Background: since December 2019, China and in particularly Wuhan, faced an unprecedented an outbreak challenge of coronavirus disease 2019, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Clinical characteristics of Iraqi patients with COVID-19 and risk factors for mortality needed to be shared with the health care providers to improve the overall disease experience. Methods: prospective, single-center study recruited patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who were admitted to Al-Shifaa Isolation Center / Baghdad Medical City between the mid of March and the end of April 2020 until had been discharged or had died. Demographic data, information on clinical signs, symptoms, at presentation, treatment, have been collected from patient records and a research questioner. Result: a total of 60 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection have been included (mean age, 47 years [range, 12-80 years]; 72% male. Comorbidities were identified in 32 cases (53 %) including respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Fever and headache were reported in 27 (45%) and 15 (25%) of the cases respectively. Respiratory manifestations recorded as wheezing observed in 3 (5%), rhinorrhea 12 (20%), crackles 3 (5%) sore throat 22 (36%), bronchial breathing 23 (38.3%) with the most of the patients experienced cough 41 (68.3%) and shortness of breath (SOB) 38 (63.3%). Cyanosis is recognized in 3 (5%), convulsion 4 (6.7%), malaise 41 (68.3%). Gastrointestinal manifestations were diarrhea 8 (13.3%), vomiting 12 (20%). Overall mortality was higher in male gender 8 (18.6%) and the overall average age of the died cases was 60.5 years. Conclusion: the infection with COVID-19 is more likely to infect older men with hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease as significant risk factors for COVID-19 patients. The understanding of these factors can enhance defining those COVID-19 patients at higher risk, and allow a more targeted and approach to prevent those deaths.
Background: Parotid gland tumors account for 80% of all salivary gland neoplasms, 20% of these are malignant, but in daily clinical practice most parotid masses are operated on before obtaining the final histological diagnosis. This clinical setting further complicates the critical point of parotid surgery, which is the management of the facial nerve. Materials and methods: 45 patients underwent parotidectomy for benign and malignant neoplasms. A complete history is collected from the patients with the duration and the site of the tumor, the facial nerve examined and its associations, a medical consultation done for opinion and management. Clinical examination with facial nerve was mandatory to avoid any mistakes that may occur. The most si
... Show MoreAs many expensive and invasive procedures are used for the diagnosis or follow-up of clinical conditions, the measurement of cell-free DNA is a promising, noninvasive method, which considers using blood, follicular fluid, or seminal fluid. This method is used to determine chromosomal abnormalities, genetic disorders, and indicators of some diseases such as polycystic ovary syndrome, pre-eclampsia, and some malignancies. Cell-free DNA, which are DNA fragments outside the nucleus, originates from an apoptotic process. However, to be used as a marker for the previously mentioned diseases is still under investigation. We discuss some aspects of using cell-free DNA measurements as an indicator or marker for pathological conditions.
Orthodontic treatment has two major problems: being lengthy and costly procedure. The present study was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of locally injected vitamin D3 Keywords: Orthodontic, Calcitriol, Local injection, OTM (calcitriol) in accelerating orthodontic teeth movement (OTM) and reducing treatment time and cost in humans. The study was performed on 15 Iraqi adult orthodontic patients within the age range 17-28 years, they are randomly allocated into three groups, each of five patients and treated with either 15 pg, 25 pg, or 40 pg/0.2ml calcitriol diluted with 10% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The maxillary arch of every patient was divided into control (right) and experimental (left) sides. In addition to force application,
... Show MoreBackground: L. sativum, are traditionally used for the treatment of various diseases and thought to have medicinal value. Isolates from many part of the world is now multidrug resistant. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look for and test an alternative herbal drug.
Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of L. Sativum seed extract against multi drug resistant (MDR) and sensitive Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates.
Subjects and Methods: An ethanolic and aqueous stock extracts were prepared from L. sativum seed plant then serial dilutions were prepared and the obtained concentrations (50, 25, 12.5 and 6.2 mg/ml) were tested against 30 multidrug-resistan
... Show MoreBackground: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative autoimmune disease mediated by autoreactive T cells against myelin-basic proteins. Cytokines are suggested to play a role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Among these cytokines is interleukin-2 (IL-2). Aim of the study: To investigate the association between IL2+166 G/T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP: rs2069763) and MS in Iraqi patients. Serum level of IL-2 was also detected. Anti-rubella IgG antibody was further determined in the sera of patients. Patients and methods: Eighty MS patients (28 males and 52 females; age mean ± SD: 39.2 ± 16.1 years) and 80 healthy control matched patients for age (32.15 ± 16.13 years) and gender (28 males and 52 females) were en
... Show MoreOut of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 25 (50%) of isolates were resistant to gentamicin (≥16µg/ml), 22 (44%) of isolates were resistant to amikacin (≥64 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were resistant to ertapenem (≥8 µg/ml), 18 (36%) of isolates were resistant to imipenem (4- ≥16µg/ml), 43 (86%) of isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone (4- ≥64 µg/ml), 42 (84%) of isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (1
... Show MoreMixed pain, defined by the concurrent involvement of nociceptive, neuropathic, and sometimes nociplastic mechanisms, poses a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge within modern pain medicine. This complex pain phenotype is increasingly recognized as a prevalent and burdensome clinical entity, yet it remains substantially underdiagnosed and sub-optimally managed across diverse healthcare settings. Epidemiological data indicate that mixed pain affects a substantial proportion of patients with chronic pain syndromes and is consistently associated with more severe symptomatology, prolonged pain duration, functional impairment, diminished quality of life, and escalated healthcare resource utilization compared to pain of a sing
... Show MoreThis study was conducted at the poultry farm located in the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Abu Gharib (the old site), and laboratories of the Animal Production Department, Jadriya, to investigate the effect of adding hydrogen peroxide H2O2 at nanoscale levels to semen diluents of local roosters sperm in a number of semen characteristics. In this study, 80 roosters local Iraqi chickens were used, the roosters were trained three times a week, to collect semen, until the largest number of them responded. Then the best 40 of the roosters were elected for the purpose of collecting the semen with a pooled sample, and then the samples were diluted and divided equally into four parts. The concentrations of 0, 1
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