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Background and Objective: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is still considered to be an uncontrolled endemic disease that spreads in many countries. The current study aimed to determine intra-species relationships of L. major using ITS2 sequencing. Methods: The study was conducted from the beginning of March to the end of November 2022. All medical information regarding CL was collected from patients of Thi-Qar province who attended the Dermatology Department of Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in Nasiriyah city. Seventy-three samples were selected for the molecular identification after confirming microscopy with Giemsa stain. In this study, the primers were designed using NCBI GenBank sequence database and Primer 3 plus primer design online software. Results: The results recorded 21 (28.77%) positive samples of L. major using the internal transcribed spacer 2 region (ITS2) in ribosomal RNA gene. The local L. major IQN.1–IQN.10 were submitted to NCBI GenBank database with accession numbers OM069357.1–OM069366.1, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that local isolates of L. major showed a close relationship with NCBI-BLAST L. major Iran isolate (KU680848.1). Conclusion: ITS2-PCR is suitable for identifying Leishmania spp. and determining genetic diversity. A phylogenetic data analysis may provide an idea on the genetic homogeneity of local isolates and knowing the genetic origin of the dermal lesion. However, the local isolates showed genetic proximity to the KU680848.1 isolate. This signifies the possibility of infection prevalence from Iranian areas. In general, genetic variation of L. major isolates may give several clinical manifestations of the cutaneous lesion. Therefore, determination of the heterogeneity is important for detecting the infection origin, epidemiology, therapy, and control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We determined the molecular prevalence and genotype distribution of human adenovirus (HAdV) among children under five years of age with gastroenteritis in Iran. One hundred stool samples from children hospitalized were tested by PCR for adenovirus, and some of the positive samples were sequenced to determine the specific genotype. HAdV DNA was found in 15 samples (15%). The highest and the lowest prevalence of HAdV was observed in the age groups 24–60 months (n = 6; 40%) and 7–12 months (n = 2; 13.3%), respectively (p = 0.01). Nine HAdV-positive samples were sequenced, of which four isolates were HAdV type 2 and five isolates were HAdV type 41. HAdV was most common in the 24–60-month-old children. Of the samples sequenced, we found only types 2 and 41. Our results show that in addition to HAdV types 40 and 41, HAdV type 2 may also play a role in causing gastroenteritis in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed-eater eurytomids of the genus Bruchophagus Ashmead, 1988 were collected from Ardabil and Qazvin provinces in northwest Iran. Various host plants were collected and their seeds were kept in laboratory conditions from 2007 to 2012. Scope of this paper focused on the Bruchophagus species reared from seeds of Astragalus brachydontus Boiss (Fabaceae). We obtained six species of Bruchophagus including B. astragali Fedoseeva. They were B. saxatilis Zerova; B. mutabilis Nikolaskaya; B. nikolskayae (Zerova); B. turkestanicus Zerova, and B. robiniae Zerova. Of which, Bruchophagus saxatilis Zerova, is a new record for the Iranian fauna. New host associations were found for all collected species and it seems a complex biological association that was recorded for the first time. Currently, 11 species of Bruchophagus are occurred inassociated with seeds of A. brachydontus. All previously known species of the genus Bruchophagus in Iran are also tabulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Shatt Al-Arab River region (SARR) in Iraq was an economically important area for food production. By the 1970s the environment of this region had begun to deteriorate, and since then the SARR has suffered from severe human- and natural-induced problems. In this study we use a coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) perspective to identify these problems, their interconnections, and the degree to which human or natural systems have contributed to environmental degradation. We used several measures of ecological, economic and social systems to quantify the problems and document changes over the past five decades. The SARR has experienced significant climatological changes from 1975 to 2017, including lower precipitation and humidity, and increases in temperature and sea level, which affected the salinity of groundwater and river water. Human systems in the SARR also experienced tremendous stresses, including war and economic sanctions. We calculated and analyzed changes in vegetation via NDVI classification of Landsat imagery for five dates between 1975 and 2017 to understand how the environment has been affected. Changes in climatological variables were associated with lower NDVI throughout the region. However, vegetation decreased on the Iraqi side of the river, while it increased slightly on the Iranian side. This drop appears related to higher salinity in both surface and groundwater in Iraq, while irrigation from less saline water has maintained more consistent vegetation in Iran, suggesting that hydrologic diversion may be driving distinct trajectories for land use and vegetation on either side of the Shatt Al-Arab River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 2003, Iraq witnessed radical changes in its political system. These changes occurred after many wars, multiple sanctions, and an external occupation during which its infrastructure and institutions were destroyed until it became one of the failed states from which the most serious problems that affect international security and stability emanate. It has also become an environment of conflict and multiple renewed crises, the most important of which is a crisis of leadership and state-building, which has become a necessity to discuss. This research focuses on the topic of the leadership crisis in Iraq and we look to women as a possible leaders in resolving crises and peacemaking in the stage of building the Iraqi state, and on the possibility of applying the relationship between women leadership and nation-building and what this relationship means in the context of continued insecurity and stability. Our research looks at a set of important points: 1- The possibility of exploring the role of women leaders in the process of building the Iraqi state; 2- The political behavior of Iraqi women and their role in the process of state-building; 3- The possibility of women's participation in conflict resolution and reconstruction after a series of internal political conflicts; 4- The possibility of determining the status of Iraqi women as leaders in the context of political transitions and clarifying the roles they have already played in the transitional phase. Are Iraqi women considered essential actors in the processes of achieving peace and building the state? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The main aims of thisstudyis to isolate pathogenic bacteria from packed milk in Basrah city, and to detect the presence of formalin in milk samples. Methodology:A total of 9types of packed milk were collected from the market in different period. The samples were transported to the laboratory in cooling conditions. They were stored in a refrigerator and analyzed within 24 hours. One ml from each sample was diluted in 9ml sterile distilled water, the diluted sample was a streak inoculated on chromogenic media. Three ml of milk sample was taken in a test tube and diluted with equal size of water. 5ml of sulfuric acid (90%) were added to the diluted milk slowly to the side of test tube which must handle with slant position in order to form separation layer. In case of formaldehyde presence a violet layer will form. This method detect of 1 part of formaldehyde in 200000 parts of milk Result: The result showed only Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Staphylococcus aureus have been isolated from milk samples (23.4 %) and (10.6 %) respectively. The result showed that high temperature not very effective since two pathogenic bacterial species have been isolated and formalin have been detected in milk samples. The result showed no effect of addition of formalin in some sample and did not inhibit the growth of bacteria. Conclusions: This study concludes that most of the packed milk under study contaminated with some pathogenic bacterial species, most of milk samples contained formalin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]