Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder that involves autoantibodies attacking and weakening joints. RA is characterized by leukocyte (Monocyte, Lymphocyte mast cell .etc) infiltrations into the synovial compartment leading to inflammation in the synovial membrane. Synovitis leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, matrix metalloproteinases, chemokines, complement proteins, and growth factors. Objective: The current study pointed to verify the diagnostic values of interleukin -17 A and interleukin -18 in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and the effect of treatment thereon. Study subjects and methods: A total of 88 samples with RA were selected from the health clinics of AL-Yarmouk teaching hospital/rheumatology clinic in Baghdad, with female rheumatoid arthritis patients as the patient group (50) and (38) healthy females as the control group. All patients were exposed to clinical, laboratory, and ultrasound assessments, besides measuring the serum level of both (IL-17A and IL-18) by the method of Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The results show that there is a significant difference (p≤0.05) in IL-17A levels between patients and controls. The concentration of IL-17A in premenopausal patients is higher when compared to control groups (18.06 ± 3.85 vs 15.71 ± 1.82 pg/ml), so, the concentration in postmenopausal studied groups (17.19 ± 2.91 vs 14.13 ± 1.06 pg/ml). Also, there are significant differences (p≤0.05) in the level of IL-18 between the patients and the control; it is found that the level of IL-18 within the premenopausal patients was higher compared to the control (16.09 ± 9.69 vs 12.52 ± 8.30 pg/ml). Conclusion: A High level of IL-17A in RA patients contributes to the pathogenesis of RA as an inflammatory disease. As well as, the elevated levels of IL-18 suggest its physiological role to induce inflammatory disorder Treatment with (MTX and Etanercept) causes a decrease in the inflammatory markers of this disease RF in patient groups.
vitrofertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI-ET) for infertile patients. Insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF1), Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and Total Testosterone (TT) may have a role on follicle growth, oocyte quality, embryo quality and subsequent pregnancy in patients undergoing IVF cycles. To explore the possibility of using DHEAS, TT and IGF1 as predictive indicator for successful pregnancy in patients undergoing (IVF/ICSI-ET). A prospective study was performed enrolling (12) non pregnant control group,(7) pregnant control group,(18) non-pregnant PCOS group and (12) pregnant PCOS group. The collection of blood and follicular fluid (FF) samples was done at the day of oocyte aspiration. Electroch
... Show MoreBackground: The oral cavity is considered as a complex ecological niche, its complex microbial community is reflected to it. Streptococcus mutans has been implicated as one of the major etiological factor of dental caries. Tooth surfaces colonized with Streptococcus mutans are at a higher risk for developing caries, while lactobacilli are considered as the secondary invaders, not initiators of the carious lesion. The main purpose of this study was to correlate the dental caries (for primary and permanent teeth) in the upper jaw with the streptococcus mutans and lactobacilli count in the dental plaque and saliva, also to correlate the dental caries (for primary and permanent teeth) in the lower jaw with the streptococcus mutans and lactobaci
... Show MoreBackground: Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic disease characterized by low bone mass and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue, resulting in an increased risk of fractures and has touched rampant proportions. Osteocalcin, one of the osteoblast-specific proteins, showed that its functions as a hormone improves glucose metabolism and reduces fat mass ratio. This study is aimed to estimate the osteocalcin and glucose level in blood serum of osteoporotic postmenopausal Women with and without Type 2 Diabetes.Materials and methods: 60 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis divided into two groups depending on with or without T2DM, 30 patients for each. Serum samples of 30 healthy postmenopausal women were collected as control group. Ost
... Show MoreBackground: Cystatin C is recently considered to be a good predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD)Objectives: Correlation between cystatin and ischemic heart disease.Methods :One hundred forty patients (140) with ischemic heart disease admitted to thin study at Baghdad teaching hospital from the period June. 2011 to Jan. 2012. Those patients was categorized into three groups.Group (A): patients with ischemic heart failure.Group (B): Patients with myocardial infarction.Group (C) patients with unstable angina.All these groups were in comparison to fifty (50) healthy controls. Fasting serum citation (C) were measured in all patients and control in addition to all other routine inves
... Show MoreBackground. Body mass index (BMI) is a person's weight in kilograms (or pounds) divided by the square of height in meters (or feet). Obesity affects a wide spectrum of age groups, from the young to the elderly, and there are several eye diseases related to obesity like diabetic retinopathy, floppy eyelid syndrome, retinal vein occlusion, stroke-related vision loss, age-related macular degeneration, and possibly, refractive errors. Refractive errors (RE) are optical imperfections related to the focusing ability of the eye and are the main cause of visual impairment which may result in missed education and employment opportunities, lower productivity and impaired quality of life. Aim. The study aimed to find an association between bod
... Show MoreBackground; Perforated duodenal ulcer (PDU) is a common surgical emergency that is associated with high mortality and morbidity. Early diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment is required to prevent grave complications.
Objective; The study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of different radiological investigations in the diagnosis of perforated duodenal ulcer.
Methods; A prospective study of 185 pts with PDU at al kindy teaching hospital, Baghdad, Iraq from June 2008- august 2010. patients were examined clinically and investigated by blood test, chest x ray, plain X ray of the abdomen. Ultrasonography (U/S) and CT scanning done for those patients with negative X- ray finding. Resuscitation by intravenous fluid and ant
This study aimed to evaluate serum levels of steroid hormones and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in preeclamptic Iraqi pregnancies compared to those of healthy pregnancies.This study enrolled 120 pregnant women, divided into four groups:1. 30 healthy pregnant women.2. 37 pregnant women with mild preeclampsia3. 53 pregnant women with severe preeclampsia4. 90 pregnant women with preeclampsia Preeclamptic women and their severe cases but not mild cases had significantly (P<0.01) increased levels of serum hCG as compared with healthy pregnancies. By contrast, sera levels of estradiol were significantly (P<0.01) decreased in total preeclamptic groups and their severe cases but not in mild group as compared to healthy pregnant wome
... Show MoreSevere periodontitis is ranked as the sixth most prevalent disease affecting humankind, with an estimated 740 million people affected worldwide. The diagnosis of periodontal diseases mainly relies upon assessment of conventional clinical parameters. However, these parameters reflect past, rather than current, clinical status or future disease progression and, likely, outcome of periodontal treatment. Specific and sensitive biomarkers for periodontal diseases have been examined widely to address these issues and some biomarkers have been translated as point-of-care (PoC) tests. The aim of this review was to provide an update on PoC tests for use in the diagnosis and management of periodontal diseases. Among the PoC tests developed so
... Show More