitrite, SLE.

Psoriasis refers to a medical condition involving long-term infl ammation, high insulin resistance, obesity and a likelihood of cardiovascular disease. Objective: This paper attempts to fi nd out if the addition of metformin to biological therapy has the benefi cial eff ect of increasing insulin sensitivity in moderate to severe Iraqi psoriatic patients. Subjects and Methods: The experimental group comprises 24 patients suff ering from moderate to severe psoriasis. They were randomly selected into two groups: group A comprises 13 psoriatic patients treated with 40 mg of adalimumab twice monthly for 12 weeks. While group B contains 11 psoriatic patients treated with 40 mg of adalimumab twice monthly and a single daily dose of 850 mg of metformin for 12 weeks. The psoriasis area and severity index (PASI), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), as well as insulin-resistance parameters, which include fasting blood glucose (FBG) and fasting serum insulin (FSI) are estimated for each patient before and after completion of therapy. Results: The two groups showed a signifi cant reduction in insulin resistance. Nonetheless, group B showed greater reduction. Furthermore, the PASI score of the two groups exhibited improvement, but group B exhibited a higher percentage improvement than group A, and the diff erence was signifi cant (p <0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that adding a single daily dose of 850 mg of metformin has a more benefi cial eff ect on insulin resistance (IR) in psoriasis patients than using only biological therapy.

The lack of dedicated RV treatment makes early detection and effective vaccines important to prevent increased mortality and morbidity, as they can only be treated with fluid and electrolyte replacement. The study's goal was to assess the specificity and sensitivity of Reverse transcriptase PCR and Rapid immunochromatography techniques for Rotavirus detection. Between November 2020 and June 2021, 320 stool samples from children under the age of five were obtained at Babylon Teaching Hospital. Primary detection of Rotavirus contamination has executed the use of immunochromatography test (rapid test) LumiQuickAdeno-RotaVirus Antigen Comb takes a look at(Netherlands) and opposite transcriptase PCR in the detection of Rotavirus infection by means of using structural gene (vp4), the results discovered that Rotavirus became detected at a high rate in male stool samples (67.5%) rather than a girl (32.5%). December and Januarywere observed the biggest number of cases, with (46.6%) and (28.3%), respectively.The rural area had the highest rate of Rotavirus infection (56.6%), compared to (43.4%) in the urban area.The RT-PCR assay's excellent overall performance was also considered in its capability to identify Rotavirus RNA in 84 of 320 children's prevalence (26.25%).