Background: 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 achieved the TL target, and group 2 patients did not achieve the TL target. Results: Twenty-two patients achieved target TL, while 18 patients did not. Dose escalation is recommended for 11 patients, switching therapy for 15 patients, and continuing the same dosage regimen for 14 patients. In addition, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, serum calprotectin and ADAs were significantly lower in patients who achieved target infliximab TL. Only serum calprotectin can be used to predict the achievement of the target TL of infliximab. Conclusions: Therapeutic drug monitoring of infliximab to determine the TL and ADAs can help to explain why some patients do not respond to this drug. Serum calprotectin may be used as a novel marker to predict the TL and response to infliximab.
In this study, 158 clinical samples were collected from hospitalized burn patients during the period from December 2012 to June 2013 in Karbala province\ Iraq. Bacterial isolates were identified using conventional biochemical tests and then identification was confirmed by using Vitek-2 compact system. Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovery was 60 isolates in this study. These isolates were analyzed for antibiotic susceptibility by the disk diffusion test (DDT) according to Kirby Bauer's method using seven clinically important antipseudomonal agents: carbapenems (Imipenem and Meropenem), pencillins (Piperacillin), cephalosporins (Ceftazidim), monobactam (Aztreonam), quinolones (Ciprofloxacin) and aminoglycosides (Gentamicin). The results of resista
... 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 MorePatient satisfaction and dental anxiety considered as an important factors in dental health care and treatment because they greatly affect the patient's cooperation with the dentist and the extent to which follows the guidelines, treatment and preventive instruction. The present study investigates the relationship between patient satisfaction and dental anxiety, as well as their relation to demographic variables such as gender, age, number of visits, and cultural level. The study was applied on a random sample of dental clinics in Baghdad city with total of (200) patient (108 male and 92 female). Two scales were used in this study, patient satisfaction scale PSS (included 9 aspects, constructed by authors) and Iraqi dental anxiety scale
... Show MoreBackground: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. The aims of the study: were to determine the prevalence of oral manifestation among patients with major depressive disorder receiving antidepressant drugs, and detect alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Total Salivary proteins (TSP), and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in relation to MDD patients under treatment and to compare with healthy controls. Materials and method: (50) MDD patients; between the ages of 20 years and 60 years.The depression patients are divided into (25) patients under treatment with fluoxetine (Prozac), and (25) patients under tr
... Show MoreThe aim of the currnet study to examine the effect of subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) in diabetic patients on coagulation parameters. This retrospective case–control study involves 130 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), divided into 65 T2DM with newly diagnosed SCH and 65 euthyroid (EUT) T2DM patients without SCH. Fibrinogen (FIB) was significantly higher in SCH (508.2 ± 63.0 mg/dL) than EUT (428.1 ± 44.8 mg/dL). In the SCH patients, FIB correlated with several parameters, such as age (β = 0.396), body mass index (β = 0.578), glycated hemoglobin (β = 0.281), and activated partial thromboplastin time (β = 0.276). In conclusion SCH in DM patients appears to increase the magnitude of coagulopathy.
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus type 2 has been known for many years as the most common endocrine metabolic disorder that affect the oral cavity and cause many oral diseases including candidiasis. In this study, the incidence of Candida spp. in the saliva of controlled and uncontrolled diabetic patients were determined and compared with non diabetic group. Material and method: The sample consists of 200 subjects: 100 diabetic patients [57 (28.5%) uncontrolled diabetes, 43 (21.5%) controlled diabetes] and 100 (50%) non diabetic groups. Saliva samples was obtained from the subjects and cultured on selective media using appropriate microbiological method to observe the presence of Candida spp. Results: The results revealed a significant associat
... Show Morevitrofertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI-ET) for infertile patients. Insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF1), Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and Total Testosterone (TT) may have a role on follicle growth, oocyte quality, embryo quality and subsequent pregnancy in patients undergoing IVF cycles. To explore the possibility of using DHEAS, TT and IGF1 as predictive indicator for successful pregnancy in patients undergoing (IVF/ICSI-ET). A prospective study was performed enrolling (12) non pregnant control group,(7) pregnant control group,(18) non-pregnant PCOS group and (12) pregnant PCOS group. The collection of blood and follicular fluid (FF) samples was done at the day of oocyte aspiration. Electroch
... Show MoreBackground: The presence of cancer has a profound psychological impact on the quality of life of patients and their families, on family and social relationships, and on role functioning.
Aim of the study: Assess the impact of childhood cancer on patients and their families.
Subjects and methods: A Prospective questionnaire-based study, for 151 patients, had malignancy identified by tumor registry of Children Welfare Teaching Hospital. The information was taken from the parent(s) in the presence of the patient who sometimes answered some questions during the interview.
Result: There was an interview with 151 families of children with cancer in t
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