Pregnancy and delivery are physiological conditions that are marked by abrupt alterations to hormones, immunological and molecular characters. The current study aimed to evaluate oxytocin (OT), prolactin (PRL), cortisol and insulin growth factor-2 (IGF-2) levels as physiological biomarkers; programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1),interleukin-6 (IL-6) as immunological biomarkers, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs53576 and rs2254298) of oxytocin receptor gene OXTR as molecular factors in samples of Iraqi women undergoing caesarean section (CS) and normal delivery (ND). Blood samples were collected from 96 pregnant women at term with ages ranging between 16-43 years. Regarding the physiological biomarkers, the study findings indicated that the change in OT, cortisol and IGF-2 between CS and ND groups was not significant, While the PRL level indicated a highly significant (P≤0.001) decrease in the CS group, especially in comparison with the ND group. Immunological biomarkers demonstrated a significant (P≤05) elevation for PD-1 as well as for PD-L1 in the CS group as compared to the ND group. However, PD-1/PD-L1 ratio revealed a high significant (P≤0.001) rise in CS compared with ND. The IL-6 results revealed a significant (P≤0.001) reduction in the CS groups compared to the ND group. And regarding the SNP of OXTR (rs53576), the findings revealed no notable association in genotypes CC, TC and TT between both groups. In addition, the mutant C allele and the wild T allele revealed no significant association between CS and ND groups [OR=1.26 (0.68-2.3%)]. The SNP results of OXTR (rs2254298) showed a high positive association (P≤0.001) in genotypes GG, AG and AA between CS and ND groups. Also, the mutant G allele and the wild A allele revealed high significance (P≤0.001) between both groups [OR=5.3 (2.8-9.76%)].
Iraq, home of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, has survived an extreme deficiency of surface water assets over the years. The gap is due to the decline of the Iraqi water share every year, as well as a high demand for water use from different sectors, particularly agriculture.
Dam development has long given significant economic benefits to Iraq in circulating low‐priced electricity and supporting low‐income farmers by supplying them with a free irrigation system (Zakaria et al, 2012). This encouraged domestic consumption and investment.
Despite the fact that numerous advantages are expected from dam construction, it should be painstakingly assessed, utilizing cost
Breast cancer is the most common cause of death among women worldwide (1)
. Breast self-exam (BSE) is considered
an important public health procedure; primary prevention should be given the highest priority in the fight against
cancer.
Cancer is considered the second leading cause of death in developed countries there was some 6.2 million cancer
related deaths, accounƟng for 12% of all deaths globally (5).Patients perception toward this disease and preference
concerning the types and aims of their treatment are vary they may loss hopes and become devastated and crippled
or even dies earlier, if told about the diagnosis (13). The study aimed to assess knowledge of female students regarding
BSE, and to find out rel
Objectives : The study aims to assessing nurses’ knowledge concerning peritonitis- dialysis association at the
peritoneal dialysis units, and to identifying the relationship between some nurses’ knowledge and some of their
demographic characteristic.
Methodology : A descriptive study was carried out at the peritoneal dialysis units in Baghdad Teaching
Hospitals started from November 29th 2004 to August 15th, 2005. A purposive sample of (52) nurses was
selected from Baghdad Teaching Hospitals. The data were collected through the use of constructed
questionnaire, which comprised of (97) items as an interview questionnaire technique as mean of data
collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined through
Objectives of the study: Assess pregnant women's knowledge about tetanus toxoid vaccination, to find out the
relationship between pregnant women's knowledge and some variables which included: (age, level of
education, occupational status, socio-economic level, gravidity, parity, following visits of antenatal care,
tetanus toxoid vaccination coverage).
Methods and Materials: Descriptive analytic study conducted on multistage probabilistic sample of 130
pregnant women during period from 30th January 2012 to the 24th April 2013 was carried out in the six primary
health care centers at Karbala city. The questionnaire was consisted of four parts which include of: sociodemographic
characteristics, reproductive information,
Owing to high antibacterial resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, it could be considered as the main reason behind the nosocomial infections. P. aeruginosa has a well-known biofilm forming ability. The expression of polysaccharide encoding locus (pelA gene) by P. aeruginosa is essential for this ability. The purpose of the current research was to determine the biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa isolated from clinical samples and to evaluate the role of the selected PelA gene in biofilm formation using PCR method in Iraqi patients. Results revealed that 24 (96%) isolates were found to have the ability to form biofilm that was remarkably related to gentamicin resistance. Moreover, the pelA gene was found in all biofilm-producers. In conclu
... Show MoreThe rapid change in economic is a serious challenge facing all countries around the world, even developed ones. This challenge is increasing as the world enters the age of knowledge in which different knowledge and technologies have emerged and the distance between the emergence of scientific knowledge and its actual application on the ground has been reduced as well as the growing role of science and technology in community development. One of the most important technology amongst these technologies is nanotechnology, where this technology plays a major role in the development of products and modern devices and reduces cost with quality improvement. This technology is cross-cultural, requires a comprehensive knowledge structure and depe
... Show MoreHuman cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular diseases in immunocompromised organ transplant patients; it has been linked with the elevated arterial blood pressure. This study aimed to find a relationship between CMV antibody titers and blood pressure elevation by using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to measure CMV IgG levels in the serum of 60 patients with high blood pressure, in comparison to 30 healthy persons with normal blood pressure as a control. All patients and control were 25-50 years old. The results showed that CMV antibody titers were higher in those who undergo blood pressure elevation. This finding supports the hypothesis that; the common CMV infection may leads to i
... Show MoreSpinach, Spinacia oleracea L is a popular vegetable belonging to the family Chenopodiaceae. This study was concerned with extraction of compounds in Iraqi spinach leaves, preliminary phytochemical evaluation, identification of two biological important flavonols, quercetin and kaempferol in spinach leaves and evaluation of the protective effect of aqueous spinach extract on methotrexate (MTX) induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The percentage yield of extraction procedure, identification of spinach by chemical tests and identification of flavonols by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were fully described in this study. The results indicate that the percentage of quarce
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