Background: 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 More4 Blood Res 2018;53:314-319. Received on August 11, 2018 Revised on August 30, 2018 Accepted on August 30, 2018 Background Iron overload is a risk factor affecting all patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI). We aimed to determine whether there is a relationship of serum ferritin (SF) and alanine ami- notransferase (ALT) with liver iron concentration (LIC) determined by R2 magnetic reso- nance imaging (R2-MRI), to estimate the most relevant degree of iron overload and best time to chelate in patients with TI. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 119 patients with TI (mean age years) were randomly se- lected and compared with 120 patients who had a diagnosis of thalassemia major (TM). Correlations of LIC, as determined by R2-MRI, with SF
... Show MoreBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and systemic autoimmune disease that is characterized by severe synovial inflammation, cartilage erosion, bone loss, and generalized vasculopathy. Although the immunologic mechanism of RA is still unclear, it is now thought to be a primarily Th17-driven disease. Along with other factors, IL-23 stimulates the expansion of Th17 cells from naive CD4+ T cells.
Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the circulating levels of interleukin (IL)-23 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and determine the correlation between plasma/serum IL-23 levels and disease activity. So, we performed a systematic review with meta-analysis comparing
... Show MoreIslamic law has relied on a number of sources in order to denote the rulings issued by them, including what is original and what is sub, and it is known to all scholars, that the Prophet's Sunnah is the second major source after the Koran, which separated the overall and devoted its year and restricted absolute. God Almighty obeyed the owner and his followers, and that his obedience of obedience to God Almighty said: (Who obeys the messenger has obeyed God) (women: 80), and then between the peasant who believes in him and his victory and follow him, he said: (and he said: And the one who was revealed with them were the successful ones (al-A'raf: 157).
It is known that the Sunnah commanded to follow is the
Systemic lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology affecting multiple organ system. Reactive nitrogen and oxygen species are claimed to play a role in this disease. However, the potential of Nitrosative/Oxidative Stress to elicit an autoimmune, response remain till now largely unexplored in humans. This study was done to investigate the status and contribution of nitrosative/oxidative stress in Iraqi patients for systemic lupus erythematosus. Blood samples from 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 19 age-and sex- matched apparently healthy controls were evaluated for serum levels of nitrosative/oxidative stress markers including nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and malondialdehyde. Nitric oxide levels were
... Show MoreTanuma and Zubair formations are known as the most problematic intervals in Zubair Oilfield, and they cause wellbore instability due to possible shale-fluid interaction. It causes a vast loss of time dealing with various downhole problems (e.g., stuck pipe) which leads to an increase in overall well cost for the consequences (e.g., fishing and sidetrack). This paper aims to test shale samples with various laboratory tests for shale evaluation and drilling muds development. Shale's physical properties are described by using a stereomicroscope and the structures are observed with Scanning Electron Microscope. The shale reactivity and behavior are analyzed by using the cation exchange capacity testing and the capillary suction test is
... Show More