Background: Rituximab is a chimeric IgG1 kappa immunoglobulin that has been genetically modified to incorporate human constant region sequences together with murine light- and heavy-chain variable region sequences. People use it to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain malignancies. Objective: The study aimed to assess the potential association between the serum levels of Factor I, CD59, interleukins (IL)-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ and the response to Rituximab treatment in Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the rheumatology center at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Ninety adult patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and are receiving Rituximab intravenous infusions were included. The enrolled patients were divided into a responder group (45 patients) and a non-responder group (45 patients). The response to Rituximab was assessed according to the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Results: The serum levels of Factor I and CD59 were significantly higher in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. In addition, the serum IL-6 and IFN-γ levels were significantly elevated in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. The estimated marker serum levels showed a strong, significant correlation with the 6-month change in DAS28. Conclusions: In Rituximab nonresponder RA patients, serum levels of Factor I, CD59, Factor H, IL-6, and IFN-γ are higher, and they have good potential to be used in the assessment of the response to Rituximab therapy.
Approximately 15% of all couples all over the world suffer from difficulty conceiving their first child. The word "infertility" is used to describe this problem.
When a couple had regular, unprotected sexual intercourse for a year or longer, it indicates that they have been unsuccessful in their efforts to conceive.
The current investigation aims to find out if there is a relationship between PROTAMIN-1(PRM-1) and INTERLEUKINE-12 (IL-12) gene expressions and their effect on the development of infertility. The current investigation comprised 100 teratozoospermia patients and 100 healthy fertile controls who had their semen examined. Samples were given by Al-Nahrain University's Biotech
... Show MoreSchizophrenia (SZ) is severe mental disorder and characterized by fundamental disturbances in thinking, perception and emotions. Immune deregulation has been postulated to be one of the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. This study hypothesized that interleukins would have a link with schizophrenia patients. The serum IL-2 and IL-10 levels were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in schizophrenia patients (n=60) and healthy controls (n = 30). The results showed that serum IL-2 and IL-10 levels were significantly different among schizophrenia patients. The observations indicate a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in schizophrenic patients serum levels of IL-2 compared with healthy control. Whereas
... Show MoreObjectives: With the advent of ongoing novel modalities toward the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/NEU - positive malignancies, the serious side effects of chemoradiotherapy have been minimized. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the patterns of immunohistochemical expression of the promising therapeutic target (HER2/NEU) among Iraqi patients with medulloblastoma in an attempt to provide basic histological information’s that would help in future clinical researches.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 42 formalin - fixed paraffin - embedded tissue blocks represent cases of surgically removed medulloblastomas were retrieved from the archived materials in a specialized surgical ho
... Show MoreGastritis can be defined as histological inflammation of the gastric mucosa. It can be classified according to the time course of the disease as acute or chronic, histological findings, anatomic location, and pathological mechanisms. The objective of this study was to evaluation of serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-8, IL-17 and IL-22 in Helicobacter pylori infection and their association with the degree of gastritis histopathology in a sample of Iraqi patients. The case-control prospective study consists of 60 patients who attended the Gastrointestinal Tract Center at Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital during the period from December 2019 to April 2020. In addition, the control group included 60 apparently healthy individuals. Bio
... Show MoreThe qualified subjects for this study included 33 patients with benign and malignant oral tumors aged 15-75 years and 31 matched age and gender healthy subjects used as control. Proteins measurements included total protein, albumin, globulines in sera and saliva samples, and immunoglobulins (IgG, IgM, IgA) in sera samples of control and patients. Meanwhile, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was used to differentiate between protein patterns in both serum and saliva samples among the studied groups. The gel was also stained for glycoprotein to evaluate as well the changes in glycoprotein contents. For total protein, the results revealed a signifigant increase (P?0.01) in both samples (serum and saliva) of patient group. Albumin conce
... Show MoreThis study has been carried out to evaluate the expression level of beta 2 microglobulin gene on patients infected by hepatitis C virus before and after treatment with interferon. The study included 117 hepatitis C patients comprising as 63 pre-treated patients, the range of age was between 20-65 year with a mean age of 48.12 ± 16.1 and 54 post-treated patients with age range was between 23-63 year with the mean of 46.1 ± 18.1. Also it was found that more than half of patients were located within third and fourth decade i.e. 30-49 year, with a percentage of 52.4% and 55.6 % for pre-treatment and post-treatment patients respectively. Moreover , regarding both groups, males are more than females with the ratio of ( 3.2:1) among p
... Show MoreBraces in straight bridge systems improve the lateral-torsional buckling resistance of the girders by reducing the unbraced length, while in horizontally curved and skew bridges, the braces are primary structural elements for controlling deformations by engaging adjacent girders to act as a system to resist the potentially large forces and torques caused by the curved or skewed geometry of the bridge. The cross-frames are usually designed as torsional braces, which increase the overall strength and stiffness of the individual girders by creating a girder system that translates and rotates as a unit along the bracing lines. However, when they transmit the truck’s live load forces, they can produce fatigue cracks at their connection
... Show MoreAbstract Depending on their protective properties against different cases of Colorectal Cancer (CRC), vitamins C, D, and E are the main focus of this research. CRC is one of the global public health concerns. 30 healthy individuals provided serum samples, whereas the group of CRC patients was divided into three, totaling 90 individuals. Group I consisted of 30 newly diagnosed cases of CRC. Group II 30 consisted of consisted of 30 CRC patients who were administered three cycles of chemotherapy. Group III consisted of 30 diagnosed CRC patients who also have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The concentrations and groups of vitamins C, D, and E were evaluated using ELISA. The levels of Vitamin C were significantly lower (p &l
... Show MoreThe goal of this study was to investigate the protein peroxidation role by measuring serum levels of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in type 2 diabetic patients with or without retinopathy and comparing them to controls to see if circulating AOPP levels can be used as a detection biomarker for DR. And see which of the two widely used antidiabetic treatment groups had the most impact on this oxidative stress marker. The groups were divided into two subgroups: 1) 70 type 2 diabetic patients (36 male, 34 female), 35 with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 35 with no evidence of DR, and 2) non-diabetic controls (11 male, 9 female) were chosen from Ibn AL-Haitham Hospital for Ophthalmology and a Specialized Center for Endocrinology and Dia
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