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.
In this work, electrochemical process was presented to polymerized eugenol on Gr.2 and Gr.5 titanium alloys before and after treated by Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO), where Gr.2 is commercial pure titanium and Gr.5 is Ti-6Al-4V dental alloys. The deposited layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adhesion strength of polymeric thin-film was estimation by using pull-off adhesion test and the result was the adhesion strength of PE was (1.23 MPa) on Gr.2 before MAO and increase to (1.98 MPa) on Gr.2 after MAO treatment. The corrosion behavior of Gr.2 and Gr.5 alloy in artificial saliva environment at
... Show MoreBackground: Strangles is a highly contagious equine respiratory disease caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. It is a globally significant pathogen and one of the most common infectious agents in horses. In Iraq, no sequencing data on this pathogen are available, and only two molecular studies have been published to date. This study provides preliminary insights into strain diversity and provides a foundation for future large-scale investigations. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the molecular characteristics, identify SeM gene alleles, and perform a phylogenetic analysis of S. equi isolates from horses in Baghdad, Iraq. Methods: We analyzed 59 Streptococcus spp. isolates previously obtained from equine clinical sample
... Show MoreAbstract: Thorough assessment of the Maxillary,Sinus is very important. Recently 3-dimensional imagewith Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) is very dependable in Maxillary Sinus diagnosis. The aim of this study is to: shade light on the role of (CBCT) diagnosis of the maxillary sinus anatomical variation and pathological finding among smokers and nonsmokers prior to maxillary sinus lift techniques. Materials and Method: In this study 60 males with age ranged between 20-50 years old, referred for (CBCT) assessment of maxillary sinus in the Specialist Health Center of AL-Sadder city. The scanning were performed using Kodak 9500 (CBCT), the KV was 90, mA10 and scanning time 10 s. Voxel size 0.3mm with( DICOM ) software on a multiplaner re
... Show MoreBackground: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a common disease in neonates especially in early days of birth that requires a good and successful treatment for reducing the severity and its complications that can produce important and irreversible effects.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of conventional phototherapy, intensive phototherapy and exchange transfusion on outcomes of neonatal jaundice at Fatima Al-Zahra Hospital for maternity and child care in Baghdad.
Patients & Methods: A retrospective study was carried out using medical records of neonates with diagnosis of unconjugated jaundice, admitted in the septic neonatal care unit of Fatima Al-Zahra hospital over 6 months period b
... Show MoreBackground: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a condition characterized by an elevation of oxidative stress, which has been implicated in diabetic progression and its vascular complications. Aim: Assessing the impact of gliclazide modified release (MR) versus glimepiride on oxidative stress markers, glycemic indices, lipid profile, and estimated glomerular filtration rate in uncontrolled type 2 diabetic patients on metformin monotherapy. Methods: This was an observational comparative study conducted in Thi-Qar specialized diabetic, endocrine, and metabolism center. Sixty-six patients were randomized into two groups based on the addition of the sulfonylureas (SUs). Group 1 (33 patients) was on gliclazide MR, whereas Group 2 (33 patients)
... Show MoreThis paper investigates the performance evaluation of two state feedback controllers, Pole Placement (PP) and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR). The two controllers are designed for a Mass-Spring-Damper (MSD) system found in numerous applications to stabilize the MSD system performance and minimize the position tracking error of the system output. The state space model of the MSD system is first developed. Then, two meta-heuristic optimizations, Simulated Annealing (SA) optimization and Ant Colony (AC) optimization are utilized to optimize feedback gains matrix K of the PP and the weighting matrices Q and R of the LQR to make the MSD system reach stabilization and reduce the oscillation of the response. The Matlab softwar
... Show MoreThe adsorption behavior of Bismarck brown (BB) dye from aqueous solutions onto graphene oxide GO and graphene oxide-g-poly (n-butyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid) GO-g-pBCM as adsorbents was investigated. The prepared GO and GO-g-pBCM were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR, which confirmed the compositions of the prepared adsorbents. Adsorption of BB dye onto GO and GO-g-pBCM was explored in a series of batch experiments under various conditions. The data were examined utilizing Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The Langmuir isotherm was seen as increasingly reasonable from the experimental information of dye on formulating adsorbents. Kinetic investigations showed that the experimental data were fitted ve
... Show MoreA simple chemistry method approach was used to synthesise new ligand derivate from L-ascorbic acid and its complexes. All of them were water-soluble and are used quite extensively in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. This study synthesised the new ligand derivative from L-ascorbic acid-base using the following steps: A 5,6-O-isopropylidene-L-ascorbic acid was prepared by reacting dry acetone with L-ascorbic acid followed by reacting it with trichloroacetic acid to yield [chloro(carboxylic)methylidene]-5,6-O-isopropylidene-L-ascorbic acid in the second stage. In the third stage, the derivative was reacted with (methyl(6-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)amine to create a new ligand (ONMILA). This novel ligand was identified using a number
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