Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disorder with various clinical types. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is significantly elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of MS patients compared with that of healthy controls. The aim of this study is to evaluate serum levels of GFAP in relation to disease activity in relapsing-remitting MS patients and to compare them with those of healthy controls. Method: This study involved 58 MS patients of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) type, 22 in an active stage of the disease and 36 in remission, and 50 healthy individuals as age- and sex-matched controls. Blood samples were taken from the patients at the MS Clinic of the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, and the serum levels of GFAP were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Mean GFAP serum levels in 22 patients presenting in the active state of the disease (6.47±3.39 ng/ml) and 36 cases in remission were (5.33±2.82 ng/ml) (p=0.074) were determined as indicated. When RRMS patients (n=58) were compared with the healthy controls (n=50, 1.89±1.21), the difference in serum levels of GFAP was statistically significant (p<0.001). The area under the curve of the serum measures of GFAP obtained through the receiver operating characteristics was 0.903, which was also statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: GFAP biomarker is an indicator of disease activity in RRMS patients, and its serum level may correlate with the state of remission or exacerbation.
Human beta-defenses (hBDs) are antimicrobial peptides involved in innate immune protection, and their association with the risk of respiratory allergy has been proposed. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate this association in allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma (AS) of Iraqi patients. A case-control study was conducted to investigate serum levels of hBD1, hBD2, hBD3, and hBD4 in 52 AR and 60 AS patients and 61 healthy controls (HC). The hBDs were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results revealed that median levels of hBD1, hBD2, and hBD3 were significantly elevated in the serum of AR and AS patients compared with HC (p < 0.01). Levels of hBD4 were also elevated in AR and AS patients but the differen
... Show MoreCysteine-cysteine chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) is known to play an important role with immunoregulatory and inflammatory activities in the formation of granuloma during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. About 90 subjects, involving 50 patients with pulmonary TB and 40 apparently healthy individuals (as a control group) were collected from primary health care center\AL-Sadur city sector/ Baghdad City/ Iraq, and at specialized chest and respiratory diseases center in Wassit City /Iraq during the period from January 2019 to May 2019. The study was carried out to investigate serum level of CCL-5 of both patients and control by using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and to determine the association between CCL5 genotypes with pul
... Show MoreMolecular farming has become one of the most significant implementations of modern biotechnology to generate modified plant crops to produce medicinal proteins. Agrobacterium is one plant genetic engineering tool that integrates genes of interest inside a host plant. In recent years, the need to produce recombinant proteins as therapeutics has growing rapidly, and human glucocerebrosidase is one of the proteins that is need to treat disease. In this study, specific primers were designed to amplify Hu-GBA1 gene from constructed pGEM-GBA plasmid which was cloned into the plant expression vector pCAMBIA1304. The generated recombinant pCAMBIA1304-GBA plasmid was used to transform A. tumefaciens LBA4404
... Show MoreHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is ubiquitous and successfully reactivated in patients with immune dysfunction as in patient with multiple myeloma (MM), causing a wide range of life-threatening diseases. Early detection of HCMV and significant advances in MM management has amended patient outcomes and prolonged survival rates.
The aim of the study was to estimate the frequency of active HCMV in MM patients.
This is a case–control study involved 50 MM patients attending Hematology Center, Bag
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory condition causing joint pain and stiffness, with often debilitating and life-limiting consequences. Recently, a new B-cell secreted cytokine, IL-39, was identified in mice. The most up-to-date research indicates that although IL-39 is expressed in murine models of lupus and has a role in mediating the inflammatory response in this context, there is no solid, replicated evidence of the existence of IL-39 in humans. This study aimed to clarify the existence and role of IL-39 in the human body and to elucidate whether it plays a role in rheumatoid arthritis. Accordingly, serum samples were collected from 66 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were under therapy and from 66 healthy c
... Show MoreThe current study was conducted to determine the effect of crude oil on the pigments and protein content of Hydrilla verticillata plant from December 2018 to February 2019. Hydrilla verticillata was exposed to different concentrations of treatments (0.01,0.05,0.10,0.20) % of crude oil for 24 days. The pigments content was evaluated as total chlorophyll, a, b, carotene and protein content within plant tissues during the days (1, 8, 16 and 24).
The results of this study showed an increment in the total chlorophyll values of plant, which is exposed to different concentrations of crude oil compared to the control treatment during the first day of the experiment and decreased compared to cont
... Show MoreCorncob is an agricultural biomass waste that was widely investigated as an adsorbent of contaminants after transforming it into activated carbon. In this research carbonization and chemical activation processes were achieved to synthesize corncob-activated carbon (CAC). Many pretreatment steps including crushing, grinding, and drying to obtain corncob powder were performed before the carbonization step. The carbonization of corncob powder has occurred in the absence of air at a temperature of 500 °C. The chemical activation was accomplished by using HCl as an acidic activation agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) facilitate
... Show MoreThe role of free radicals generation and Lipid Peroxidation
during the course of ischemic heart disease is well establshed as a basic for Pthogenesis and subsequent tissue damage consequenes . In an attempt to shed a light on the possible relationship between lipid peroxidation and some antioxidant.
The effect of vitamine E (as a potent antioxidant free radical scavenger) . On the serum levels of the Lipoproteins, (HDLc) High Density Lipoprotein , (LDLc) Low Density Lipoprotein and (VLDLc) very Low Density Lipoprotein in healthy donors.
The study includes (50) healthy donors from males and females ,
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