Background: The occurrence of seizures in bacterial meningitis is important, as it has been reported to increase the risk of complications; however, its frequency and predictors are not well studied yet. Objective: To assess the frequency, clinical, and biochemical predictors of seizures in children with acute bacterial meningitis. Method: A cross-sectional study recruited confirmed acute bacterial meningitis cases based on positive CSF culture and sensitivity among children aged 2 months to 15 years admitted to the Central Child Teaching Hospital emergency department in Iraq. Patients were divided into two groups based on seizure at presentation time. Demographic characteristics [age, gender, residence, duration of fever and disease, presenting complaints and antibiotic intake]; hematological [WBC, neutrophils] Lymphocyte, N/L ratio, packed cell volume, platelets, blood sugar, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indices were compared between groups. Results: Seizures had a frequency of 18% among the 122 children and were significantly higher in younger cases with female predominance. By multivariate analysis and odds ratio (OR), predictors for seizure were as follows: CSF lymphocytes (OR=0.25, 95%CI=0.08–0.26), lethargy (OR=8.15, 95%CI=1.03-68.65), headache (OR=0.09, 95%CI=0.02-0.45), neck stiffness (OR=0.07, 95% CI=0.01-0.61) and poor feeding (OR=4.8, 95%CI=1.21–18.97). Conclusions: CSF lymphocytes reliably predicted seizure with good sensitivity and specificity of 75% and 73%. Lethargy and poor feeding had the highest odds as clinical predictors of seizures. Together, those results can help with risk stratification and allocate resources for high-risk cases to improve patient outcomes
Background: The COVID-19 virus outbreak had a massive effect on many parts of people's lives, as they were advised to quarantine and lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading, which had a big impact on people's mental health, anxiety, and stress. Many internal and external factors lead to stress. This negatively influences the body's homeostasis. As a result, stress may affect the body's capacity to use energy to defend against pathogens. Many recent investigations have found substantial links between human mental stress and the production of hormones, prohormones, and/or immunological chemicals. some of these researches have verified the link between stress and salivary cortisol levels. The aim of this study is to measure salivary corti
... Show MoreBackground: Manuka honey (MH) is a mono-floral honey derived from the Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium). MH is a highly recognized for its non-peroxide antibacterial activities, which are mostly related to its unique methylglyoxal content (MGO) in MH. The beneficial phytochemicals in MH is directly related to their favorable health effects, which include wound healing, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of MH on pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-8 and TNF-α) in patients with gingivitis and compare it with chlorhexidine (CHX) and distilled water (DW). Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized, double blinded, and parallel clinical trial. Forty-fiv
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the level of effective leadership practices dimensions (clear vision and specific goals, good planning and effective influence, and monitoring well as evaluation) among the senior leaders in the Office of the Iraqi Interior Ministry., The researchers adopted the descriptive analytical approach to collect data through the questionnaire as a main tool, developed by relying on international standards after making adjustments to its items consisting of (25) items that included the research variable, the questionnaire was distributed to all the research community (comprehensive inventory) by 120 forms from emplo
... Show MorePurpose: This study aimed to compare the stability and marginal bone loss of implants inserted with flapped and flapless approaches 8 weeks after surgery and 3 months after loading. Material and Methods: Thirty SLActive implants were inserted in 11 patients and early loaded with final restoration 8 weeks after healing period. The stability values determined by Osstell and the marginal bone loss measured by CBCT at the initial time (1st) and 8 weeks of the healing period (2nd) and 3 months after loading (3rd). Results: The overall survival rate was 100%. A significant increase in the 3rd implant stability value in the age of ˂ 40. A significant decrease in the 2nd implant stability value in both gender and traumatic zone with a flapless app
... Show MoreThis research is devoted to investigating the thermal buckling analysis behaviour of laminated composite plates subjected to uniform and non-uniform temperature fields by applying an analytical model based on a refined plate theory (RPT) with five unknown independent variables. The theory accounts for the parabolic distribution of the transverse shear strains through the plate thickness and satisfies the zero-traction boundary condition on the surface without using shear correction factors; hence a shear correction factor is not required. The governing differential equations and associated boundary conditions are derived by using the virtual work principle and solved via Navier-type analytical procedure to obtain critica
... Show MoreNumerous physiological and biochemical changes are linked to menopause. The current study was intended to examine the transforms linked to anthropometric measurements and bone-related factors. In this study of 80 women which included; they comprised 40 premenopausal women and 40 postmenopausal women. waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), hip circumference (HC), moreover waist to hip ratio are among the anthropometric measurements (W-HR) recorded by standard procedures. The plasma samples were tested for the following biochemical parameters: bone-related parameters [calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), uric acid (UA), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)] and serological agglutination tests [rheumat
... Show MoreIn this study, Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles were synthesized by an easy and eco-friendly technique (green synthesis) using green tea leaves (Camillia sinensis), Nanoparticles were analyzed using structural and optical analysis, the X-ray pattern showed that Titanium Dioxide NPs had a tetragonal structure with (Face Centered Tetragonal) FCT crystal structure, the UV-visible recorded an absorbance peak near 350 nm and calculated energy band gap was 3.5 eV, all measurements were proved the purity and Nano size of prepared Nanoparticles. Biochemical parameters evaluation also mentioned in this research, these analyzes showed that Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles in particular dose (50 mg/kg) have the ability to reduce blood glucose
... Show More120 samples were collected from children (ages between new born and 10 years) who infected with oral thrush. The results revealed that the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) of extracted oil of lemon grass against C.albicans, C.tropicalis, C.keyfr, C.glabrata and C.guilliermondii were 1.25,1.25,1.25,2.5 and 2.5µl/ml and 2.5, 2.5, 2.5, 5 and 5 µl /ml respectively. while the (MIC) and (MFC) for the extraction oil of thyme against C.albicans, C.tropicalis, C.keyfr, C.glabrata and C.guilliermondii were 0.6, 0.6, 1.25, 1.25, and 1.25µl/ml and 1.25, 1.25, 2.5, 2.5, and 2.5µl/ml respectively . While the value of (MIC) and (MFC) for Nystatin against Candida species were 32 and 64 µg
... Show MoreAcute myeloid leukemia (AML) represents the most prevalent type of acute leukemia in adults and is responsible for approximately 80% of all cases. The tumor suppressor gene (TP53) is a gene that has been frequently studied in cancer, and mutations in this gene account for about 50% of human cancers. This study aims to evaluate the correlation between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene: rs1042522 and rs1642785, and a group of Iraqi patients suffering from pre-diagnostic acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Blood samples were collected from sixty patients (26 males and 34 females) and sixty controls (26 males and 34 females); these subjects were matched in gender, age, and ethnicity. Genomic DNA has been extracted fro
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