Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disease of unidentified etiology, associated with articular, extra-articular and systemic manifestation that require long-standing treatment. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an essential factor that affects adherence of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is an essential for better adherence. The purpose of the current study was to measure beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with Rheumatoid arthritis and to determine possible association between this belief and some patient-certain factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 250 already diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients who attended to Baghdad Teaching Hospital/Medical City/Rheumatology department. The mean age of the patients was (50.8 ± 13.1 years). Belief about medicines was measured via the Arabic version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire. The majority of the patients (88%) had strong beliefs in the necessity of treatment (specific-necessity score greater than specific-concern). There was a significant direct correlation between age, male gender, number of other chronic disease, disease activity score 28 and clinical disease activity index with specific necessity, and direct correlation between clinical disease activity index with specific concern. Future studies should investigate how interventional approaches addressing these predictors may lead to improve beliefs about medicines among rheumatoid arthritis patients and their impression on disease control.
The present study aims to identify the role of behavioral disorders (anxiety disorder, behavior disorder "behavior", confrontation and challenge disorder, aggressive behavior) in predicting bullying patterns (verbal, physical, electronic, school) in a sample of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. For this purpose, the researcher developed scales to measure the behavioral disorders and the bullying patterns among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. The researcher adopted the descriptive survey approach. The study sample consists of (80) adolescents with autism spectrum disorder with ages range from (15-19 years) and (45-53 years old) in association with israr association for people with special needs in the northern borders
... Show More: Cigarette smoking is a lifestyle behavior that causes significant adverse health effects. Cigarette smoke contains chemicals, many of which are lead to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can lead to apoptosis and autophagy. To estimate the association of Cigarette smoking with the autophagy and immunity, technology of real time polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) for gene expression of (LC3A, LC3B, LC3C, myd88) was used. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was utilized to measurement the amount of TNF-α protein. The ratios of LC3A/LC3B and LC3B/LC3C were calculated to estimate the autophagy flux. The results indicate the expression of LC3B, LC3C and Myd88 genes in smokers is increased significantly (p
... Show MoreThe negative impact of oral diseases on the function, economy, and general health of the population is well‐documented. In the last decades, evidence linking increased expression of depression and oral diseases/conditions has significantly increased. The aim of this study is to assess the association between oral disease/conditions and self‐reported symptoms of depression individuals.
A specially designed questionnaire was distributed via social media for 1 week. It consisted of two main sections; the first section was dedicated to collect demographic variables and self‐reported symptoms
To determine the association between cigarette smoking and oxidative stress, a study was conducted in the period from January 2020 to April 2021, at College of Medicine, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq. The Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was utilized for measurement the antioxidant enzymes including: Glutathione superoxide (GPX) and catalase (CAT) and the biomarker of lipid peroxidation Malondialdehyde (MDA). Also, the gene expression of Nrf2 and HO-1were determined by using RT-PCR technique. The results indicate lower level of both GPX and CAT (p ≤ 0.001) in smokers compared with non-smokers. While the result of MDA indicate higher level in smokers (p≤0.001) compared with nonsmokers. The Nrf2 and HO-1 gene exp
... Show MoreAbstract Background: Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is an angioproliferative neoplastic disorder that occurs in different epidemiological forms. Human Herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) is established as a causative agent of KS that has been mentioned in textbooks and literature. In the last two decades, KS cases were up searched through many Iraqi medical researches which have been published, but unfortunately, none of which had confirmed this association. Objectives: To assess the association of latent nuclear antigen-1(LANA-1) of HHV-8 among KS patients with clinicopathological parameters and to evaluate if this procedure is valuable for diagnosing this disease through the first immunohistochemical study in Iraq. Methods: This is a clinico-immunohis
... Show MoreEndothelin-I (ET-I) is one of the potent vasoconstrictors secreted from endothelial cells when needed. Many studies revealed the elevation of serum ET-I with human diabetes and microangiopathies. Since insulin resistance is a case of mixed diabetic and pre-diabetic cases, many risk factors beyond obesity and inflammation are proposed. The current study aims to demonstrate the association between serum ET-I and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Sera of 73 subjects were enrolled currently (control= 35 subjects, and 38 with T2DM for more than 7 years), aged (40-60) years old, with distinct body mass index (BMI) ≤ 25 for control volunteers and (BMI) ≥ 25 for obesity and diabetes
... Show MoreRecently, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was considered as one of the autoimmune diseases that the genetic and environmental factors contributed in the disease etiological profile. According to the environmental factors, infectious agents have been concluded to have a role in the etiology and pathogenesis of SLE. Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae are among these infectious agents that have been suggested to be involved in the etiology of SLE. Accordingly, the current study was designed to assess the anti-C. pneumoniae and anti-M. pneumoniae IgG antibody status by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the sera of 64 Iraqi SLE females' patients and 32 Iraqi healthy females as controls. The patients' group were distribu
... Show MoreObjective: The study aimed to assess Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein-1 biomarker serum level in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: The case control study from multi-centers in Baghdad included 45 adult patients (19 females and 26 males) with COVID-19, diagnosed with a positive real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and excluded negative RT-PCR for COVID-19 and comorbidity conditions. Second group, was 43 control (20 females and 23 males). Results: This study found a decrease Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein-1 biomarker serum level in these patients and a significant difference in D. dimer, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, and the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio between the patients and controls at a P valu
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