Abstract Asthma is a complex disease defined by chronic airway inflammation and airflow limitation causing variable respiratory symptoms which include shortness of breath (SOB), wheezing, chest tightness and cough. Asthma guidelines advocate adding a second long acting bronchodilator to medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) rather using high doses of ICS alone to control moderate to severe persistent asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of three medication regimens indicated for Iraqi patients suffering from persistent asthma. This study was interventional randomized clinical study conducted on a sample of adult Iraqi asthmatic patients in Baghdad City. The study composed of three visits distributed over eight weeks; baseline visit followed by first follow up and second follow up visits after four and eight weeks respectively. The study enrolled 78 adult patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma as diagnosed by specialist physician according to patient history and baseline pulmonary function test (PFT) and allocated them randomly to three groups (each group included 26 patients) to receive equivalent medium doses of budesonide inhaler in addition to either formoterol inhaler, oral modified release aminophylline tablets or tiotropium inhaler (first, second and third group respectively). Sixty four patients completed this study. The mean ages of patients were above 35 years with slightly more male predominance. The study groups developed significant increase of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced vital capacity (FVC) values at the first follow up visit compared to baseline values (p<0.001). Thereafter, the first and third groups achieved significant higher values at the second follow up visit compared to first follow up visit (p<0.001), while second group produced no change. All the groups developed significant improvement of Mini asthma quality of life questionnaire (MiniAQLQ) scores and percentage of symptom free days (SFD) at first follow up visit and continued further significant improvement at the second follow up visit (p<0.001). Generally, between groups comparison according to extent of change of study parameters revealed that third group produced the greatest improvement over the entire study period followed by the first group, whereas the second group was associated with the least extent of improvement. This study concluded that all groups caused significant improvement in study parameters compared to baseline values and also concluded that the third group of inhaled [tiotropium/budesonide] was associated with the highest extent of improvement followed by first group, while the second group was the least.
Background: Cardiomyopathy (CM) is a cardiac muscle disorder that can lead to heart failure (HF). It has several phenotypes, including dilated, hypertrophic, and restricted. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a crucial part in the development and advancement of CM. Objective: This study aimed to measure the concentration of certain cytokines [Interleukin- 1β (IL-1β), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α)] in the serum of Iraqi patients with CM. Materials and Methods: Sixty CM patients and 30 healthy individuals with age ranged from 40 to 70 years old were enrolled in this study through their presence at Iraqi Center for Heart Diseases, Ghazy Al-Hariri Hospital for Surgical Specialties in the Medical City in Baghdad. The st
... Show MoreClinicians and investigators consider the normal range of bowel habit and frequency as between 3 to 21 motions per week. Stool frequency outside the normal range may be unusual but may not be abnormal in the sense of a disease, and according to the consistency, the normal stool ranges from porridge like to hard and pellety.
Objectives: To establish a basic data about the bowel habits (consistency and frequency) in a sample of healthy Iraqi population; in addition to learn about their definition of constipation and diarrhea.
Methods: Prospective study from Jan 2000- Jun 2000 at Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital, Baghdad. Questionnaires were distributed to 950 healthy persons of different age group .The questionnaire included: Detailed hi
Background: Clinicians and investigators consider the normal range of bowel habit and frequency as between 3 to 21 motions per week . Stool frequency out side the normal range may be unusual but may not be abnormal in the sense of a disease . And according to the consistency, the normal stool ranges from porridge like to hard and pellety .Objectives: To establish a basic data about the bowel habits (consistency and frequency) in a sample of healthy Iraqi population; in addition to learn about their definition of constipation and diarrhea.Methods: Prospective study from Jan 2000- Jun 2000 at Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital, Baghdad. Questionnaires were distributed to 950 healthy persons of different age group .The questionnaire included: Det
... Show MoreThe present study was set to investigate the potential association between the level of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), as a key component of the pro-inflammatory response, with different thalassemia’s biological and clinical features. For this purpose, one hundred fifty blood samples were collected from 100 beta-thalassemia patients, who attended the Genetic Hematology Centre at Ibn Al- Baladi Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, and 50 healthy subjects who were employed as a control group. IL-6 levels were estimated using an ELISA Kit, whereas other thalassemia-related clinical features (such as HbA, HbF, ferritin, blood transfusions, splenectomy status, and the history of frequent infection) were additionally assessed. The results of the present s
... Show MoreThe present study evaluates the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract as monotherapy on the glycemic status, insulin resistance (IR), body mass index (BMI), and visceral adiposity index (VAI), in addition to the inflammatory markers, oxidative status and leptin level in patients with metabolic syndrome in comparison with metformin.
The study is a randomized, double-blind pilot study conducted during the period May to September, 2020. Fifty patients were recruited in the study and they were allocated into two groups (25 per each group): Ginkgo biloba and Metformin groups, they received (120 mg Ginkgo biloba extract/ capsule) and (500 mg Metformin/ capsule) respectively; orally as a single dose for 90 days. Blood samples were taken at z
... Show MoreFocusing on the negative role of default risk on banks, as it is one of the most important risks facing banks, which are difficult to determine accurately, and its reflection on the indicators of profitability of cash flows. The increasing competition between banks led to an increase in the credit facilities granted by banks, and was accompanied by an increase in exposure to the risks of default, which led to an impact on the level of performance of banks in terms of achieving the required return according to the levels of high competition. Therefore, the problem of this study focused on the extent to which the risk indicators of default affect the profitability indicators of the cash flows of the banks research sample in the profit
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the most common malignancy in female and the most registered cause of women’s mortality worldwide. BI-RADS 4 breast lesions are associated with an exceptionally high rate of benign breast pathology and breast cancer, so BI-RADS 4 is subdivided into 4A, 4B and 4C to standardize the risk estimation of breast lesions. The aim of the study: to evaluate the correlation between BI-RADS 4 subdivisions 4A, 4B & 4C and the categories of reporting FNA cytology results. A case series study was conducted in the Oncology Teaching Hospital in Baghdad from September 2018 to September 2019. Included patients had suspicious breast findings and given BI-RADS 4 (4A, 4B, or 4C) in the radiological report accordingly. Fine needle aspirati
... Show MoreToday, there are large amounts of geospatial data available on the web such as Google Map (GM), OpenStreetMap (OSM), Flickr service, Wikimapia and others. All of these services called open source geospatial data. Geospatial data from different sources often has variable accuracy due to different data collection methods; therefore data accuracy may not meet the user requirement in varying organization. This paper aims to develop a tool to assess the quality of GM data by comparing it with formal data such as spatial data from Mayoralty of Baghdad (MB). This tool developed by Visual Basic language, and validated on two different study areas in Baghdad / Iraq (Al-Karada and Al- Kadhumiyah). The positional accuracy was asses
... Show MoreBackground: Asthma is a disease of the airways characterized by chronic inflammation associated with airway hyper-responsiveness and airway wall remodeling. Aims of the study: The aims of this study was to determine the prevalence of oral manifestations , identify different microorganism from oral micro flora and determination of salivary IgA and salivary flow rate in asthmatic patients taking different dose of Prednisolone in comparison with control group. Subjects, materials and methods: The study included 17 patients under treatment with Prednisolone (10-20 mg),15 patients take (20-30 mg) of Prednisolone and other 18 patients take (30 – 40mg) of Prednisolone, and 25 healthy control group (10 male and 15 female). Results : The mo
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