Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highest rate of anti-Toxoplasma IgG was in psoriasis patients before treatment, it was 45 (64.29%) compared with the control which was 33 (55.00%), while the highest sero-positive rate of T. gondii IgM in the control group was 14 (23.33%) compared with patients with psoriasis 10 (14.29%). The highest rate of toxoplasmosis was in the age group (21-30) years in psoriasis patients which was 14 (31.82%). In addition, the TNF- α levels in psoriatic patients before treatment were 180.2±2.2 µg/ml, and after treatment were 223.3±41.1 µg/ml compared with the healthy control group 90.5±1.9 µg/ml. These findings suggest that incidental rate of toxoplasmosis is higher in psoriasis patients. Thus, the incidental rate of toxoplasmosis could be considered as an indication to the high risk of psoriasis.
Background: Cluster of differentiation 14 (CD14) is a serum/cell surface glycoprotein; and it is a pattern recognition receptor. CD14 expressed on the surface of various cells, or it found soluble in saliva and other body fluids. It has been proposed that soluble CD14 (sCD14) may play a protective role by controlling Gram negative bacterial infections through its capacity to bind lipopolysaccharide. This study was conducted to assess the level of soluble CD14 in saliva of patients with different periodontal diseases and healthy subjects and determine its correlation with clinical periodontal parameters. Materials & Methods: A total of 80 subjects, age ranged (25-50) years old, divided into three main groups, group ? consisted of 45 chronic
... Show MoreThis study tests the effect of a large number of independent variables that control the growth of the total productivity, which amounted to 112 variables, gathered from what is mentioned in the specialized theoretical and applied literature. The data for these variables were taken from global reports of sound international organizations and reliable databases covering the period 1991-2016. The data of the dependent variable, the growth of the total factor productivity, were taken from the database of the world development indicators. The study covered 61 countries for which data were available. The study included three regression models to explain
... Show MoreClopidogrel is a prodrug that must be transformed into an active metabolite by hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoenzymes to prevent platelet clotting. Polymorphisms of the CYP2C19 gene can cause a reduction or complete loss of CYP2C19 enzyme activity resulting in inhibiting clopidogrel metabolism, effectiveness and increase stroke recurrence risk in ischemic stroke patients. This study aims to investigate the correlation between genetic polymorphisms in CYP2C19*2 and*3 and recurrent risk in patients with ischemic stroke taking clopidogrel 75mg in Kurdistan region –Iraq. This retrospective case-control study was carried out at Kurdistan, Erbil, Medicina medical center, and Rizgary general hospital from January 2021 to
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy among women worldwide, in Iraq it ranks the first among the population and the leading cause of cancer related female mortality. This study is designed to investigate the correlations between serum and tissue markers in order to clarify their role in progression or regression breast cancer. Tumor Markers are groups of substances, mainly proteins, produced from cancer cell or from other cells in the body in response to tumor. The study was carried out from April 2018 to April 2019 with total number of 60 breast cancer women. The blood samples were collected from breast cancer women in postoperative and pretherapeutic who attended teaching oncology hospital of the medical city in Baghdad and
... Show MoreBackground: Recent research indicates that persistent inflammatory responses may contribute to the rise of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and diabetic cardiovascular disease (DCVD) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (DM2). Numerous molecules associated with inflammation and angiogenesis have been implicated in the development and progression of DN and DCVD, respectively. Methods: The subjects were separated into five groups: healthy controls (n= 25), type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (n= 30), type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with nephropathy DN (n= 30), and type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with cardiovascular disease DCVD (n= 30). The blood levels of irisin, IL-8, HbA1C, urea, and creatinine were determined. Results: In current study there w
... Show MoreVitamin K-dependent protein (VKDP) contributes to the development of lung cancer. The purpose of this research was to better understanding of the role of blood matrix Gla protein (MGP), VKDPs, Malondialdehyde (MDA), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Vitamin K (Vit K) in Iraqi patients with lung cancer before and after the first cycle of chemotherapy. Blood samples were collected from Al amal National Hospital for cancer treatment from October 2021 to May 2022, and a total of 80 samples were collected, divided into two groups (40 patient before taking a chemotherapy and 40 patients after taking chemotherapy), ranging in age from 20 to 45 years old. The results showed that although there were highly statistically significant differences in MD
... Show MoreIn this study the prevalence of acute, sub-acute and chronic toxoplasmosis were monitored in a group of Iraqi pregnant women according to the anti-T.gondii antibodies (IgG and IgM), as well as the levels of both progesterone and estrogen hormones were measured using mini-VIDAS®technique. This study demonstrated that there was high prevalence of chronic toxoplasmosis (31.70%) when it compared with acute and sub-acute type, results also showed that the acute toxoplasmosis always related with low concentration of both progesterone and estrogen which were (5.35 ± 7.15 ng/ml) and (70.66 ± 51.08 pg/ml) respectively
Endothelin-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
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