Background: Osteoporosis is an extra-articular complication of rheumatoid arthritis that results in increased risk of fractures and associated morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Objective: To evaluate changes in bone mineral density in a sample of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients on biological (anti tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha) and non-biological agent disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Patients and Methods: A cross sectional study enrolled 60 RA patients diagnosed by rheumatologist according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (2010 ACR/EULAR) classification criteria for RA. Thirty patient on biological agent (anti TNF alpha) and 30 patient on non-biological agent (D

     Methotrexate (MTX) is still one of the gold standard treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It shows diverse outcomes in blood level and clinical response, this was demonstrated by its relation to the genetic polymorphism in the pharmacogenetic study. This study aimed to investigate the role of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphisms in relation to MTX efficacy and toxicity in Iraqi Kurdish RA patients. Sixty-four RA patients were involved in this study with an average age of 47.78 ±14.08 and female to male ratio of (8.1). Diagnosis and disease activity were confirmed. Blood analyses, including those of laboratory markers of disease activity, were done. The 28 joint disease activity score (DAS28-CRP) w

 Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease for long-term that primarily affects small joints and leads to chronic inflammation in synovial. The aimed of the study to identify the relationships among some serological markers (antibodies to citrullinated protein/peptide antigens (ACPAs), anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV), anti-carbamylated protein (Anti-Carp), anti- heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (anti-hnRNP) and Glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI)) and early diagnosis of RA. The study involved (60) Patients of newly diagnosis with RA that divided in to two subgroups (30 RF positive and 30 RF negative) groups and 30 subjects as healthy control group. The serological data from serum

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity plays a central role in causing disability both directly and via indirect effects mediated through joint damage. Evaluation of RA disease activity is therefore important to predict the outcome and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions during follow-up. Clinical disease activity index (CDAI) is new simple tool for measurement of disease activity.
Objectives: To assess validity and reliability of CDAI in comparison to disease activity score-28 joints (DAS28) in Iraqi patients with active RA.
Patients and Methods: Sixty nine Iraqi RA patients were included in this study. All patients were fulfilling the ACR classification criteria and active. Full history was taken and comple

Background: Cytokines produced by inflammatory cells play a pivotal role in synovial inflammation and joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis.
Patients and Methods: The cytokine serum levels were measured by EASIA (Enzyme amplified sensitivity immunoassay) in sera from 50 RA patients, and 40 healthy donors. Cytokine levels were compared in different RA subpopulations (positive or negative rheumatoid factor (RF), long term or recent onset disease, high or low disease activity). In addition, the possible association with other demographic and clinical parameters (gender, age, etc) was also analyzed.
Results: It was demonstrated that IL-2, IL-6 and IFN-δ levels were elevated in serum samples of RA pati

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that is highly prevalent, leading to gradual cartilage distraction, and therefore is important to diagnose in the early stage. This study aimed to estimate the level of rheumatoid factor (RF) and Anti-citrullinated protein (Anti-ccp) in the serum of female patients. We also investigated several female reproductive hormones in the patients and compared their levels in the premenopausal and postmenopausal phases. The study included 88 female subjects, 50 suffering from signs of rheumatoid arthritis who were attending AL-Yarmouk teaching hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, and 38 without clinical signs of RA as a control group. The ELISA technique was used to estimate all the studied parameters. The resul

The current study included the collection of 175 samples (blood-urea) of patients suffering from rheumatism, collected from Baghdad Teaching Hospital (Educational Laboratory), Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital, Al-Imamian Al-Kadhimya in Medical City in Baghdad at different duration between 2016/10/1-2017/2/1. The bacterial growth results showed that 80% of urea samples positive for bacterial culture, while the rate of samples did not show any bacterial grow this 20%. The isolation subjugates to morphological, microscopically and biochemical tests, as also diagnosis by Api system. The most frequent bacterial pathogenic is E. coli which appeared highly rate (41.97)% followed by E. cloacae (21.25)%, P. aeruginosa (12.5)%, Salmonella (10)% and the pro

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by joint inflammation, involvement of exocrine salivary and lacrimal glands may occur as extra-articular mani¬festations in this disease. This study aimed to provide evidence of altered in function and composition of salivary gland in patients with rheumatoid arthritis by determine salivary flow rate and some biochemical parameters(total protein, amylase, peroxidase) and to investigate the relationship between disease activity and changes in function and composition of salivary gland. Materials and Methods: Fifty five patients with RA (7 males and 48 females) were enrolled in this study with age range (20-69) years. The patients were separated int

Background:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints. It is a disabling and painful inflammatory condition, which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. RA is a systemic disease, often affecting extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and muscles. 
Patients and Methods: Enzyme immunoassay for Determination of human TNF- , IL-1 and GM-CSF in serumsamples from50 patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis
Results: of cytokines showed a significant increase in TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and GM-CSF in patients with rheumatoid arthrit