Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the new respiratory virus SARS-CoV2. It has a tropism in the lung tissues where excess target receptors exist. Periostin plays a role in subepithelial fibrosis associated with bronchial asthma. Since the Coronavirus's target is the human respiratory system, Periostin has been recently described as a valuable new biomarker in the diagnosis and evaluation of disease in patients with COVID-19 lung involvement. Objectives: To assess the level of Periostin in the serum of COVID-19 patients and to correlate its role in disease severity and prognosis. Subjects and Methods: Periostin serum levels were measured for 63 patients attending three main COVID-19 Control Centers in Baghdad, compared to 25 healthy subjects, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from January 2021 to April 2022. Results: Serum levels of Periostin among studied groups with (mild - moderate, severe - critical, post-COVID, and controls) were (17.3, 664, 597, and 48) ng/dl respectively. The serum concentration of Periostin was highly significant in (severe- critical and post-COVID) than in other groups. Conclusions: The elevated level of serum Periostin in COVID-19 patients correlated with disease severity and post-COVID lung complications. The high Periostin level is consistent with high inflammatory markers, which might be used as an indicator of COVID-19 severity and predict a bad prognosis.
The transfer of chemical pollutants from bottled water into water due to heat, sunlight and poor storage is one of the most serious threats to human health around the world, the objective of this study was to estimate the pH value and the transport of heavy metals from plastic bottles to water, for this purpose, 30 bottles of water for 10 local brands were collected and divided into three groups, the first was left at room temperature 25°C, The second was placed in a heat oven at 25°C and the third in another oven at 50°C for two weeks. The results showed significant differences at (P<0.05) between water samples, pH value and concentrations of heavy metals (Sb, Pb, Ni, Cu, Cr, Cd and Fe) we
... Show MoreThe building of Basrah University located in a rural area at Gramat Ali, its consist of seven colleges and very high number of students, lecturers ,and employers. Therefore, the intersections which leading to university building suffer congestion at morning peak hour (8-9) A.M and evening peak hour (2-3) P.M. In this study we collected the data in intersections which leading to university building at peak hour at same time, then we had analysis this data by using the highway capacity manual (HCM) and program (HCS). Also, we collected that data in University entries with classification of vehicles according to types and number of passengers at peak hour. Then we studied the number of proposals to riddance the congestion, such as the effe
... Show MoreThe alfalfa plant, after harvesting, was washed, dried, and grinded to get fine powder used in water treatment. We used the alfalfa plant with ethanol to make the alcoholic extract characterized by using (GC-Mass, FTIR, and UV) spectroscopy to determine active compounds. Alcoholic extract was used to prepare zinc nanoparticles. We characterized Zinc nanoparticles using (FTIR, UV, SEM, EDX Zeta potential, XRD, AFM). Zinc nanoparticle with Alfalfa extract and alfalfa powder were used in the treatment of water polluted with inorganic elements such as Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Cd, Ag by (Batch processing). The batch process with using alfalfa powder gets treated with Pb (51.45%), which is the highest percentage of treatment. Mn (13.18%), which is the
... Show MoreIn this study; the genus of Sinoxylon Duftschmid, 1825 (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae) was revised. There were 3 species registered in our investigations: S. anale Lesne, 1897; S. ceratoniae (Linnaeus, 1758) and S. muricatum (Olivier, 1790), the last species was redescribed as being found for the first time for the Iraqi faunal insects. Key to the species were constructed and supported by figures of the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features.
This study was designed to evaluate the effect of aqueous extract of Arabidopsis thaliana seeds on reducing glucose level for white albino mice. Twenty adults mice were used, divided randomly into four groups (five mice per each group). The first group (normal mice) was administrated with 0.1 ml of distilled water as a control, the second group (normal mice) was administrated with 0.1 ml of the plant extract, whereas the third and fourth groups (diabetic mice) were administrated with single dose of alloxan (150 mg/kg of the body weight) to induce diabetes, and the fourth group was administrated with 0.1 ml of the plant extract for 10 days, then blood glucose level was measured for all of the experimental animals (diabetic and no
... Show MoreBackground: Asthma is a common chronic disease in children in which the body’s airways swell, preventing the lungs from filling with air, there are many different inflammatory cells involved in asthma which can synthesize and release cytokines which are recognized to be important in chronic inflammation and play a critical role in the inflammatory response. Objectives: to assess the local effect of ICS on oral tissue by measuring Interlukine-12 level and Candida albicans colony in saliva among12 year's old asthmatic children who were collected from AL- Zahra Center Advisory for Allergy and Asthma, and compares them with non-asthmatic children of the same age and gender.Type of the study: Cross –sectional study.Methods: The total samp
... Show MoreBackground: Temporomandibular joint disorders refer to a group of heterogeneous pain and dysfunction conditions involving the masticatory system, reducing life quality of the sufferers. Arthrocentesis is simple and less invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of internal derangement than arthroscopy and better than other conservative procedures such as drugs, occlusal appliances and physiotherapy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of arthrocentesis with injection of hyaluronic acid in the treatment of internal derangement of temporomandibular joint for the restoration of its function, reducing pain and preventing further deterioration of the temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Materials and methods: This study was perfo
... Show MoreGender and culture are among the factors that influence the process of understanding and interpreting different types of communication, especially images. The current study, which is a part of a master’s thesis, aims at investigating the role of gender and culture in interpreting and understanding the caricatures that deal with women’s issues in Arab societies. To this end, the researchers adopted Barthes’ (1957) concepts of denotation and connotation in his theory of mythologies in addition to Langacker’s (1987) theory of (Domains). The research concludes that the female subjects have better cognitive abilities in investing the signs within the selected caricatures. The other factor the study reached to is that the respondents
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