Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive airflow limitation that is preventable but not curable. It is associated with persistent symptoms that cause a considerable burden on individual productivity at work, and daily activities, and reduced quality of life, also burdening the healthcare system and society. Objectives: The study aims to measure the burden of COPD on patients in terms of daily activities and work productivity. It also seeks to investigate some inflammatory biomarkers' levels and their correlation with selected outcomes. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 120 stable COPD patients who were diagnosed and treated according to the GOLD guidelines at Kirkuk General Hospital's chest and Internal Medicine consultation clinics, and in private internist clinics in Kirkuk City, Iraq between January and April 2023. The Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI-COPD) measured the Burden of COPD. The symptom burden was assessed by the COPD assessment test (CAT). The level of IL-6 monoclonal antibodies was measured via a Roche Cobas 6000 analyzer and TNF-α using the ELISA sandwich technique. All these devices and machines were authorized by the Ministry of Health, Iraq. Results: The mean age was (54.1 ± 8.12) years, 62.5% being males and 37.5% being females; 41.7% were public sector employees, and 39.2% were self-employed. Due to COPD, the overall work loss was (45.9±18.91) days, the mean percentage of absenteeism was (10.9% ± 12.31%), activity impairment was (47.5% ±17.79%) among all patients, presenteeism was (40.8 ± 15.05%,) and COPD-related retirees were 14.2% of the study group. The mean CAT score (19.3±5.63) was high and the most troubling symptom among patients was chest tightness. WPAI-COPD scores were higher in older age and longer disease duration. The levels of biomarkers were above the reference ranges, the mean IL-6 level was (69.4 ± 35.29) pg/ml, and the mean TNF-α was (72.3 ± 22.45) pg/ ml. Conclusions: COPD patients exhibit a disease burden in terms of productivity loss at work and activity impairment that increases with aging and disease duration. COPD patients with low BMI are more prone to a decline in lung functions and to worse symptoms.
Background: In December 2019, an episode of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) was reported in Wuhan, China and has spread around the world, increasing the number of contagions. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are common herpesviruses that can cause persistent latent infections and affect the developing immune system.The study was conducted to explore the prevalence and reactivation of CMV and EBV antibodies in COVID-19 patients group in comparison to healthy group and to investigate the association between the presence of these viruses with each of severity of disease and oral hygiene. Materials and Methods: Eighty Five subjects were participated in this case control study (5
... Show MoreBackground: Type 2 diabetes mellitusand chronic periodontitis hold a close relationship that has been the focus of many researches. Currently there is an appreciation to the role of adipose tissue-derived substances "the adipokines" in immune-inflammatory responses; also, there is an interest in using the simple non-invasive saliva in diagnosing and linking oral and general health problems. The current study aims to determine the periodontal health status in the chronic periodontitis patients with and without poorly or well controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus, measure the salivary levels of two adipokines "leptin and resistin", pH and flow rate and then correlate between these clinical periodontal, biochemical and physical parameters in eac
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes and periodontitis are considered as chronic diseases with a bidirectional relationship between them. This study aimed to determine and compare the severity of periodontal health status and salivary parameters in diabetic and non-diabetic patients with chronic periodontitis. Materials and Methods: Seventy participants were enrolled in this study. The subjects were divided into three groups: Group I: 25 patients had type 2 diabetes mellitus with chronic periodontitis, Group 2: 25 patients had chronic periodontitis and with no history of any systemic diseases, Group 3: 20 subjects had healthy periodontium and were systemically healthy. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected for measurement of salivary flow rate and pH.
... Show MoreTo determine the important pathogenic role of celiac disease in triggering several autoimmune disease, thirty patients with Multiple Sclerosis of ages (22-55) years have been investigated and compared with 25 healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies IgA IgG by ELISA test, anti-reticulin antibodies IgA and IgG, and anti-endomysial antibodies IgA and IgG by IFAT. There was a significant elevation in the concentration of anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies IgA and IgG compared to control groups (P≤0.05), there was 4(13.33%) positive results for anti-reticulin antibodies IgA and IgG , 3(10%) positive results for anti-endomysial antibodies IgA and IgG . There were 4 pos
... Show MorePsoriasis, a chronic inflammatory dermatological condition, exhibits heterogeneous responses to anti-TNF therapies such as etanercept (ETN), underscoring the need for predictive biomarkers. This study investigated the association of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) gene promoter polymorphisms (rs1143623 C/G, rs752338864 C/G, and rs1143627 C/T) with ETN efficacy in 80 Iraqi patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Patients were categorized according to treatment response: responders achieved ≥ 75% reduction in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), whereas non-responders demonstrated ≤ 50% reduction. Post-treatment serum IL-1β levels were significantly higher in non-responders (50.35 ± 15.81 pg/mL) compared to respo
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus a major factor that has adverse effects on the vascular system and the heart. It causes an increase in cardiac muscle thickness, resulting in decreased compliance and increased peripheral arterial stiffness. This study aims to assess the left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular hemodynamic changes in diabetic patients measured by Doppler echocardiography. Patients and Methods: The study included 50 diabetic patients ranging in age between 25 and 80 years, (mean age: 54.1 ± 15.10, 19 males, 31 females) and 50 healthy subjects, aged 25 to 80 years (mean age: 48.52 ± 14.45, 11 males, 39 females). Doppler echocardiography was used to assess left ventricular function. The measurements included
... Show MoreBackground
Respiratory tract aspergillosis is a pulmonary disease cause by aspergillus species which are opportunistic fungi that mainly infect immuno-compromised patients .
Objective(s)
The present study aimed to detect the frequency of pulmonary aspergillosis among clinically suspected and under follow up tuberculosis patients conducted at Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital, Omdurman, Khartoum State , Sudan during the period from December 2019 to November 2020.
Materials and Methods
One hundred and fifty sputum samples were collected from suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and under follow up tuberculosis patients. All specimens were examined using 20% KOH and cultured on two
... Show MoreCox regression model have been used to estimate proportion hazard model for patients with hepatitis disease recorded in Gastrointestinal and Hepatic diseases Hospital in Iraq for (2002 -2005). Data consists of (age, gender, survival time terminal stat). A Kaplan-Meier method has been applied to estimate survival function and hazerd function.
Background : Hyperglycosylated hCG a newly discovered variant of hCG which can be used as a predictor of invasion of trophoblastic cells in patient with gestational trophoblastic disease. Objectives : To measure hyperglycosylated human chorionic gonadotrophin and to assess how far it can be used as predictor of invasion in invasive mole and choriocarcinoma. Study design control study. Setting: : Case Gynecological department in Baghdad Teaching Hospital from January 2016 to January 2017. Patient and Methods : 60 women were enrolled in this study 30 of them were with gestational trophoblastic disease (no.= 30 ) the remainder were normal pregnancy (no. =30) , hCG –H level was measured in both groups. Results : Mean serum hCG-H le
... Show MoreSUMMARY. The objectives of the present study were to assess the possible predictors of COVID-19 severity and duration of hospitalization and to identify the possible correlation between patient parameters, disease severity and duration of hospitalization. The study included retrospective medical record extraction of previous coron avirus COVID-19 patients in Basra hospitals, Iraq from March 1st and May 31st, 2020. The information of the participants was investigated anonymously. All the patients’ characteristics, treatments, vital signs and laboratory tests (hematological, renal and liver function tests) were collected. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS (version 22, USA). Spearman correlation was used to measure the relations
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