Over the last 40 years, rate of cesarean delivery has risen from less than10% to over 30% around the world, and almost simultaneously a 10-foldraise in the incidence of placenta accrete spectrum. Fine coordinationamong vascular endothelial growth factor, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase1 and placental growth factor is important for normal placentaldevelopment and trophoblast invasion. To measure and compare the levelsof circulating vascular endothelial growth factor, placental growth factorand soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 in pregnant women with placentaaccreta to a control group. A case control study which involved one hundredpregnant females were recruited from the Obstetric ward in BaghdadTeaching Hospital who were pregnant with 28 weeks of gestation or more,through the period from October 2018 to June 2019. Fifty patients werechosen with placenta accreta that ended with caesarean sectionhysterectomy and the other fifty patients were with normal placentallocation as a control. Means of VEGF, PlGF, and sFlt-1 were significantlylower among case group than that in controls. Cut point of VEGF level was111.83 ng/L, of PlGF level was 23.29 ng/L, and of sFlt-1 was 5.32 ng/ml;so VEGF level < 111.83 ng/L, PlGF level < 23.29 ng/L, and sFlt-1 level <5.32 ng/ml are predictors for risk of placenta accrete. No statisticalsignificant correlations between markers’ level and all characteristics.Angiogenic and anti-angiogenic markers may have a role in thedevelopment of placenta accreta spectrum. VEGF, PIGF and sFlt-1 aredecreased in patients with placenta accreta
Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune illness, which is consider by three main features: Sclerotic changes in the skin and internal organs, Vasculopathy of small blood vessels, Particular autoantibodies (1). The most important autoantibodies appeared significantly in SSc patients are anti-topoisomerase I autoantibody (Scl-70), anti-centromere autoantibody (ACA), and anti-RNA polymerase III autoantibody (RNAP3) (2). Anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) are infrequent in rheumatic conditions and in healthy persons but occur commonly in limited systemic sclerosis (CREST syndrome), and rarely appeared in the diffuse form of systemic sclerosis (3). Anti-Ro/SSA and antiLa/SSB, antibodies directed against Ro/La ribonucleoprot
... Show MoreA total of 70 pregnant women with toxoplasmosis were studied to evaluate of some immunological aspects. The women were distributed into three groups: 37 women were IgG positive, 18 women were IgM positive and 15 women were IgG and IgM positive as well as 25 healthy women were considered as control group. Serum samples were collected and ELISA method was employed to assess levels of interleukins 4, 6, 10, Interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10), Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). As compared with control the levels of cytokines were significantly increased in serum of three pregnant women groups with toxoplasmosis and the highest increase was observed in the IgM positi
... Show MoreBackground: Neural tube defects (NTD) are group of heterogeneous and complex congenital anomalies of the CNS. Commonly included in this group anencephaly, spina bifida and
encephaloceles. Anencephaly is the most severe defect; it is always lethal and results in stillbirth or early neonatal demise, is characterized by absence of the brain and cranium above the base of the skull and orbits
Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the relationship between maternal serum zinc level and anencephaly occurrence in women with second -trimester induced abortion due to anencephalic fetus.
Study design and setting: This study is a case- control study, carried out in Baghdad teaching hospital through
Background: Pregnancy is a natural physiological state that involves several biochemical modifications. Saliva is consisted of many types of proteins such as salivary alpha amylase and salivary peroxidase that might be affected by pregnancy. The former enzyme is considered one of the most prevalent proteins that is released by highly differentiated epithelial acinar cells and has been shown to have enzymatic activities while the latter has been approved that it has a significant role in oral health. The purpose of this study was to the evaluate the salivary levels of alpha-amylase and peroxidase in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Materials and Methods: Sixty pregnant women were grouped according to the pregnancy trimesters. The first
... Show MoreBackground: Polycystic ovarian syndrome is the most common endocrine disease in females of childbearing time of life. Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome have a higher chance of developing complications such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity. Obesity is a state of extreme fat buildup which leads to the development of multiple complications involving non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease and type2 diabetes mellitus. Podocalyxin is an element of the endothelial cells plasma membranes that is widely spread, it is limited to the luminal membrane area and is irregularly located on the surface of endothelial cells lining blood ves
... Show MoreBackground: Chlamydia trachomatis infections are the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STI) recognized throughout the world. Screening programs for C. trachomatis is of paramount importance in the prevention of long-term sequelae.
Subjects and methods: A total of 91 normal healthy women were included in this study, which was conducted for the period from 1st. November/ 2011 to 1st. March 2012. They were chosen by simple random selection from Al-Batool Teaching Hospital for maternity and children, and some health care centers in Baquba city. The age range was 17-42 years. 49 (53.8%) and 42 (46.1%) were from rural and urban areas respec
... Show MoreHemogloin (Hb) and serum ferritin levels are used to assess anemia in pregnancy. Some studies referred to the influence of maternal age, body mass index (BMI) and parity on Hb and serum ferritin levels. The study aimed to examine the possible association of maternal Hb and serum ferritin with maternal age, parity, and BMI in a sample of pregnant women in Baghdad.
Ninety healthy pregnant women, grouped in three equal groups according to the pregnancy trimester, and thirty apparently healthy non-pregnant women from Baghdad were enrolled in this observational study. Blood and serum samples were obtained for the estimation of Hb and serum ferritin levels.
The pooled data of participants showed a n
... Show MoreAn essential issue in obstetrics is the prevalence of maternal and fetal complications in pregnant women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of pregnancy complications among various phenotypes of pregnant women with PCOS.
Background: Osteoporosis (OP) is a chronic and a progressive disease characterized by low bone mass and micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue, resulting in an increased risk of fracture. Osteocalcin is a non-collagenous protein synthesized and secreted by osteoblasts. Its main physiological functions are calcium ion homeostasis, maintain the normal bone mineralization rate, inhibit the abnormal formation of hydroxyapatite crystal, and to be involved in bone remodeling through a negative feedback mechanism.
Objective: This study was planned to evaluate serum level of bone formation marker osteocalcin (OC) in postmenopausal women with and without primary osteoporosis; and study the correlation between serum osteocalcin level