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
One of the main environmental problems which affect extensively the areas in the world is soil salinity. Traditional data collection methods are neither enough for considering this important environmental problem nor accurate for soil studies. Remote sensing data could overcome most of these problems. Although satellite images are commonly used for these studies, however there are still needs to find the best calibration between the data and real situations in each specified area. Landsat satellite (TM & ETM+) images have been analyzed to study soil pollution (Exacerbation of salinity in the soil without the use of abandoned agricultural for a long time) at west of Baghdad city of Iraqi country for the years 1990, 2001 & 2007. All of the th
... Show MoreBackground: Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by destruction of supporting structures of the teeth. Intelligence quotient (IQ) was potentially reported to significantly associated with prevalence of gingivitis. Mild gingivitis was obtained in high IQ levels while moderate gingivitis may be attributed to poor oral hygiene seen among the subjects having low IQ levels. Method: One hundred volunteers aged between 20-45 years old were enrolled in this study, patients were equally divided into right- and left-handed (50 patients each)and each group then subdivided into patients with healthy gingiva(10), patients with gingivitis (20), and patients suffering from periodontitis (20).An IQ questionnaire was p
... Show MoreIn this survey, there are 14 species belonging to 14 genera, nine families and two orders, collected on Macrofungi from Tikrit city, Salahadin Governorate, North Central of Iraq. The members of Coleoptera were more abundant than flies on Macrofungi.
The family of Ciidae and Leiodidae (Order, Coleoptera), Mycetophilidae (Order, Diptera), and 6 species are recorded for the first time for insect fauna of Iraq.
Iraq within the ranks of the fledgling communities characterized by a broad base of the population pyramid, because they pose the age group (under 15 years) of a large proportion of the community, as it exceeded the proportion (40%) during the years of research extended (1986-2010) Despite the relative decline in the rates fertility during that period, but the proportion of young people remained high, especially for groups of at least five years, amounting to about 14% in 2012, a little more than the proportion of what constitutes age group (5-9 above) years, where it was (13%) and this naturally predicts continuing population increases in coming decades, due to the entry of those numbers of individuals in the reproductive stage,
... Show MoreBackground: Accurate measurement of a patient’s height and weight is an essential part of diagnosis and therapy, but there is some controversy as to how to calculate the height and weight of patients with disabilities. Objective: This study aims to use anthropometric measurements (arm span, length of leg, chest circumference, and waist circumference) to find a model (alternatives) that can allow the calculation of the height and the body weight of patients with disabilities. Additionally, a model for the prediction of weight and height measurements of patients with disabilities was established. Method: Four hander patients aged 20-80 years were enrolled in this study and divided into two groups, 210 (52.5%) male and 190 (47.5%) fe
... Show MoreEconazole nitrate (EN) is considered as the most effective agent for the treatment of all forms of
dermatomycosis caused by dermatophytes. This study was carried out to formulate a stable
Econazole nitrate solution for a topical use through preparation of different formulas and selected
the most suitable one. The results indicated that the use of propylene glycol and ethanol as a vehicle
for EN which is very slightly soluble in water gave amore stable formula as EN topical solution,
with a shelf life of about 3.15 years .The data also indicated that the light accelerated the
degradation of EN, while the type of container (glass or plastic) had no effect on the rate of drug.
The overall results of this study suggest t