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.
Susceptibility to the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recently been associated with ABO blood groups in patients of different ethnicities. This study sought to understand the genetic association of this polymorphic system with risk of disease in Iraqi patients. Two outcomes of COVID-19, recovery and death, were also explored. ABO blood groups were determined in 300 hospitalized COVID-19 Iraqi patients (159 under therapy, 104 recovered, and 37 deceased) and 595 healthy blood donors. The detection kit for 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) RNA (PCR-Fluorescence Probing) was used in the diagnosis of disease.
Background: Cholera has been recognized as a killer disease since earliest time. The disease is caused by infection of the small intestine by Vibrio cholerae O1 and O1391 which is characterized by severe dehydrating diarrheal condition and is one disease in modern times that is epidemic, endemic and pandemic in nature. Objective: This study was carried out to detect and isolate V. cholerae from patients suffered from watery diarrhea, which may cause severe complications such as dehydration, shock followed by death. Materials and methods: stool specimens were collected from 308 patients with watery diarrhea. These samples were tested with many criteria such as TCBS agar, gram stain, biochemical tests and VITEK-2 system to improve the isolati
... 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 MoreAIM: The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of myeloproliferative disorders in a sample of Iraqi patients and to measure the changes in patients’ blood parameters. BACKGROUND: Myeloproliferative disorders are a group of neoplasms affecting the bone marrow progenitor cells characterized by excess cells with a risk of transforming to acute leukemia. There is a gap in knowledge about the prevalence of Iraqi population. Thus, we investigated the prevalence and distribution of different types of myeloproliferative disorders in a sample of Iraqi patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study is done at the National Center of Hematology from November 2019 till March 2020 on 75 patients who were diagnosed
... Show MoreBackground: While warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are used to manage thromboembolic events, they possess several features that impact adherence. Objective: To assess medication adherence and self-efficacy in patients receiving warfarin or DOAC treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at Ibn Al-Bitar Hospital in Baghdad from December 2022 to May 2023 on patients receiving either warfarin or DOACs. The Arabic version of the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS) questionnaire and the Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-Item Scale (SES6C) questionnaire were used to assess adherence and self-efficacy. Results: 181 patients were enrolled in the study, of whom 56.9% received warfarin an
... Show MoreThe media, especially the satellite channels in our time, are one of the most important pillars of daily life, public and private, for society and people, and are considered by sociologists and sociologists as one of the most important factors of social upbringing and the most important, as a result of the technological and technological development of the media as well as increasing their numbers and vertical and horizontal expansion locally, As well as entering into the lives of individuals and people and leading them to important sites within their interests and preferences, not to mention the long time spent exposure to those media and benefit from the programs offered or broadcast. , The problem of this research is that there is a l
... Show MoreOne of the most opportunistic mycosis globally is the Candida ssp., which is considered as the most agent that cause nosocomial urinary tract infections (UTIs), oral candidiasis and genitourinary candidiasis. This study included 100 samples of Iraqi subjects suffering from urinary tract infections. Identification of Candida have been done by different methods such as; characteristic of colony on culture, gram stain, and microscopically. This study aimed to isolation and identification of Candida spp from urine sample of UTI patients and find the relevance of ages and blood group of patients with the infections rate, also determine the effect of age on ESR and CRP levels in the patients. The results showed the higher frequency of
... Show MoreAtenolol is one of beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent. It is widely used for the treatment of hypertension as a selective antihypertensive drug. But long term usage of atenolol may cause one of the cardiovascular diseases like myocardial infarction. To prove the relationship between atenolol and cardiovascular disease, measurement of creatinekinase-MB as a diagnostic indicator in early and long term usage of this drug by hypertensive patients is recommended. A comparative study was conducted in Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital–Emergency Department- on 30 hypertensive patients using atenolol. They were divided into (2) groups A and B according to the duration of the drug usage. Group A- (15) patients with a mean age (56
... Show MoreAbstract To estimate the seroprevalence of HCV infection among HIV-infected haemophiliacs and to demonstrate the most prevalent HCV genotype, 47 HIV-infected haemophilia patients were screened for anti-HCV antibodies. By performing polymerase chain reaction and DNA enzyme immunoassay, HCV-RNA was detected with subsequent genotyping. Seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was 66.0%. Of 31 HCV/HIV co-infected patients, 21 (67.7%) had no history of blood transfusion. We detected 4 HCV genotypes: 1a, 1b, 4 and 4 mixed with 3a, HCV-1b being the most frequent. Contaminated factor VIII (clotting factor) could be responsible for disease acquisition.
Background and Objective: Public demand for procedures to rejuvenate photodamaged facial skin have stimulated the use of fractional CO2 laser as a precise and predictable treatment modality. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of fractional CO2 laser system for reducing periorbital rhytids.
Materials and Methods: twenty seven subjects with mild periocular wrinkles, and photoaged skin of the face were prospectively treated two to three times (according to clinical response) in the periorbital area with a fractional CO2 laser device equipped with a scanning hand piece. Improvements in eyelid wrinkles was evaluated clinically and photographically. Subjects also scored satisfaction and
... Show More