BACKGROUND: HLA-B27 can effect clinical presentation and course of ankylosing spondylitis. Different detection techniques of HLA-B27 are available with variable sensitivities and specificities. OBJECTIVE: To compare serologic and molecular diagnostic techniques of detecting HLA-B27 status and to correlate it with some clinical variables among ankylosing spondylitis patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 83 Iraqi patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Clinical and laboratory evaluations were reported. HLA-B27 status was determined in all patients by real-time PCR using HLA-B27 RealFast™ kit; ELISA method was used as well to detect soluble serum HLA-B27 antigens using Human Leukocyte Antigen® kit. RESULTS:

Background: Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is one of the most serious health problems and Herpes viridae may hasten the progression of colon cancer. Aim: The purpose of conducting this research is to investigate the existence of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV1) infection in samples of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) compared with normal tissue. Material and Methods: 40 samples of tissues (30 patients ) with CRC, and (10 samples) of normal tissue (without cancer) were obtained, for immunohistochemically analysis of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV1) expression Results: The results showed no significant data to justify the link between both Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV1) and human colorectal cancer. Despite of presence of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV1) found in

CD63 is -one of the tetraspanin family proteins, which are regarded as: hallmark exosomal markers because it is absent from other types of vesicles. It is expressed in the cell membrane of cancer cells, and cytoplasm of stromal cells. Objective: To assess CD63 expression in gastric cancer (GC) patients, and detected if it could be used as a predictive marker. Furthermore, the current study aimed to find the correlation between CD63 expression and clinicopathological parameters as: gender, age, invasion depth, histopathological type, involvement of lymph nodes, grade and stages of GC (TNM). The current study is a retrospective study in the period time from (2018 to-2020); 50 randomly patients formalin-fixed paraffin embedded blocks (FFPE)

Hypertension is a major health problem throughout the world because of its high prevalence and its association with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. It is defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy, safety and cardiovascular disease risk lowering ability, of three antihypertensive drug regimens.

A retrospective study was carried out on 66 hypertensive patients, divided in to three groups based on their antihypertensive drug regimens (ACE inhibitors, β-blockers treated and combination antihypertensive therapy, the combination therapy consist of two or more of the following antihypertensive drugs ACE inhibitor di

Multilevel models are among the most important models widely used in the application and analysis of data that are characterized by the fact that observations take a hierarchical form, In our research we examined the multilevel logistic regression model (intercept random and slope random model) , here the importance of the research highlights that the usual regression models calculate the total variance of the model and its inability to read variance and variations between levels ,however in the case of multi-level regression models, the calculation of  the total variance is inaccurate and therefore these models calculate the variations for each level of the model, Where the research aims to estimate the parameters of this m

The study aimed to evaluate the benefits of transferrin saturation percentage (TSAT) and serum ferritin in assessing body iron status, which can influence erythropoietin treatment in patients with ESRD. Forty end-stage renal disease patients on regular hemodialysis participated in this study. Clinical data were obtained. Serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, ferritin, albumin, creatinine, and C-reactive protein were investigated. Thirty healthy people were enrolled as a control group. ESRD patients had a mean age of 45.1±13.9 years, with 60% being males. They exhibited significantly lower hematocrit (25.3±6.5%), and higher platelet (285.7±148.1x10^9/L) and WBC (9.4±3.1x10^9/L) counts compared to healthy contro

The coronavirus-pandemic has a major impact on women's-mental and physical-health. Polycystic-ovary-syndrome (PCOS) has a high-predisposition to many cardiometabolic-risk factors that increase susceptibility to severe complications of COVID-19 and also exhibit an increased likelihood of subfertility. The study includes the extent of the effect of COVID-19-virus on renin-levels, glutathione-s-transferase-activity and other biochemical parameters in PCOS-women. The study included 120 samples of ladies that involved: 80 PCOS-patients, and 40 healthy-ladies. Both main groups were divided into subgroups based on COVID-19 infected or not. Blood-samples were collected from PCOS-patients in Kamal-Al-Samara Hospital, at the period between Decembe

The treatment of migraine headache targets the neurovascular mechanism and involves the use of serotonin receptor antagonists. Some of these drugs are used for the treatment of acute attacks; while others are effective as prophylactic measures to decrease the duration and frequency of attacks. Pizotifen, a 5-HT_A antagonist, is one of the prophylactic drugs for which the clinical use resulted in low outcomes in reducing migraine symptoms. Melatonin, a serotonin derived neurohormone, was reported to exert many functions like sleep induction, anti-inflammatory, neurovascular regulation, cytoprotection and modulation of neurotransmitter release.  In the view of the involvement of serotonin in the pathophysiology of migraine a

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with increased oxidative stress and impaired endothelial function. Ticagrelor treatment improves antioxidant properties in addition to its antiplatelet effects. This study investigated the impact of Ticagrelor treatment on serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels and other biochemical parameters in PAD patients. It also evaluated the potential diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of specific biomarkers based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Seventy individuals were categorized into healthy control (n=40), baseline PAD patients not on Ticagrelor (B-PAD, n=30), and same PAD patients after treated with Ticagrelor (A-PAD, n=30). Parameters measured included SOD concent