Journal of the Faculty of Medicine Baghdad

Background: The most widely used vaccination against SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is the Pfizer vaccine, which provides protection against this virus. However, its ability to safeguard the oral cavity is unclear, and neither are the exact immunological biomarker levels it activates.
Aim of the study: To investigate the possibility that Pfizer vaccination protects the oral cavity against Covid-19.
Patients and Methods: The study group consisted of a total of 70 subjects (30 as the control group They were followed up before being vaccinated as non-vaccinated (maybe previously infected or non-infected or recovered) and 40 participants followed up three weeks after the first dose and one week after the second vaccination. All saliva samples were collected from the individuals in the current study at the medical city hospital in Baghdad from September 2021 to July 2022. The salivary biomarkers sIgA and IL-17 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits.
Result: Secretory IgA levels showed a highly significant difference (p0.05) in the followed-up group after the first vaccination compared to the non-vaccinated group (controls), however, a non-significant difference in its level was found in the followed-up group after the first vaccination compared to after the second vaccination. In contrast to healthy controls, non-vaccinated participants had greater salivary IL-17 levels. Followed-up participants’ IL-17 levels did not change significantly after the first and second vaccines (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The Pfizer vaccine had a minor impact on sIgA because mRNA vaccines protect systemically more than salivary. Nevertheless, the Pfizer vaccine raises IL-17 levels after the first and second doses without triggering cytokine syndrome.

Background: According to several animal and human studies, Vitamin D appears to play a substantial role in the development of diabetic nephropathy, However, the possibility of vitamin D's Reno protective impact and influence on the reversal of already-existing renal damage remains speculative. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are ubiquitous worldwide and have been linked to a variety of pathophysiological conditions, including diabetes, allergies, autoimmune illnesses, pregnancy difficulties, and, more recently, worse COVID-19 clinical outcomes. From a translational perspective, the goal of this review is to look into the potential function of vitamin D in the development of diabetic kidney diseases
Aim of the study: to evaluate the role of vit. D on renal function in patient with DMT1.
Patient and Method: The total number of study participants was 120, divided into three groups: Group A: Included 40 patients has DM with NP (stage1, stage 2, stage 3a), Group B included 40 patients had DM without NP, and group C included 40 healthy participants (control). Samples were taken from the Diabetic control clinic of Endocrinology and Diabetes center/Al-Kindy Hospital, Baghdad Teaching Hospital/ Medical City and Al-Shaheed Al- Sadder General Hospital during the period from October 2021 to March 2022.
Result: Statistically significant weak positive correlations were detected between vitamin D and GFR (r= 0.321, P= 0.001); while significant moderate negative correlation was seen between vitamin D and HbA1c (r= -0.494, P= 0.001) and weak negative correlation was seen with B. Urea (r= -0.2, P= 0.028). No statistically significant correlations were detected between vitamin D and all of age, DM duration, and s. creatinine.
Conclusion: Our data suggest a correlation between reduced levels of vitamin D3 and diabetes nephropathy and it may be a potential predictor for both the occurrence and severity of diabetic nephropathy.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the most common infections associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) in Iraq.
Aim of the study: To determine the prognostic factor value of Programmed Cell Death-1 (PD-1) and Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint biomarkers among CKD patients with HCV infection under HD.
Methodology: ELISA technique was used for the measurement of the above-mentioned biomarkers in the serum of 90 Iraqi patients. The participants were divided into three groups; Group I included 30 patients infected with HCV without antiviral treatment, group II included 30 patients infected with HCV with recent/previous antiviral treatment, and Group III included 30 patients without viral infection (control group).
Results: Serum levels of the measured biomarkers were elevated among all the participants, and highly statistically significant differences were found between patients with no treatment. The area under the curve (AUC) of PD-1 was 99% and for PD-L1 was 96%.
Conclusions: The PD-1 and PD-L1 immune checkpoint biomarkers have excellent prognostic factor value as predictors for patients with CKD on HD infected with HCV.

Background: Intense pulsed light (IPL) devices produce polychromatic incoherent high-intensity pulsed light with a specified wavelength spectrum, fluence, and pulse duration through the use of flashlamps and bandpass filters. Similar to lasers, IPL devices operate on the selective photothermolysis principle, with melanin acting as the chromophore. Despite this similarity, they are constructed differently and produce different amounts of light
Aim of the study: To investigate the efficacy of IPL home-use device in hair reduction technique for women with unwanted facial hair.
Subjects and methods: The study was conducted in Baghdad on forty-five female subjects with Fitzpatrick skin phototype (II to IV) and black, brown hair in a period of eight months with five sessions. The treatment area (1 〖cm〗^2 of chin) photographs and the density of hair (hair count) after each session were compared to the pretreatment.
Results: After five sessions a percentage average of hair reduction reached 70.9% (P-value ≤0.01) from the pretreatment density of hairs. Also, the physician's GAIS (global esthetic improvement scale) score was used in order to evaluate hair reduction. After five sessions, it was found that 40% of the subjects had excellent response, 56.6% had good responses and 3.33% had average responses (p-value ≤0.01)
Conclusion: The current study shows that the IPL technique used for hair reduction is effective and safe to use for the subject’s Fitzpatrick skin phototypes (II to IV) facial hair

Background: Euonymus japonicus is one species of celastraceous family used as decorative plant and in traditional Chinese medicine. The lack of information about the main active constituents and the possible biological activities of Iraqi Euonymus japonicus leaves is considered a motivation to start this in vitro study
Objectives: to identify the phytochemical components and to evaluate antioxidant and antimicrobial activities
Material and Methods: The chemical composition of Iraqi Euonymus japonicus leaves was identified and analyzed using the Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography approach and the antioxidant properties were measured by free radical - scavenging assay DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate). Furthermore, the antibacterial properties were evaluated via the agar well diffusion method against two pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus- aureus, E. coli, and Candida albicans.
Results: The results showed that the main active constituents of Euonymus japonicus leaves in ethyl acetate fraction were Naringenin, vitexin, Kaempferol, Apigenin, and quercetin respectively.in addition, antioxidant activity ethyl-acetate fraction had the greatest antioxidant activity with the IC50 value of 54.89 μg /mL while the highest antimicrobial efficacy of the ethyl acetate extract (3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 µg/ml) was demonstrated by the inhibitory zones (12-19 mm for Staphylococcus- aureus,16-20 mm for E. coli,16-21 mm for candida albicans) compared with positive control Augmentin (19 mm) and ketoconazole (16mm) respectively
Conclusion: The first identification of antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of E. japonic in vitro, show this plant has the highest activity compared to standard, this activity is related to the polyphenolic compound.

Background: Researchers have found that interleukin 6 (IL-6) plays a crucial regulatory function in the onset and progression of a wide range of inflammatory disorders. One of the more prevalent inflammatory illnesses affecting people today is rheumatoid arthritis.
Aim of the study: The purpose of this study was to compare the IL-6 levels of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to those of healthy controls and to examine the relationship between IL-6 and RA-related demographic and clinical factors. Materials and Method A total of 80 participants: 40 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers and 40 healthy controls, all of whom ranged in age from 23 to 61. The serum concentrations of (IL-6) were analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: Increased IL-6 blood levels were associated with rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting that this biomarker may be useful for diagnosing the disease at an early stage. There was no statistically significant correlation between disease severity and the DAS28 score and IL-6 levels in the serum.
Conclusion: The cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6) has been proposed as a biomarker and possible player in the etiology of rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: The green tea have antimicrobial activity against many types of bacteria It is considered a natural substance with few side effect.
Aim of the Study: An in vitro study was carried out to investigate the ability of green tea extract and nicotine to inhibit growth, biofilm formation by salivary Mutans streptococci.
Methods: This study included a convenient sample of 40 healthy Iraqi volunteers aged 18–23 years old from College of Dentistry / University of Baghdad. Green tea and nicotine aqueous extract were prepared in different concentration to use in agar diffusion method to detect the activity of extract, and ELISA reader in multi titer plate was used to determine the ability of salivary mutans Streptococci to form biofilm in the presence and absence of the extracts.to measure the biofilm inhibition rate.
Results: Mutans Streptococci were sensitive to green tea and nicotine in different concen-trations the diameters of the inhibition zone was effective in a dose dependent manner significantly. There was a significant difference between the concentrations of each extracts, antibacterial activity was in a dose dependent manner for the extracts. The minimum bacte-ricidal concentration of green tea was (280 mg/ml) and minimum bactericidal concentration of nicotine was (45mg/ml). The study found that biofilm formation by Mutans Streptococci was markedly decreased in the presence of 1/2 minimum bactericidal concentration of both green tea and nicotine with mean of O.D 590 nm = 0.54 in comparison with green tea ex-tracts and nicotine alone O.D 590 nm = 0.15, 0.68 respectively.
Conclusions green tea and nicotine extracts in different concentration effectively reduced the biofilm formation of salivary Mutans streptococci. While the presence of nicotine has negatively impacted on the ability of green tea extracts in the inhibition of biofilm formation by Mutans Streptococci in vitro.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for a high proportion of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide. The incidence of CVDs is largely attributed to several risk factors.
Aim of the study: To estimate the prevalence of common risk factors of cardiovascular diseases among secondary school students in Sulaimani city / Kurdistan-Iraq.
Subjects and Methods: One thousand and two hundred secondary school students between 16-18 years of age from eight secondary schools in the city of Sulaimani were selected to participate in this study. Students were selected randomly. The questionnaire form, which includes information about risk factors related to cardiovascular diseases, was filled by these students, after which, weight and height were measure to calculate the body mass index (BMI) in addition to measuring blood pressure (BP). Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the principles of the participating schools. Consents were obtained from the parents of the students and the students themselves before data collection.
Results: Low physical activity was very high among both males (84%) and females (95.8%). Although the rate of smoking was low among both males (12%) and females (4.2%), the association was statistically significant. The rate of smoking tobacco products other than cigarettes (water pipe and vape) was 27.6% among males and 10.2% among females. The rate of high systolic blood pressure was 6.7% and 2.9% in males and females respectively while the rate of high diastolic blood pressure was 5% and 10.7% in males and females respectively. The rates of high systolic blood pressure among overweight, normal weight and underweight students were 8.3%, 4.0% and 1.6% respectively.
Conclusion: A significant prevalence of modifiable common risk factors such as low physical activity, smoking, hypertension, overweight and obesity were found among both male and female secondary school students in Sulaimani city.

Background: Depression is one of the most common mood conditions among the elderly, which is linked to severe consequences such as difficulty in concentration and mood disturbances, followed by a lack of interest in social activities, apathy, pessimism, and changes in appetite and sleep.
Objective: To determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of depression and the associated factors among 60-year-olds and over.
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on a group of 218 patients attending selected primary health care centers (PHCC) in Diyala governorate from Al-Khales and Baquba first sectors from first of September 2020 till first of April 2021. A direct interview was conducted by the researcher. Depression in the studied group was measured using the Arabic version of the short form of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Socio-demographical factors were also inquired about in this study.
Results: The prevalence of depression among the study participants was 63.3%. There was a statistically significant association between depression and gender (higher in females 69.2%), marital status (in widowed 84.8%), current residence (93.3% in those living alone), and source of monthly income (78.1% in those on financial assistance), medical illnesses (70.2%), and past history of depression (71.3%).
Conclusions: Depressive symptoms are prevalent among elderly patients attending primary health centers in Diyala Governorate and are associated with female gender, being a widow, living alone, financial insecurity and chronic illnesses.

Background: Since energy is the product of volume times dosage, volumes are given a weighting that is proportionate to the dose that they have received. This is a result that energy is a measure of how much substance has been absorbed.
Aim of the study: The current study aimed to study the fluctuation of the efficiency index and Paddick with differences in the target volume.
Method The efficiency index and conformance index data were computed for each of the thirty clinical treatments that were scheduled using the Leksell Gamma Knife® Icon™ version (11.1) and compared to the target volume. Data analysis was carried out using the available statistical package for Social Sciences.
Result The value of efficiency index (ƞ50% ) for the 30 clinical stereotactic radiosurgery treatment plans ranged from 44% to 84% with a mean value of 63%.and value of conformity was 47% to 82% with a mean value of 60.6%, The study also showed a strong relationship between target volume and this indexes.
Conclusion: Volumes are given a weighting that is proportional to the dose that they have absorbed because energy is the product of volume times dose, where there would be a correlation between efficiency and conformance improvements and an increase in the target volume