Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is an autoimmune, and inflammatory disease that is closely related to the destruction of cartilage and bone. DC-SIGN are important types of C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), expressed on dendritic cells and macrophages, and have a central role in regulating innate and adaptive immunity, function as pattern recognition receptors, and as cell adhesion molecules. Recent evidence has demonstrated that DC-SIGN is involved in the pathophysiological of chronic inflammation, so DC-SIGN has been linked to several autoimmune and may play an essential indicator in the pathogenesis and progression of RA. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the serum level of DC-SIGN in RA patients, as well as the level of DC-SIGN based on demographic characteristics. Fifty Iraqi RA patients were enrolled in the study, and a control sample of 38 healthy individuals (ascertain by laboratory and clinical tests) were included and matched by gender, age, and ethnicity with the patients. The DC-SIGN concentration was calculated in the patients’ serum and compared to control using the ELISA assay and the results revealed significantly increased serum level of DC-SIGN (12.047 ± 1.114 vs. 6.863 ± 0.806 ng/ml) was recorded in RA patients compared to controls. When correlating results, it was shown that the concentration of DC-SIGN in the serum did not record a significant difference between gender and age, as well as the blood groups. To determine the impact of the therapeutic status in RA patients on the DC-SIGN level, it was found that the concentration of DC-SIGN level was higher in untreated patients compared to treated patients. Regarding viral infection, when an investigation was conducted in RA patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, the serum level of DC-SIGN in RA patients with COVID-19 showed no change in concentrations compared to uninfected RA patients.
Background:. Children with spina bifida occulta require early surgery to prevent neurological deficits. The treatment of patients with a congenitally tethered cord who present in adulthood remains controversial.
Objective: The aim of this study is to describe the outcome obtained in 61 adult patients with congenital TCS and no prior surgical treatment who underwent surgical untethering.
Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 61 adult patients who underwent surgical untethering for spina bifida occulta at four neurosurgical centers in Baghdad / Iraq between March 2000 and January 2018. Patients who had undergone prior myelomeningocele repair or tet
... Show MoreEye loss may be caused as a result of eye trauma, accidents, or malignant tumors, which leads the patient to undergo surgery to remove the damaged parts. This research examines the potential of computer vision represented by Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry in fabricating the orbital prosthesis as a noninvasive and low-cost technique. A low-cost camera was used to collect the data towards extracting the dense 3D data of the patient facial features following Structure from Motion-Multi View Stereo (SfM-MVS) algorithms. To restore the defective orbital, a Reverse Engineering (RE) based approach has been applied using the similarity RE algorithms based on the opposite healthy eye to rehabilitate the defected orbital precisely
... Show MoreBackground: Corticotomy-assisted orthodontic treatment is done to induce a state of increased tissue turnover and transient osteopenia, which is followed by a faster rate of orthodontic tooth movement. It considered as an adjunct treatment option for orthodontic treatment of adults. The aim of this Study was to elucidate the effectiveness of a new surgical approach for acceleration of maxillary canine retraction in human with laser assisted flapless corticotomy and evaluate its effect on vitality of pulp and gingival sulcus depth. Materials and methods: the sample comprised of 15 Iraqi patients (9 females and 6 males; mean age 21.7), who were required extraction for their maxillary first premolars followed by retraction of the canines as pa
... Show MoreIn the framework of this study, the phenomenon of transfer is probed pragma-linguistically and socio-linguistically concerning marriage situations among Iraqi EFL learners. The study also strives to look at the refusal strategies most commonly employed by Iraqi female English as a foreign Language (EFL) learners compared to their counterparts, American native speakers of English. The study involved 70 female participants who answered a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), which contained ten marriage proposals to be refused. Each situation entailed refusal of a person from a higher, an equal, and lower status. The researchers adapted Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss Weltz’s (1990) taxonomy of refusal for analyzing the data comprehensively.
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Mental health problems are reflected and linked to human behavior in many aspects. Medical students are susceptible to a wide variety of events that compromise their mental well-being, social life as well as their academic achievements. AIM: This study aimed to find the impact of social support on medical students’ behavior in Iraq via assessing their depression, anxiety, and stress status. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey-based study targeted all medical students in Iraq. The employed questionnaires covered mental health status of participants by evaluating their perceptions of depression, anxiety, and stress using. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Analysis System. RESULTS: The study revealed a signifi
... Show MoreJoints are among the most widespread geologic structures as they are found in most each exposure of rock. They differ greatly in appearance, dimensions, and arrangement, besides they occur in quite different tectonic environments. This study is important because joints provide evidence on what kind of stress produced them (history of deformation) and also because they change the characteristics of the rocks in which they occur. The Measured data of joints from the studied area which are located in the high folded zone – Northeast of Iraq, were classified according to their relationship with the tectonic axes by projecting them stereographically using Schmidt net in GEOrient ver.9.5.0 software. The joint systems revealed the orientation of
... Show MoreTuberculosis status as the second leading causes of significant morbidity and mortality from an infectious disease worldwide, after human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Sample collection was conducted at the Institute of Chest and Respiratory Diseases/Baghdad Medical City in Baghdad. The collection interval was from August to October 2014, 629 suspected TB patients were examined during this period. The results revealed among total 629 specimens, 56 (8.9%) of the specimens were positive by direct examination and 573 (91.1%) negative specimens by smear microscopy. Fifty six DNA samples were extracted from positive ZN smears of sputum specimens and 40 samples from healthy persons (as control) were subjected to molecular diagnosis by real tim
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