Prenatal markers are commonly used in practice to screen for some foetal abnormalities. They can be biochemical or ultrasonic markers in addition to the newly used cell free Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) estimation. This review aimed to illustrate the applications of the prenatal screening, and the reliability of these tests in detecting the presence of abnormal chromosomes such as trisomy-21, trisomy-18, and trisomy-13 in addition to neural tube defects. Prenatal markers can also be used in the anticipation of some obstetrical complications depending on levels of these markers in the mother’s circulation. In the developed countries, prenatal screening tests are regularly used during antenatal care period. Neural tube defects, numerical and structural chromosomal abnormalities, in addition to some obstetrical problems are commonly screened for, by using prenatal tests. Maternal education about the importance of performing these tests should be done in order to improve the detection rate of foetal abnormalities and some pregnancy complications.
In fish, a complex set of mechanisms deal with environmental stresses including hypoxia. In order to probe the hypothesis that hypoxia-induced stress could be manifested in varieties of pathways, a model species, mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio), were chronically exposed to hypoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 1.80±0.6mg/l) for 21 days and subsequently allowed to recover under normoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 8.2±0.5mg/l) for 7 days. At the end of these exposure periods, an integrated approach was applied to evaluate several endpoints at different levels of biological organisation. These included determination of (i) oxidative damage to DNA in erythrocytes (using modified comet assay), (ii) lipid peroxidation in liver sample
... Show MoreObjective: The study aimed to evaluate knowledge and practices of nursing staff at the orthopedic units
regarding the existing care of patient with skin traction.
Methodology: The sample consists of (40) nurses, (20) of them from Emergency Teaching Hospital in Duhok
and the other (20) of them from Erbil Teaching Hospital in Erbil from 1st Dec. 2004 to the end of June 2005 in
Kurdistan Region.
Two instruments were constructed to evaluate knowledge and practices. Evaluation of knowledge was done by
using of multiple choice questions composed of (25) questions, and evaluation of practice was done by using the
observational check list which consist of four main category (pre skin traction, during skin traction, post skin
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
... Show MorePregnancy is a stressful condition in which many physiological and metabolic functions are altered to a considerable extent . Pregnancy is a physiological state accompanied by a high-energy demand and an increased oxygen requirement. The present study aim to study selenium ,zinc cupper in the first trimester of pregnancy. The study group comprised of Fourty five pregnant women and twenty six non pregnant women as control . The samples were taken from pregnant women who come to several heath center in Baghdad city to cheak up. Laboratory investigations including Cupper, Ceruloplasmin, Total Antioxidant (TAA), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), Zinc, Uric acid, and Selenium had been measured in pregnant women and control . Th
... Show MoreBackground: Several risk managem-ent standards had been developed including the Project Management Institute, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, actuarial societies, and ISO standards.
Objective: The study aimed at evaluating risk management among managers of model and ordinary primary health care centers in Baghdad City and comparing the risk management among these centers.
Methods: A descriptive comparative des
... Show MoreBackground: Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is common in different age groups in both genders especially among pregnant women and neonates where it is associated with several adverse outcomes including preeclampsia and preterm delivery.
Objectives: To assess the extent of vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency among mothers and their neonates and some factors related to it and identify some adverse outcomes of the deficiency/ insufficiency on neonates (preterm birth and low birth weight).
Subject and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 Iraqi pregnant women and neonates admitted to “Al-Elwiya teaching hospital for maternity” in Baghdad- Al
... Show MoreVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar is one of the worlds most neglected tropical diseases in mortality and fourth in morbidity, rK39 dipstick was used to diagnose the suspected infected patients as cheapest simple technique which can differentiate recent from chronic infection, for disease out-coming, naïve T-lymphocyte cells should be differentiated into pathogen-specific immunity responses, such as T-helper 1(Th-1) or (Th-2). HLA-G is a special protein defined as nonclassical HLA class I molecule can suppress the immune system through prevention of T-cell function by foul all T-cell mechanisms. So, this study aimed to detect and evaluate the level of sHLA-G in the sera of patients infected with VL. The results showed that there was
... Show MoreAim: to determine the effectiveness of women's self-care instructions on their post cesarean section care in Baghdad
teaching hospital.
Methodology: The present study used quasi-experimental study design in maternity words in Baghdad teaching
hospital. The sample was collected and follow up for the period (15) January 2014 until 15 May 2014 Nonprobability
(purposive sample) of (100) women post cesarean section divided in to two groups (50) women post
cesarean section considered as a study group, and another (50) women post cesarean section considered as the
control one, A questionnaire designed as a tool to collect data fit the purpose of the study a questionnaire include
demographic variables, Reproductive variables
The diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA) sometimes is illusive and the accompanying clinical and laboratory manifestations cannot be used for definitive diagnosis. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in detection of AA. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that included a total of 80 adult patients with AA and 62 age- and gender-matched patients with abdominal pain due to causes other than AA. Three milliliter of peripheral blood were collected from each participant. The NLR was calculated by dividing the absolute neutrophil count by the absolute lymphocyte count. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess the diagnostic value of NLR in detection
... Show MoreTyphoid fever (TF) is a systemic infection caused by Salmonella Typhi (Salmonella Enterica) transmitted through contaminated water, food, or contact with infected individuals. In various infectious diseases, blood viscosity (BV) is affected by changes in hemoglobin concentrations and acute phase reactants. Inflammatory responses can lead to elevated plasma protein levels and further affect BV. This study aimed to investigate BV changes in patients with acute TF. A cross-sectional study was performed involving 55 patients with acute TF compared to 38 healthy controls. BV and inflammatory parameters were measured in both groups. TF patients showed reduced blood cells compared to healthy controls (p=0.001). Additionally, plasma total protein (
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