Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have increased morbidity and mortality from premature cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD). Framingham risk score (FRS) is a simplified coronary prediction tool developed to enable clinicians to assess the risk of a cardiovascular event and to identify candidate patients for risk factors modifications worldwide. The predictive ability of the FRS varies between populations, ethnic groups, and socio-economic status. The aim of this study is to find if there is any correlation between the Framingham risk score and the inflammatory and biochemical parameters used to measure disease activity and functional ability in Iraqi patients with active RA.
الخلفية: التهاب المفاصل الرَثَيَانِي أو الداء الرثياني أو الالتهاب المفصلي الروماتويدي هو مرض مزمن، من الأمراض الانضدادية التي تؤدي بالجهاز المناعي لمهاجمة المفاصل، مسببة التهابات وتدميرًا لها. ومن الممكن أيضًا أن يدمر جهاز المناعة أعضاء أخرى في الجسم مثل الرئتين والجلد. وفي بعض الحالات، يسبب المرض الإعاقة، مؤدية إلى فقدان القدرة على الحركة والإنتاجية. ويتم تشخيص المرض بواسطة تحاليل دم مخبرية مثل تحلي
... Show MoreBackground: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a collection of chronic, recurrent inflammatory illnesses of the gastrointestinal system, including Crohn's disease (CD). Infliximab is one of the biological medications used to treat CD. Therapeutic drug monitoring has evolved as a treatment in IBD, aiming to optimize benefit while meeting more demanding, objective end criteria. Objective: To determine the achievement of target trough level (TL), develop anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to infliximab, assess response to therapy, and study TL relations with different variables. Methods: The present study was cross-sectional and conducted from May 2022 to November 2022. It included 40 CD patients allotted into 2 groups: group 1 patients ach
... Show MoreClopidogrel is a prodrug that must be transformed into an active metabolite by hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoenzymes to prevent platelet clotting. Polymorphisms of the CYP2C19 gene can cause a reduction or complete loss of CYP2C19 enzyme activity resulting in inhibiting clopidogrel metabolism, effectiveness and increase stroke recurrence risk in ischemic stroke patients. This study aims to investigate the correlation between genetic polymorphisms in CYP2C19*2 and*3 and recurrent risk in patients with ischemic stroke taking clopidogrel 75mg in Kurdistan region –Iraq. This retrospective case-control study was carried out at Kurdistan, Erbil, Medicina medical center, and Rizgary general hospital from January 2021 to
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a proangiogenic factor that exerts different effects over stem cell survival growth, apoptosis, and adhesion. Its impact on leukemogenesis has been established by many studies. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of plasma HGF activity on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients at presentation and after remission. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional prospective study of 30 newly-diagnosed, adult, and AML patients. All patients received the 7+3 treatment protocol. Patients’ clinical data were taken at presentation, and patients were followed up for 6 months to evaluate the clinical status. Plasma HGF levels were estimated by ELISA based methods in the pa
... Show MoreIt was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 fem
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. Arylesterase, the activity of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), is mainly contributed in the biotransformation of clopidogrel to its active thiol form. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the arylesterase activities in CAD patients. The effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the antioxidant activity of arylesterase was also monitored by determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after reciving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in our study
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) formerly called non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes is a common disease. Rheumatoid factor is a well-established test used in the diagnosis and follows the prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Rheumatoid factor is sometimes found in serum of patients with other diseases including diabetes mellitus (DM), due to the presence of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF- α which play an important role in chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of the study is to investigate the associations between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in scope of rheumatoid factor (RF), hyperglycemia a
... Show MoreBackground In rheumatoid arthritis, your immune system attacks the tissue lining the joints on both sides of your body. Other parts of the body may also be affected. Unsure of the exact cause. Two separate genes termed IL12A (p35) and IL12 encode the heterodimeric cytokine known as IL12 (p40). Several different hematopoietic cell types can have several different hematopoietic cell types that can generate antigen-presenting cells (APCs), including DCs and macrophages. Objectives This study aimed to investigate if the interleukin IL-12B gene's common polymorphisms in an Iraqi population were associated with RA. Material and methods Blood samples were taken from 70 Iraqi patients with RA illnesses and 30 Iraqi controls during the periods from
... Show MoreThe study aimed to assess the expression of CD49d and CD26 in newly diagnosed CLL patients and find their correlation with clinical Binet stage, and other clinical parameters. This study was conducted on 51 newly diagnosed CLL patients based on lymphocyte count > 5×109/L and immunophenotyping. The expression of CD49d, and CD26 were investigated using eight-color flow cytometer. The expression of CD49d and CD26 were detected in 56.9 %, 68.8 % of CLL patients, respectively. The correlation between CD49d expression and CD26 expression was statistically significant (p < 0.001) with high concordance rate between them. The positive expression of both CD49d and CD26 had statistically significant association with clinical Binet staging (p < 0.001,
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