The topic of genetic load has been theorised by various authors. Genetic load refers to the reduction of population fitness due to accumulation of deleterious genes. Genetic load points to a decline in population fitness when compared to a ‘standard’ population. Having provided an explanation of genetic load, this article will locate genetic load in relation to historic and demographic changes. Moreover, it will discuss genetic understandings from the Qur’an and hadith. It will be argued that Islam possesses sound genetic concepts for informing Muslims about life on earth as well as choosing future spouses. Consanguineous marriage which is still prevalent in some Muslim countries, will also be examined, and will elicit recent scientific research in order to understand some of social and cultural factors for this cultural practice.

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Loiasis is a disease, which has been discussed in classical literature of Unani Medicine as‘Illa al-Baqar. Unfortunately this fact has been intentionally or unintentionally ignored by historians and its discovery has been attributed to French surgeon, Mongin who lived during 18th century A.D. In this paper, related Arabic texts have been reproduced to claim that the first definitive record is that of Ab al-Qsim al-Zahrw (d.1031 A.D.) who described the disease in his famous book Kitb al-Tasrf with necessary details. Later, the disease was again discussed by Ab Marwn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Zuhr and Amn al-Dawla Ab al-Faraj ibn Ya‘qb ibn Ishq ibn al-Quff al-Karak who lived in 12th and 13th centuries A.D., respectively.

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Radon and cigarette smoking have synergistic, multiplicative effect on lung cancer rates. Smokers and nonsmoking residents of smoking households are at increased risk for lung cancer even when radon levels are relatively low. People who inhale tobacco smoke are exposed to higher concentrations of radioactivity. Ever since studies on the relation of smoking to cancer—particularly the lung cancer—has been established, there had been a great interest in studies concerned with the monitoring of the alpha radioactivity in tobacco. Radium-226 (226Ra) is a significant source of radon-222 (222Rn), which enters buildings through soil, construction materials, or water supply. When cigarette smoke is present, the radon daughters attach to smoke particles. Thus, the alpha radiation dose to a smoker's lungs from the natural radon daughters is increased because of smoking. To investigate whether the cigarette tobacco itself is a potential source of indoor radon, the levels of radon and thoron from radioactive decay were measured in tobacco samples of 15 different brands using CR-39 solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs). The results showed that the 222Rn and 220Rn concentrations in cigarette tobacco samples ranged from 97 to 204 Bqm-3 and 38 to 104 Bqm-3, respectively. The radon concentrations emerged from all investigated samples were significantly higher than the background level. The annual equivalent doses from use of these tobaccos were determined. The measurement of the average indoor radon concentrations in 30 café rooms was, significantly, higher than 30 smoke-free residential houses. The result refers to the dual (chemical and radioactive) effect of smoking as a risk factor for lung cancer.

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This study was designed to determine the effect of testing posture and elbow position on grip strength in individuals aged between 9 and 18 years. A hand dynamometer (Takei, Tokyo, Japan) was used to measure grip strength of 546 subjects (213 girls, 333 boys) in two positions: (1) standing with elbow in full extension, forearm in full supination (anatomical position) and (2) sitting with elbow in 90° flexion, forearm in semipronation lying on an arm rest. The subjects were asked to squeeze the dynamometer three times with each hand and for each testing positions with 1-minute resting period between each trial in order to overcome fatigue. Paired samples t test was used to evaluate the two testing positions. Only the right grip strength was significantly higher in anatomical position in girls (p<0.05). Besides this result, no statistically significant differences were reported for the left grip strength of girls, and for both hands of boys (p>0.05) when the two testing positions were considered. The testing posture and elbow position had mostly little effect on grip strength of the young age group contrary to adults, which may somewhat be explained with the still ongoing process of the individuals participated in the study.

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This study includes isolation of Escherichia coli from different sources of human infection (urine, wounds, and burn), and 40 isolates of E. coli were obtained from 150 samples. According to the cultural characteristics, morphological features, and biochemical examination in addition to the API system, the E. coli isolates were identified. Antibiotic sensitivity for these isolates was tested, which included 14 antimicrobials. According to the resistance of isolates to antimicrobials, the latter were classified into 10 groups. The isolates varied in their resistance to tested antimicrobials. Isolates E7, E8, E9, E10, and E11 were resistant to all antimicrobials while E1, E2, and E20 were resistant to only one antimicrobial. The results also revealed that imipenem and amikacin were the most powerful antibiotics against all isolates. All isolates were screened for their ability to produce extended spectrum -lactamase enzyme (ESBL). A total of 24 isolates (60%) were found to be ESBL producers. Agarose gel electrophoresis was used and the plasmid contents showed variation in their size; more than one DNA band appeared in the case of some isolates. The reported results indicated the dissemination of plasmids among E. coli isolates that may carry resistance genes against wide spectrum antibiotics used clinically. Antibacterial activity of water, methanol, and ethanol extracts of the whole plant of Lepidium sativum was carried out using agar plate. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined as the lowest concentration of extract inhibiting the visible growth of each organism on the agar plate. The results showed that the MIC of watery extract was 4% for all chosen isolates, the MIC of ethanolic extract was 5% for isolates E7, E8, and E10 and 6% for E9, and the MIC of methanolic extract was 5% for all isolates under study. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannis, phenols, and saponins in both aqueous and methanolic extract, but saponins was absent in the ethanolic extract.

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Hemangiomas are benign and rare tumors of female genital tract and most of which are asymptomatic. A 55-year-old woman was referred to our department due to postmenopausal bleeding with 3 cm diameter adnexial mass. Transvaginal sonography revealed a 3-cm right ovarian semicystic mass with a low-resistant vascular flow pattern in the Doppler examination, supporting malignant neoplasia of the ovary. Serum Ca-125 levels of the patient were inconclusive. The pathology result of the mass was primary ovarian hemangioma, a benign vascular tumor after the surgery. Primary ovarian hemangiomas are extremely rare conditions. Some of the ovarian hemangiomas are presented as an ovarian mass with ascites and serum Ca-125 elevation, mimicking advanced stage ovarian cancer. Frozen sections may not always give a definitive histologic behavior of the mass. Thus, unnecessary radical surgery may be performed for benign ovarian vascular neoplasm.

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