Background: five clinical phases were described in patients with chronic (HBV) infection: HBeAg- positive HBV infection, HBeAg- positive chronic HB, HBeAg negative HBV infection, HBeAg-negative CHB and occult HBV infection. Aim: This study aimed to determine the incidence of the unclassified phase (gray zone) in chronic hepatitis B patients and its significant in the clinical practice. Patients and methods: The study was conducted retrospectively on 109 patients' who have HBsAg positive for more than 6 months. The data recorded include; HbeAg and anti-HBe Ab, ultrasound of the abdomen, HBV DNA load and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), accordingly; we classify the patients to known clinical phases. Patients who were unfit one of these phases considered to be in the gray zone and subsequently sent for liver fibroscan to determine the fibrosis stage. Results: The mean age of our patients was 34.25 (±13.93) years with 54.12% being males. The mean viral load was 5,885,490 IU/ml and mean ALT was 56.22 (±89.88) U/L. eight patients (7.3%) were in the HBeAg+ve HBV infection, 13 patients (11.9%) were in HBeAg+ve CHB . Thirty four patients (31.1%) were in the HBeAg-ve HBV infection and 23 (21.1%) were in HBeAg-ve CHB phase, both were showed a higher occurrence with age> 35 years. Thirty one (28.4%) further patients failed to identify with any of the four phases (normal ALT with HBV load > 2000 IU/ml), this group also showed significant relation to age above 35 years and 12 patients (38.8%) had significant fibrosis on fibroscan. Conclusions: A considerable number of patients with chronic HBV infection have persistently normal ALT levels, despite elevated levels of viral load; this is known as the "grey zone" phase. These patients merit close follow up with short-interval measurement of liver enzymes, liver fibroscan and biopsy may be considered.
As 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.
Biological drugs have an active substance that is made by a living organism or derived from a living organism. They are one of the important therapy options used in a wide range of diseases especially life-threatening diseases. Biological therapy opens new opportunities for treating different diseases for which drug therapy is minimal, but they have considerable differences in the safety consequences in comparison with non-biological drugs. The aim of the current study was to assess the post-marketing safety profile of biological drugs used in Iraqi hospitals by the analysis of the reported adverse drug reactions regarding their severity, seriousness, preventability, expectedness, and outcome. It is a retrospective study of the individu
... Show MoreSmear zone is usually formed around the prefabricated vertical drains (PVD’s) due to mandrel driving. The geotechnical properties of the soil in this zone exhibit significant changes that affect the performance of the PVD’s. The most relevant property in this respect is the coefficient of permeability. So far, no serious attention is paid to investigate the effects of shearing under large shear strains on the geotechnical properties of the soft soil in Fao region. In this study, an extensive laboratory testing program was conducted to assess the characteristics of the smear zone with an emphasis on the permeability coefficient of Fao soft soil. The results show that the permeability of the smear zone is about 70% of
... Show Moreackground: Escherichia coli is one of the most
important bacterial pathogen that can cause several
disease to human being . In our study we try to
investigate the sensitivity resistance pattern of
Escherichia coli against three antibiotics ( Amikacin,
Nalidixic acid and Cephalexin).
Methods: For this purpose we collected 51 clinical
isolates of Escherichia coli from stool and urine of
outpatient and inpatient patients from different wards
of AL-SADER Teaching Hospital in AL-NAJAF
AL-ASHRAf, IRAQ, and tested by culture and
sensitivity test .
Results: The results appeared that Amikacin show
the highest percentage of sensitivity ( 66.66 % ) ,
while Cephalexin show the lowest percentage of
sensiti
Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent arthritic disease and a leading cause of disability. The pathogenesis of osteoarthritis involves multiple etiologies, including variable degree of synovial inflammation. Metformin and pioglitazone could potentially reduce the levels and activity of inflammatory mediators. This may consider as a new therapeutic approach added to the current used drugs in an attempt to decrease the pain, inflammation, and improve daily activity and quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
This study designed to evaluate the clinical utility of using metformin or pioglitazone as anti-inflammatory agents in combination with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) of selective type of cyclooxygen
... Show MorePseudomonas aeruginosa is emerging opportunistic clinical pathogens. Clinical isolates of P. aeruginosaresist wide spectrum of antibiotics and form biofilm. The comparison study between clinical and environmental of P. aeruginosa in terms of biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance is very scanty. Thus, in current study microtiter plate technique was used to measure the biofilm formation by several clinical and environmental isolates. Moreover, the antibiotic susceptibility of these bacteria was evaluated by VITIK 2 techniques. The relationship between the antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm formation was evaluated for clinical and environmental isolates. Clinical and environm
... Show MorePseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common opportunistic pathogen causing morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients due to its multiple resistance mechanisms. Therefore, as a therapeutic option becomes restricted, the search for a new agent is a preference. So P. aeruginosa is an extremely versatile Gram-negative bacterium capable of thriving in a broad spectrum of environments, and this performs main problems to workers in the field of health. One hundred and fifty samples were collected from different sources from Baghdad hospitals, divided into two main groups: clinical (100) specimens and (50) samples as an environmental, collected from October 2019 to the March 2020. All of these samples were cultured by specific and differential
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