All major organs may be impacted by the connective disease systemic lupus erythematosus, a separate risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Adhesion molecules like intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecules (VCAM) can detect endothelial damage and dysfunction, which appear to play a crucial role. This study investigated whether people with SLE had elevated subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis risk factors. Traditional CAD risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia cannot entirely explain this elevation. It is thought that immunological dysfunction also increases CAD risk in SLE patients. The study aimed to assess early endothelial changes in SLE Iraqi female patients without previous coronary artery lesions by exploring a potential relationship between circulating VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 as risk factors for atherosclerosis and the relationship of CAD with SLE disease and its severity; further, the study explained the effect of the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on the lipid profile levels of the patients. 92 female SLE patients were divided into mild, moderate, and severe, according to the SLE disease activity index 2000 (SLEDAI-2k), compared with 30 apparently healthy control individuals. All of them need a history of CAD. Serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1 level, VCAM-1/ICAM1 ratio, TC, HDL, LDL levels TC/HDL and LDL/HDL ratios were measured. sVCAM-1, sICAM-1 levels and VCAM-1/ICAM-1 ratio were significantly and gradually increased in patient groups compared with control. Serum TC, HDL and LDL levels were significantly reduced in the SLE patients compared to the control. At the same time, the TC/HDL and LDL/HDL ratios were significantly elevated with the severity of the SLE disease. sVCAM-1, sICAM-1 level and VCAM1/ICAM-1 ratio together with serum TC/HDL and LDL/HDL may improve coronary artery disease risk categorization in SLE patients without acute coronary syndromes. Furthermore, they were more sensitive in severe SLE instances than in moderate and mild ones, suggesting that they may be related to the extent of coronary lesions in SLE patients. VCAM-1 had a higher sensitivity than ICAM-1 in detecting and severity screening for CAD in SLE patients. Keywords: VCAM-1, ICAM-1, SLE, Atherosclerosis
Nature and natural beauty have always been the source of inspiration for poets and mystics. For them, nature is one of the most recurrent and celebrated themes. It is a significant symbol of the beauty, righteousness and freshness they are looking for. For religious and mystical poets, it is a reference to God, his beauty, and splendour. Comparing it with the scripture, Thomas Ryan, a Catholic priest and a mystical writer, says ''The Bible is the 'small book', the world of nature is the 'big book'. Both reveal the Creator.''1
For Muslim mystics, God does exist everywhere as the Qur'an states: ''Wherever (Whithersoever) you turn, there is God's face” (Chapter (Surah): 2
... Show MoreThe university press is an essential pillar in building an academic community to achieve its objectives in the service of society. Since the university press is a means of university media, which is issued by the departments or units of media in Iraqi universities as academic governmental-institutions, so it highlights the activities of the university and link them to its internal society in the first place as the university press is a mirror of the university and its voice is sincerely expressed. This research comes to know the extent of interest of the university press in various student issues.
In order to identify the problem of the research, the method of content analysis was adopted within the survey method
... Show MoreChronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a public health problem and many studies support the link between kidney dysfunction and cardiovascular events. Aldosterone has been shown for decades that a plasma aldosterone concentration is elevated in CKD. Whilst, Osteoprotegerin (OPG), after its capacity to protect bone, also osteoprotegerin is elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), where it could predict the deterioration of kidney function, cardiovascular, vascular events and all-cause mortality. On the other hand, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), in patients with CKD, its levels seem to increase progressively as kidney function worsens. The aim of the present study is to assess the correlations between serum osteoprotegerin
... Show MoreIraq is changing from the centralized system of governance to the decentralized system, which assumes devolution of more authorities to the local governments of Iraqi provinces and cities. This puts a responsibility on the academics to produce more research work on the best framework for this change, to ensure the best results. The main objective of this research is to suggest a policy for the decentralized transformation in domain of Urban and Regional Planning in Iraq. A suggested program for the transformation is involved in the paper as well, with analysis for the new relationships between different levels of planning authorities depending on democracy. In addition, a description for planning process flows from bottom to top.
Background: Periodontitis and type 2 diabetes mellitus are both considered as a chronic disease that affect many people and have an interrelationship in their pathogenesis. Objective: The aim is to evaluate the salivary levels of interleukin-17 (IL-17) and galectin-3 in patients with periodontitis and type-2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: The samples were gathered from 13 healthy (control group) and 75 patients split into 3 groups, 25 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and healthy periodontium (T2DM group), 25 patients with generalized periodontitis (P group), and 25 patients with generalized periodontitis and type 2 diabetes mellitus (P-T2DM group). Clinical periodontal parameters were documented. The concentration of IL-17
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early-onset CAD, also known as PCAD, is a severe form of CAD associated with high mortality and a poor prognosis. Early diagnosis is crucial to reducing complications. While hsCRP is an established biomarker for CAD, kalirin is a potential novel biomarker due to its role in promoting smooth muscle proliferation and endothelial dysfunction. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between serum kalirin and hsCRP levels with the presence and severity of PCAD and to compare the diagnostic value of both biomarkers. Method: The study recruited 92 participants into two groups: the PCAD group (46) included patients with confirmed CAD by an
... Show MoreHypothyroidism is the decrease in thyroid hormones production and thyroid gland function. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism with production of autoantibodies directed toward autoantigens thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyroid peroxidase (TPO). This study was carried out to determine and compare serum and salivary levels of thyroid antibodies (TPO-Ab and Tg- Ab) in hypothyroid patients (with and without periodontitis) and healthy control; as well as to estimate the possibility to evaluate and measured these antibodies in the saliva as measured in the serum. Serum and saliva samples were collected from sixty hypothyroid patients with age ranged (20-64) years (30 of patients were with periodontitis and 30 without per
... Show Morehe study aimed to purify of Leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) from sera of hyperthyroidism patients and its relation to some thyroid hormones (TSH, T 3 , T 4 ) of subclinical hyperthyroidism and hyperthyroidism patients with lipid peroxidation levels that may be play a role in this diseases. Specimens were collected during the time from Nov 2017 until Jan 2018 from Endocrine and Diabetes Center, blood samples were collected from fifty healthy control and one hundred patients, patients were divided into two groups consisted of (50) with hyperthyroidism and (50) with subclinical hyperthyroidism. The aged for all subjects ranged (15-60) years with body mass ranged ((25- 29) kg/m 2 . The purification is done by addition of ammonium sulfate, dial
... Show MoreBackground: Hyperthyroidism refers to overactive of thyroid gland leading to excessive synthesis of thyroid hormones and accelerated metabolism in the peripheral tissue. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate a new member of the IL-1 super family of cytokines interleukin-33(IL-33) levels in serum .in order to evaluate its utility as clinical bio marker of autoimmune disease (i.e. hyperthyroidism) Methods: The present study was conducted on 30 patients from the Iraqi female patients with hyperthyroidism attending Baghdad teaching hospital, in addition to 30 healthy controls. All subjects were (35-65) years old. Parameters measured in the sera of patients and healthy groups, were interleukin -33 (IL-33), Thyroxin (T4), Thyroxin (T3)
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