BACKGROUND: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a proangiogenic factor that exerts different effects over stem cell survival growth, apoptosis, and adhesion. Its impact on leukemogenesis has been established by many studies. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of plasma HGF activity on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients at presentation and after remission. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional prospective study of 30 newly-diagnosed, adult, and AML patients. All patients received the 7+3 treatment protocol. Patients’ clinical data were taken at presentation, and patients were followed up for 6 months to evaluate the clinical status. Plasma HGF levels were estimated by ELISA based methods in the patients at two intervals first at diagnosis and the 2nd time after remission of disease. Plasma HGF levels were only measured once in twenty healthy control individuals. RESULTS: A statistically significant lowering in the median levels of HGF after remission induction therapy has been found when compared with those before treatment (p = 0.006) and in the group of patients who achieved complete remission in comparison with those before treatment (p = 0.005). Furthermore, a significant reduction was also demonstrated after treatment in patients presenting with extramedullary involvement (p = 0.003) and in the alive group (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Plasma HGF estimation can be a useful parameter in predicting treatment outcomes in patients with AML, and it can add potentially useful information to risk stratification parameters.
Invasive aspergillosis is a severe infection that occurs in patients with prolonged neutropenia, following chemotherapy,transplantation,or immunosuppressive protocols .Galactomannan ( GM) is a molecule ,found in the cell wall of Aspergillus species and is released in the blood during growth .The detection of GM in the blood is used to diagnose the invasive Aspergillosis in humans using ELISA assay.
Objectives: To detect Galactomannan antigen in in the serum of immunocompramized patients suspected to have invasive aspergillosis.
Patients and methods: This study was conducted on 50 patients from the hematology&oncology department,of Baghdad teaching hospital and pediatric oncology wards ,from March 2013 to October 2013.The patien
Background: Although the new treatment methods developed in recent years are aiming to minimize the need for cooperation of the patients; however, the latter still important factor the treatment. The aim of the study was to evaluate the cooperation level of Class III maloc-clusion patients with orthodontic treatment. Materials and methods: This study followed a cross-sectional style; the targeted population was patients with Class III malocclusion who were treated with three different types of orthopaedic appliances. Four questionnaires were delivered to the patient, patient’s parents, and orthodontists. Statistical analyses of the study were performed with SPSS 20.0 software. Descriptive analyses were presented using fre-quency, percenta
... Show MorePre-eclampsia complicates 2-8% of all pregnancies and it is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and pre-term delivery in the world. Unfortunately, there is scarcity of documents discussing the circulating level of several essential trace elements in Pre-eclampsia patients in Baghdad especially in the last trimester of the pregnancy. The present study was designed to quantitative evaluation the whole blood concentration of two trace elements, copper (Cu), and iron(Fe), in pre-eclamptic women in the third trimester of pregnancy. The study was conducted on 18 Pre-eclamptic pregnant women as patients group with clinical detected high blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg and 13 normotensive pregnant women as control group from Al-Alwiya
... Show MoreBackground: Known as suxamethonium or succinylcholine, is a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia. The duration of operation is one of the important factors accounting to the success of the operation. Simple safe available drug can change the plan of anesthesia.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess adding Lidocaine three minutes intravenously before induction of general anesthesia on the duration of optimum prolongation the action of Suxamethonium . With other group with regular meth
... Show MoreBackground: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of ?broblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase in oral squamous cell carcinoma, and to correlate the two studied marker with each other and with clinicopathologicalfinding including grade, stage. Methods: Sections of 30 formalin-fixed paraffin embedded blocks specimens of oral squamous cell carcinoma were immunostained to assess the expression of ?broblast growth factor-2 and Heparanse in oral squamous cell carcinoma cases. Results: The expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase were positive in all oral squamous cell carcinoma cases (100%). The positive expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 was significantly correlated with tumor site (p=0.016),and clinical pres
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor for chronic periodontitis (CP) and hyperglycemia has an important role in the enhancement of the severity of the periodontitis. It has been reported that the progression of CP causes shifting of the balance between bone formation and resorption toward osteoclastic resorption, and this will lead to the release of collagenous bone breakdown products into the local tissues and the systemic circulation. Cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTx) is the amino-terminal peptides of type I collagen which is released during the process of bone resorption. This study was conducted to determine the effects of nonsurgical periodontal therapy on serum level of NTx in type 2 diabetic patients
... Show MoreBackground: CHOP regimen was the standard treatment for patients with diffuse large and mixed cells Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) even in comparison with second and third generation regimen. Recently Rituximab –CHOP is considered the standard treatment for aggressive B-cell NHL while CHOP (alone) is so for aggressive T-cell NHL, yet more than one study investigates another regimen which is VACOP-B and some showed its superiority over CHOP. Prior to the introduction of Rituximab, we used VACOP-B in the treatment of high &intermediate grade NHL in adult Iraqi patients as an alternative to CHOP.
Patients and Methods:We performed a prospective analysis of 20 adult patients who, between April 2000 and October2005, received VACOP-
The study aimed to evaluate the benefits of transferrin saturation percentage (TSAT) and serum ferritin in assessing body iron status, which can influence erythropoietin treatment in patients with ESRD. Forty end-stage renal disease patients on regular hemodialysis participated in this study. Clinical data were obtained. Serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, ferritin, albumin, creatinine, and C-reactive protein were investigated. Thirty healthy people were enrolled as a control group. ESRD patients had a mean age of 45.1±13.9 years, with 60% being males. They exhibited significantly lower hematocrit (25.3±6.5%), and higher platelet (285.7±148.1x10^9/L) and WBC (9.4±3.1x10^9/L) counts compared to healthy contro
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