Toxoplasmosis is a widespread infection usually caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite. It occurs in humans and other warm blooded animals, causing severe problems. It was found that there is an alteration in the trace elements concentrations levels associated with some human diseases. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the concentrations of some trace elements (Mg, Fe , Zn, and Cu) in the sera of 60 immunocompetent patients with chronic toxoplasmosis and 82 healthy individuals as a control group. Measuring the serum level of seropositivity rate of anti-T. gondii antibodies was done by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kit, while the concentrations of trace elements were measured by absorption spectrophotometry. The copper element showed significant difference between patients and controls with lower average of concentration in seropositive patients than the control. Non-significantly difference was found for this element between females and males of both control and patient groups (p>0.05). Non-significantly difference was found in Mg, Zn and Fe levels between patients and control groups. Such results indicate the significance of additional knowledge of the mineral homeostasis and the regulatory processes during toxoplasmosis infection.
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 MoreBackground :Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was a widely used marker for skeletal and hepatobiliary disorders, but its activity was also increased in atherosclerosis and peripheral vascular disease. Several study has showed that ALP activity was increased in the sera of diabetic patients. The current study was conducted to evaluate ALP activity in type 2 diabetic patients and optimum conditions for enzyme activity in their sera.Methods: This study was carried out at in AL-Yarmok hospital(diabetic center) between February /2009 and April /2009. Fifty two patients with type 2 diabetes have been enrolled. Besides BMI, WHR, serum fasting blood glucose, ALP, HbA1C,uric acid and lipid profile levels have been performed .The relationship bet
... Show MoreThis study aimed to determine the effect of varicocelectomy on sperm parameters, oxidant- antioxidant status and chromatin maturity percent. The current study has been conducted on 154 infertile patients complaining from varicocele and varicocelomized men in addition to 25 fertile men as control. The results revealed significant decrease (P<0.05) in sperm concentration, progressive motile sperm percent, normal sperm morphology percent, GSH, SOD1, CAT levels and chromatin maturity percent and significant increase (P<0.05) in MDA and ROS concentrations in infertile patients with varicocele when compared to fertile men. The results revealed improvement (P<0.05) of sperm parameters quality, GSH, SOD1, CAT, MDA, ROS concentration and chromatin m
... Show MoreAnaemia is a crucial issue among cancer patients and need to be treated properly. High incidence of anaemia in patients with cancer have been associated with several physiological manifestations, leading to decreased quality of life (QOL).
The current study aimed to assess the severity of anaemia, evaluate the current treatment guideline of anaemia, and to determine the association between the level of anaemia and its treatment on quality of life of breast cancer patients in Malaysia. This prospective study conducted among breast cancer patients in multicancer centers in Malaysia including three follow ups after receiving their chemotherapy. Clinical data were collected from their medical records and at each follow up, they asked
... Show MoreBackground: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mostly involves the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is associated with a decreased quality of life. Biological medicines such as infliximab and its biosimilar are the mainstay treatments for active ankylosing spondylitis.
Objective: The study objective was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic study comparing the cost-effectiveness of the reference infliximab with its biosimilar in ankylosing spondylitis patients visiting public hospitals.
Subjects and Method: This is a two-center pharmacoeconomic study performed at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, which s
... Show MoreThe elbow joint is one of the important and mobile joints in a way that allows it to perform its functions. The injury occurs when the joint tendon and arm muscles are subjected to repeated partial ruptures as a result of excessive and repetitive work, as well as the patient not being subjected to correct rehabilitation programs, and only rest. From here, the researchers decided to study this problem by preparing rehabilitation exercises accompanying ultrasound and assessing their impact on the rehabilitation of the elbow joint. The sample included male patients aged 30-40 years, and the tests were determined, which included testing the range of motion of the elbow joint from the flexion position and the rotation outward position, the mu
... Show MoreShoulder immobilization is one of the injuries that lead to disability and loss of movement in the joint within a short time, which called the researchers to find appropriate therapeutic means to rehabilitate this injury. They prepared a rehabilitation program accompanying the reflexology technique to rehabilitate the injury of the immobilized shoulder of the small degree and improve the range of movement and muscle strength working on the shoulder joint The sample was selected from the male patients aged (40-50) years. The muscle strength test was used using the force sensor, the shoulder range test from the flexion and extension position and the visual analog test to measure the level of pain. The study concluded that the pre-rehabilitati
... Show MoreAbstract The results of isolation, morphological and microscopic diagnosis, Chromic Agar, Vitik technology and Bact Alert showed that the diagnosis of fungi isolated from blood samples of end-stage renal patients who did not undergo dialysis and those who underwent dialysis was 60 samples for each type. The total number of fungal isolates isolated from people who did not undergo dialysis was 26 pathogenic fungal isolates, with a percentage frequency of 43.33%. In this study, 4 genera of pathogenic fungi were identified: Candida spp, Rhodotorula spp, Cryptococcus spp. and Aspergillus spp. The number of Candida isolates reached 13 isolates, with a frequency of 50%. The results also showed that the diagnosed species from the genus Rhodotorula
... Show MoreOur aim was to investigate the changes in the myocardium stiffness index for patients suffering from systemic hypertension, and to assess their left ventricular performance. We studied 263 hypertensive patients and 166 healthy subjects as a control group. By using conventional Doppler echocardiography, the following parameters were measured—Left ventricular end diastolic diameter, left ventricular end systolic diameter, transmitral early velocity, isovolumic relaxation time, and isovolumic contraction time. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) was used in the measurements of the early mitral annular velocity (Ea) and the diastolic stiffness was obtained by calculating the ratio E\Ea\LVIDd. Index myocardial performance (IMP) was calculated
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