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Introduction: Septicemia is considered as an important cause of life-threating infections. The study was aimed at determining the incidence of septicemia considering different age groups and gender among suspected patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Iraq., Methodology: A total of 168 blood samples were collected and cultured using BacT/Alert 3D automated system. The isolated pathogens were identified and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using automated Vitek 2 Compact system., Results: Out of 168 blood samples, 53 (31.5%) gave positive microbial growth. Thirty-three samples (62.3%) came from male patients and 20 (37.7%) from female ones, both gender and microbial growth were significantly related (P < 0.05). Age group (21 year - 30 year) was found to have the highest percentage of positive growth (26.4%) while age group (51 year - 60 year) the lowest percentage (5.7%) of positive growth. Both microbial growth and age group were found to be associated to a significant level (P < 0.05). 36 isolates (67.9%) were Gram negative, 15 isolates (28.3%) were Gram-positive and 2 isolates (3.8%) were fungi. Salmonella typhi (41.7%) represented the most common pathogen isolated followed by Acinetobacter baumannii (22.2%). An isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed resistance to all antibiotics used., Conclusion: Community-acquired septicemia occurred mainly in male than female. Salmonella typhi and Acinetobacter baumannii represented the most frequent causative agents of community-acquired septicemia. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing should be performed to detect the antibiotic of choice for each pathogen causing community-acquired septicemia., Competing Interests: No Conflict of Interest is declared, (Copyright (c) 2020 Furqan M Al-Asady, Dalia A Al-Saray, Ammar W Obed.)

Objective: To demonstrate the differences in the patterns of adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms among non, light, and heavy smokers., Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 400 medical students (representing first to sixth year students) was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Al-Mustansiriya, Baghdad, Iraq from March to June 2011. The medical students completed a questionnaire containing the adult ADHD self-report scale (ASRS-screener) and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). An ADHD score ≥14 was considered positive. An FTND score ≥6 signifies heavy smokers, and an FTND score ≤5 signifies light smokers., Results: Three hundred and sixty-one medical students completed the questionnaire, 16.6% reported ADHD symptoms (19.8% male, 12.1% females). Forty-five percent of ADHD adults were smokers; more than half of them were categorized as heavy smokers (51.8%). In comparison with non-smokers, heavy smokers displayed significant deterioration in their inattentive and total ASRS score (p=0.0001). Light smokers show significantly higher hyperactive symptoms in comparison with non-smokers (p=0.041). A high FTND score was associated with severer deterioration in inattentive (r=0.391, p=0.001) but not hyperactive symptoms (r=0.153, p=0.117)., Conclusion: The ADHD symptoms are highly prevalent among Iraqi medical students, and smoking among ADHD students is higher and heavier than non-ADHD controls. Heavy smoking tends to deteriorate rather than ameliorate (self-medicate) ADHD symptoms.