Abstract Aim: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects communication and social interaction of children. It is a heterogeneous disease with various clinical presentations. Some genes are involved in its pathogenesis. It has been suggested that environmental exposure to lead can increase the risk of autism. The aim of our study was to compare blood lead levels among autistic and non-autistic children. Material and Method: This retrospective study included 107 children (60 with autism and 47 without autism) referred from the different Iraqi provinces, in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, to the poisoning consultation center in Baghdad. Data collection including age, gender, residence, referral source, family history and blood lead levels was taken from their medical records. Results: No significant differences were noticed between the prevalence of autism and both of age (P=0.843) and gender (P=0.699). The majority of children have no family history of autism (85%). Mean blood lead level for all participants was 16.01 μg/dl. The statistically significant difference in lead level was found between autistic and non-autistic children (17.38± 1.86 μg/dl in autism group versus 14.27± 1.57 μg/dl in non-autism group) with a P value of 0.001. Discussion: Mean blood lead level was high in all participants, compared to the international values, which might indicate a high level of lead exposure in Iraqi children due to environmental pollution. Autistic children have higher lead levels than non-autistic ones and this might explain the role of lead in the etiology of autism.
The clinical spectrum of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), an intracellular parasitic pathogen, ranges from a single sore healing to chronic crusty lesions with a manifestation of treatment resistance. The complicated interaction between Leishmania bodies and the early immune response, including innate and adaptive mechanisms, determines the evolution of nodules. This study examined the levels of the chemoattractant interleukin 8 (IL-8), pro-inflammatory nitric oxide (NO), and immunoregulatory macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) in the serum of subjects recently diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis, in parallel with patients being monitored during consecutive sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) treatment. A total of 161 serum samples of newly di
... Show MoreEpithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths from gynecological malignancies. Angiogenesis is considered essential for tumor growth and the development of metastases. VEGF and IL?8 are potent angiostimulatory molecules and their expression has been demonstrated in many solid tumors, including ovarian cancer.VEGF and IL-8 concentrations were measured by ELISA test (HumanVEGF,IL-8). Bioassay ELISA/ US Biological / USA).The median VEGF and IL-8 levels were significantly higher in the sera of ovarian cancer patients than in those with benign tumors and in healthy controls.Pretreatment VEGF and IL-8 serum levels might be regarded as an additional tool in the differentiation of ovarian tumors.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Peter and Wendy present universal ideas that exist in all times, despite being written in the beginning of the 20th century. Among the most significant ones is the concept of “home”. The article discusses the essentiality of the idea of “home” where the identity of an individual shapes, and where one’s spiritual, psychological, and physical being develop. It also studies the attitudes of each protagonist towards the concept of ‘home’ based on their understanding of it and according to their gender differences. The characters in both stories tread on the path of perplexity between leaving their homes and returning to them. Peter’s world is the world of imagination while Doro
... Show MoreBackground: Thiopurines are essential medications in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) treatment protocols as anti-cancer agents since long time; however, their use might result in unexpected toxicities in ALL children due to the low thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) activity, a major enzyme involved in 6- mercaptopurine metabolism, which strongly correlates to the genetic polymorphism of the TPMT gene in those patients.
Objective: To identify the most common TPMT polymorphisms in children with ALL and its frequencies.
Methods: A cross sectional study enrolling eighty-one ALL children receiving mercaptopurine drug during their maintenance course of treatment accordin
... Show MoreCervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide, and it has the fourth highest mortality rate among cancers in women. The present study aimed to reveal the impact of age factor in cervical abnormalities and cancers incidence in some Iraqi married women. 150 scraping cervical cells samples were collected from the women clinically diagnosed with cervical abnormalities and cancer who were divided into two groups; the first group included the women with abnormal pap smear which revealed 13.33% of women were less than 30 years and followed by 66.66% of women whose age between 30-50 years and 20% of them were more than 50 years old. While the second group iclude the women with normal Pap smear (Healthy women) which revealed tha
... Show MoreFour species of insects, Carpophillus obsoletus Er., Carpophilus sp., Bitoma lycnformis Wall and Scatopse sp., were found in association with infected spathes of date palm with Mauginella scaettae Cav. The later fungus was the dominant species isolated in pure cultures both from diseased spathes and from contaminated insects. Bitoma lycriformis is the first record for Iraq.
The study aims to identify the Traumatic Symptoms (physiological, emotional, and cognitive) of earthquakes among the targeted sample; it also aims to identify the significant differences between psychological, emotional, and cognitive traumatic symptoms of earthquakes according to the gender and age of participants. The study additionally seeks to identify thepsychological positive-negative reactions associated with earthquakes according to gender and age of the participants. To measure the traumatic symptoms of earthquakes, a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire with (20) items (questions) accompanied with a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire with (18) items (questions) were used to measure the Psychological positive-n
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the psychological and health risks that a child might be exposed to by playing with hazardous toys such as pellet guns. To this end, the researcher has visited Ibn Al-Haytham Eye Hospital in Baghdad, the emergency department to figure out the rate of injuries in Children for the consecutive years (2017-2018) and the first Month of (2019). The psychological risks as a result of disability are represented by the inability to accommodate the surrounding environment well. Additionally, the child experiences a kind of tension, conflict, and going in psychological crises through introversion, isolation, withdrawal tendencies, and poor conformity with himself and the Society.