Cytokines are signaling molecules between inflammatory cells that play a significant role in the pathogenesis of a disease. Among these cytokines are interleukins (ILs) 17A and 33, and accordingly, the current case-control study sought to investigate the role of each of the two cytokines in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixty-eight relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) Iraqi patients and twenty healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to determine serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33. Results revealed that IL-17A and IL-33 levels were significantly higher in MS patients than in controls (14.1 ± 4.5 vs. 7.5 ± 3.8 pg/mL; p < 0.001 and 65.3 ± 16.3 vs. 49.3 ± 20.0 pg/mL; p < 0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that IL-17A was a very good predictor of MS (area under curve [AUC] = 0.869; 95% CI = 0.779 - 0.960; p < 0.001; cut-off value = 10.2 pg/mL; sensitivity = 80.8%; specificity = 75.0%). A similar prediction was presented by IL-33, but the AUC value was lower (AUC = 0.762; 95% CI = 0.63 - 0.89; p < 0.001; cut-off value = 56.4 pg/mL; sensitivity = 70.6%; specificity = 70.0%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis confirmed the significance of IL-17A and IL-33 in MS risk, and under three models of analysis, the estimated odds ratios for IL-17A (1.50, 1.49 and 1.50, respectively) and IL-33 (1.05, 1.05 and 1.06) were above 1.0. Patients stratified by gender (male and female), expanded disability status scale (EDSS: < 3 and ≥ 3) or medication (pre- and post-medication) showed no significant differences in serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33 for each stratum. However, with regard to response to medication, it was found that responding patients showed significantly higher levels of IL-33 than non-responders (70.9 ± 12.2 vs. 57.2 ± 18.2 pg/mL; p = 0.018). This difference was not observed when considering IL-17A. Pearson correlation analysis between IL-17A and IL-33 revealed that both cytokines were not significantly correlated. In conclusion, the study indicated that IL-17A and IL-33 were up-regulated in serum of MS patients, and this up-regulation was not influenced by age, gender, EDSS or medication status, but the elevated level of IL-33 was more pronounced in patients who responded to medication.
Four major factories (Petroleum Refineries Company, Detergents Plant, Thermal Power Plant, and Gaseous Power Plant) are located to the north of Baiji City. They release pollutants in form of gases, liquids and solids; they find their way to the surrounding environment. To assess the environmental pollution of the area, 18 samples of surface soil distributed around the industrial establishments were collected and analyzed to determine the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) components which are often targets in the environmental checking. Identification and quantification of the 16 PAHs components was accomplished using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) had a model Shimadzu LC-10 AVP. The total concentratio
... Show MoreBackground: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of CVD. Saliva has a diagnostic properties aiding in the detection of systemic diseases. This study aimed to assess the association between salivary oxidative stress markers and the risk of vascular disease (VD) in T2DM patients. Materials and Methods: One hundred T2DM patients and fifty apparently healthy males were enrolled in this study. Saliva sample was collected for assessment of oxidative stress markers including: lipid peroxidation plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), uric acid (UA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels. Arterial stiffness index (ASI
... Show MoreBackground: Breast cancer remains a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality, there is a need for continued efforts to understand the etiology of the disease, maintain screening effort, implement prevention strategies, and develop better treatments.Objective: To analyze the risk factors, improve early detection and prevention of breast cancer in Al-Russafa district- Baghdad, aiming to increase survival rate and improve the quality of life.Methods: A cross sectional audit of 258 breast cancer cases seen at Al-Elwiya maternity teaching hospital from January2009 to December 2011,data collected from patients files were: age, gender , residency, marital status, parity, age at menarche and menopause age at first live birth, hormonal therap
... Show MoreOut of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 25 (50%) of isolates were resistant to gentamicin (≥16µg/ml), 22 (44%) of isolates were resistant to amikacin (≥64 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were resistant to ertapenem (≥8 µg/ml), 18 (36%) of isolates were resistant to imipenem (4- ≥16µg/ml), 43 (86%) of isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone (4- ≥64 µg/ml), 42 (84%) of isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (1
... Show MoreThis research aims to study and evaluate the reality of the Iraqi banks in terms of how they cope with the risks of the banking business, specifically banking operational risks, and to develop a model integrated to define, identify, measure and mitigate the impact of these risks on according to the Basel Committee requirements II about the dangers of Alchgal.uchir major search to the presence of weak results in the Iraqi banks in understanding and defining and measuring operational risks and not hedged properly, which avoids those banks operating losses as well as the results show there is a shortage in the equation of capital adequacy applied by the Iraqi banks because of non-observance of the minimum capital required to counter the ris
... Show MoreBackground: Prematurity and its complications are the major causes of neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality. Although the cause of preterm labor is often unknown, numerous etiological risk factors may be implicated. To identify the risk factors that lead to prematurity and assess the neonatal outcomes that preterm neonates may develop. Methods: This case-control study was conducted at AL-Elwiya Pediatric Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from the 1st of June to the 31st of December 2019. A non-randomized sample of 700 neonates admitted to the neonatal care unit was included in this study and divided into two groups of preterm full-term neonates as the experimental and control groups, respectively (n=350 each). The same questionnaire w
... Show MoreAbstract
The aim of this research is to determine how well the Cubing Technique affects the Iraqi EFL students' composition writing, vocabulary, and meta-cognitive awareness of writing strategies. The sample of (64) secondary-school female students in the fifth grade is drawn from two classrooms and split into two equal groups: the experimental group and the control group, each of which consists of (32) students. A quasi-experimental design is applied. The performance test and Meta-cognitive Writing Strategies questionnaire are given as a pre-test for equalizing the two groups after ensuring their validity and reliability. Then, they are administrated as a posttest in both groups. According to the results, the si
... Show MoreObjective : To study the effect of some risk factors like age, smoking and Diabetes mellitus (DM) among patients with
certain cardiovascular diseases (Angina pectoris and Myocardial infarction), in addition to the assessment of the Creactive
protein (CRP) in the sera of those patients.
Methodology: The study was carried out on (100) subjects who were hospitalized in the Iraqi Center of heart Diseases
in Baghdad city and were suffering from Myocardial InfarcƟon (MI) (16) and Angina Pectoris (AP) (79) or from both (5)
over a period from September 2009 to June 2010. The results of paƟents were compared with those of (30) healthy
and age-matched individuals as a control group. Data were obtained from patients who were alr