SUMMARY. 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 relationships between different blood lab data predictors, the disease severity and the duration of hospitalization. The Kruskal Wallis Test was used to measure the difference in the severity of the disease according to the serum ferritin level. Overall, 499 patients were includ ed in the current study: 58.4% were female and 41.6% were male. Nearly half of the patients had chronic disease particularly diabetes mellitus (20.8%) and hypertension (23.6%). With regards to hematological tests, there was a significant correlation between lymphocyte level and disease severity, duration of hospitalization, ferritin, platelets and neutrophil level. In addition, serum urea and creatinine have significant (p-value < 0.05) positive correlation with the disease (COVID-19) severity. Similarly, there is a significant difference in the severity of the disease ac cording to the ferritin level. Thus, patients with more severe symptoms had higher level of blood ferritin. Further more, patients with co-existing diseases have experienced more severe COVID-19 symptoms. This indicates that, lymphocyte and ferritin levels are good predictors of COVID-19 severity. This study finding indicated that evalua tion of blood laboratory indices (CBC including lymphocytes and ferritin) and renal/liver function parameters in the beginning of the COVID-19 could predict the severity and duration of hospitalization. In addition, patients with multiple comorbidities are at higher risk of longer days of hospitalization. An early attention to the patient parameter and lab data may help in tailoring treatments and promote possible interventions to triage hospitaliza tion and save more lives particularly Iraqi might experience a second wave of the pandemic.
Background: Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction that results in fluctuating muscle weakness as well as significant fatigue. Disease exacerbation is a critical condition, and the predisposing factors for it need to be identified to improve preventive measures.
Objectives: Our study aims to determine the predisposing factors for myasthenia gravis exacerbations in a group of Iraqi patients.
Subjects and Methods: A total number of 30 myasthenia gravis patients were admitted to the hospital with an exacerbation of their symptoms, determined as the development of functional disability, dysphagia, or respiratory fai
... Show MoreObjectives: To determine the (QoL) for patients with permanent pacemaker and to find-out the relationship between
these patients’ (QoL) and their sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, level of education, and
occupation.
Methodology: ٨ purposive non-probability” sample of (62) patient with permanent pacemaker was involved in this
study. The developed questionnaire consists of (4) parts which include !.demographic data form, 2.disease-related
information form, 3.socioeconomic data form, and 4.Permanent pacemaker patient’s quality of life questionnaire data
form. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were determined through the application of a pilot study. ٨
descriptive statistical a
The objective of this study was to evaluate the alteration in levels of gonado trophins hormones i.e.,Leutizing (LH),Follicular(FSH) in sera of patients with thyroid disorders and molecular binding study of (LH ,FSH) with their antibodies The study was conducted at the specialized center for endocrinology and diabetes from January / 2009 to March / 2010.Two hundreds and twenty three Iraqi subjects, 109 patients with thyroid disorders at age range between (40-50) years and 114 healthy individuals as control group were included in this study.The majority of patients were female with hyperthyroidism and (49.54 % ) were at age range between(40 - 50) years. The levels of hormones(LH,FSH.tri iodothyronine(T3).thyroxine(T4), thy
... Show MoreBackground: Fluoropyrimidines are widely used in the treatment of various solid tumors. One-third of cancer patients develop severe treatment-related toxicity. A part of fluoropyrimidine-related toxicity arises due to impaired activity of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) caused by genetic variants in the DPYD gene. Objective: This study aims to determine the frequency of DPYD mutations among patients with adverse effects of 5-fluorouracil therapy. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 46 patients with 5-FU adverse effects. All demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings were recorded. Molecular testing was conducted to detect the DPYD mutation using the PGX-5FU StripAssay® kit, which identifies the IVS14 + 1G>
... Show MoreBackground: Direct measurement of intracellular magnesium using erythrocytes has been suggested as a sensitive indicator for the estimation of body magnesium store. Marked depletion in plasma and erythrocyte magnesium levels was particularly evident in diabetic patients with advanced retinopathy and poor diabetic control. While insulin has been shown to stimulate erythrocyte magnesium uptake, hyperglycemia per se suppressed intracellular magnesium in normal human red cells.
Aim of the study: To investigate the erythrocyte magnesium level in Iraqi type I and II diabetic patients, with specific emphasis on the effect of both, metabolic control and the type of antidiabetic treatments.
Methods: Sixty two diabetic patients (7 with type
Survival analysis is widely applied to data that described by the length of time until the occurrence of an event under interest such as death or other important events. The purpose of this paper is to use the dynamic methodology which provides a flexible method, especially in the analysis of discrete survival time, to estimate the effect of covariate variables through time in the survival analysis on dialysis patients with kidney failure until death occurs. Where the estimations process is completely based on the Bayes approach by using two estimation methods: the maximum A Posterior (MAP) involved with Iteratively Weighted Kalman Filter Smoothing (IWKFS) and in combination with the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. While the other
... Show MoreInterface evaluation has been the subject of extensive study and research in human-computer interaction (HCI). It is a crucial tool for promoting the idea that user engagement with computers should resemble casual conversations and interactions between individuals, according to specialists in the field. Researchers in the HCI field initially focused on making various computer interfaces more usable, thus improving the user experience. This study's objectives were to evaluate and enhance the user interface of the University of Baghdad's implementation of an online academic management system using the effectiveness, time-based efficiency, and satisfaction rates that comply with the task questionnaire process. We made a variety of interfaces f
... Show MoreGlobally, buildings use about 40% of energy. Many elements, such as the physical properties of the structure, the efficiency of the cooling and heating systems, the activity of the occupants, and the building’s sustainability, affect the energy consumption of a building. It is really difficult to predict how much energy a building will need. To improve the building’s sustainability and create sustainable energy sources to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion, estimating the building's energy use is necessary. This paper explains the energy consumed in the lecture building of the Al-Khwarizmi College of Engineering, University of Baghdad (UOB), Baghdad, Iraq. The weather data and the building construction informati
... Show MoreThe Middle East fat tailed sheep Ovis aries L. examined within the boundaries of Al-Anbar province, western Iraq was found to acquire seven species of ixodid ticks namely, Hyalomma
anatolicum, H. excxavatum, H. marginatum turanicum, H. detritum, Hyalomma sp., Rhipicephalus turanicus and R. s. sanguineus. The results discussed with the pertinent
literature.
Present study was conducted in order to assess Slabiaat water quality by measuring some physical and chemical factors of river water, the study included a choice of three stations along of Slabiaat River in Samawa city, water samples collected a monthly during the period from September 2013 August 2014. The study involved measuring the Air & water temperatures, pH, Electrical conductivity, Total dissolved solids, Dissolved oxygen, Total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium, turbidity, and some types of bacteria in River water. The study results showed that the values of air & water temperatures have ranged between (20.1-36.6)?C , (10-21.8) in Slabiaat River, respectively . pH values ranged between (6.6-8.7). Electrical conductivity in
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