This study was conducted in Baghdad, Iraq from December 2021 to May 2022. The goal was to determine the effect of Toxoplasma gondii on liver function by examining the relationship between Toxoplasma infection and hormones. One hundred and twenty male patients with Chronic liver disease (CLD) (age:14-75 years) and 120 control males (age: 24-70 years) participated in this study. Serum samples were taken from all individuals and were then analysed for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies. Hormonal tests were conducted for all participants which included (Cortisol, testosterone, prolactin, insulin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone TSH). Biochemical tests included (Prothrombin time PT, international normalized ratio INR and albumin); liver enzymes evaluated were (aspartate aminotransferase AST, alanine aminotransferase ALT, alkaline phosphatase ALP and gamma-glutamyl transferase GGT) and interleukins (Interleukin 13 IL-13 and transforming growth factor TGF). According to the anti-Toxoplasma antibodies results, 32 (26% of the control group) of the participants tested positive for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, compared to 60 (50%) of the CLD patients. Four sub-groups were formed in response to prior results: Control-Toxoplasma positive, control-Toxoplasma negative, CLD-Toxoplasma positive and CLD-Toxoplasma negative. The seropositive status of T. gondii did not affect the following hormones: cortisol, testosterone,insulin and TSH while it was related significantly to prolactin. The results of liver enzymes showed that T. gondii positive status was significantly related to all enzymes among CLD patients except the GGT enzyme T. gondii positive status was not correlated with the other biochemical (PT, INR, and albumin) and immunological parameters (IL-13 and TGF).
Substance use disorders are a widely recognized problem among hepatitis C-infected patients; moreover, substance abuse by intravenous injection is a common mode of transmission of the hepatitis C virus worldwide. The frequency of substance use disorders and their relation to hepatitis C infection are still unknown in Iraq. This cross-sectional study, conducted among a sample of hepatitis C- infected patients attending the Gastrointestinal Tract Center in Baghdad Medical City, aimed to examine the prevalence of substance use disorders, the sociodemographic characteristics of the abusers, and the relation between intravenous
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, immune mediated disease of the central nervous system, mostly affecting young adults with mean age of 30 years, twice as high in women compared to men. The etiology of MS is not fully elucidated. MS symptoms are directly related to demyelination and axonal loss, along with other psychological symptoms, can result in functional limitations, disability and reduced quality of life (QoL). The QoL assessments in patients with a chronic disease may contribute to improving treatment and could even be of prognostic value. The goals of this study were to compare the QoL of Iraqi patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS),using three different diseas
... Show More4 Blood Res 2018;53:314-319. Received on August 11, 2018 Revised on August 30, 2018 Accepted on August 30, 2018 Background Iron overload is a risk factor affecting all patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI). We aimed to determine whether there is a relationship of serum ferritin (SF) and alanine ami- notransferase (ALT) with liver iron concentration (LIC) determined by R2 magnetic reso- nance imaging (R2-MRI), to estimate the most relevant degree of iron overload and best time to chelate in patients with TI. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 119 patients with TI (mean age years) were randomly se- lected and compared with 120 patients who had a diagnosis of thalassemia major (TM). Correlations of LIC, as determined by R2-MRI, with SF
... Show MoreBackground:Wilson’s disease (WD) is an inherited
disorder of copper metabolism that is characterized
by tremendous variation in the clinical presentation.
Objective: To assess demographic distribution,
clinical presentations, diagnostic evaluation, and any
association between clinical presentations and other
studied variables of a sample of Iraqi patients with
WD.
Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study with
analytic elements was conducted during 2011, from
the 1st of February till the 10th of June. The sampling
method was a convenient non-random one, carried
out through consecutive pooling of registered WD
patients. A questionnaire-form paper had been
developed for the process of data col
This study aimed to isolate and phenotype lymphocytes in untreated children patients with chronic allergic asthma. To reach such aim the study involved (25) patients from children (17 male and 9 female) whom their ages where between (3-10) years, in addition to (15) apparently healthy children (9 male and 6 female) in the same ages involved as control group. The data demonstrated that there was a significant increase in the mean percentages of T-lymphocytes (CD3+ cells) in the peripheral blood of patients (66.75±0.29)**, in comparison with control group (43.58±0.19), a significant increase in the mean percentages of T-helper lymphocytes (CD4+ cells) in the pe
... Show MoreBackground: The association of olanzapine with hyperglycemia, an elevated lipid profile, and high blood pressure was early recognized after its approval and has become of increased concern. Objective: To determine the association of olanzapine use with blood sugar levels, lipid profiles, and blood pressure in hospitalized Iraqi patients with schizophrenia. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 50 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-V diagnostic criteria and had taken olanzapine for at least two years was carried out between November 2022 and February 2023 at two facilities in Baghdad, Iraq (Ibn Rushd Psychiatric Teaching Hospital and Al Rashad Hospital
... Show MoreThe effect of mental and physical health on the feelings of subject welfare is known as health-related quality of life. The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a common respiratory diseases. Assessment of health-related quality of life is considered important in such chronic disease. The objective of the current study was to measure health-related quality of life in a sample of chronic obstructive pulmonary patients in AL- Diwanyia city/Iraq. This study was carried out on 150 already diagnosed COPD patients who attended to the Center of Respiratory Diseases/AL-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital during September 2019 to January 2020. The Arabic version of St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire was used to asses
... Show MoreAcromegaly is a condition that results from excessive growth hormone production by the anterior pituitary gland. Prolidase (PLD) is the only known human enzyme that can hydrolyze dipeptides with an amino acid at their C terminus. Reports indicate that PLD activity serves as a marker for oxidative stress in numerous disorders such as diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, chronic liver diseases, and osteoporosis. The current study aims to estimate the values of PLD, its correlation with the rest of the parameters, and ROC in acromegaly patients. A group of 61 patients with confirmed acromegaly were collected from the National Diabetic Center, Mustansyrriah University, and 60 control groups were analyzed in the same place for the par
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