Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic rheumatic inflammatory disease affecting mainly the spine and sacroiliac joints. Since the copper-to-zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) indicates an inflammatory response, the change in ratio is expected to correlate with axSpA. This study compared levels of Cu/Zn in the serum of axSpA patients. Serum samples were obtained from 53 patients with axSpA divided according to biological treatment into cohorts A and B, and 28 healthy control as cohort C. Serum levels of Cu and Zn were determined first by a fully automated chemistry analyzer TC-Matrix Plus, then the ratio was obtained. The elevated serum Cu concentration means of cohort B (189.32 ± 13.808 µg/dL) compared to cohort A (168.85 ± 7.244 µg/dL) and cohort C (155.68 ± 3.707 µg/dL) with 0.029 p-values. Reduced Zn concentration means of cohort B (79.74 ± 4.344 µg/dL) compared to cohort A (91.26 ± 4.159 µg/dL) and cohort C (100.93 ± 6.161 µg/dL) with 0.031 p-values. The Cu/Zn mean of cohort B was (2.54 ± 0.25) compared to the Cu/Zn mean of cohort A (1.968 ± 0.125) and cohort C (1.679 ± 0.104) with 0.002 p-values. Due to the results suggesting that the differences between cohorts were associated with inflammatory responses since there was a similar change in ESR levels; however, the differences between cohorts A and B are due to the anti-inflammatory therapy (TNF inhibitor) that cohort A was treated with. Keywords: Axial spondyloarthritis; copper-to-zinc ratio; copper; zinc; inflammation.
Background: Understanding the challenges facing nurses toward providing care to patients with cerebrovascular accidents is the initial step in developing strategies to address these challenges, thereby ensuring high-quality care. Aim: The study aimed to assess the challenges experienced by nurses in delivering care to patients with CVAs in neurological wards. Results: Of the 80 questionnaire participants in the qualitative part, (MS = 0.66) reported a "moderate" rating as an overall assessment. These challenges are divided into workload (MS = 0.53) at a moderate rate, the psychological burden (MS = 0.85) at a high rate, the supporting materials (MS = 0.85) at a high rate, the sense of responsibility (MS = 0.77) at a high rate, and the role
... Show MoreThis study shows impoliteness as a form of face-threatening that can be intentionally caused by verbal threats in a particular setting. It investigates: what strategies and mitigators do Iraqi-Kurdish English as a foreign language (EFL) learners use in situations of threat responses? The present investigation paper aims to examine impoliteness strategies and mitigators by these learners when they respond to threatening situations in their context. Thus, it fills a gap in pragmatics literature by investigating the reactions to threats in an Iraqi-Kurdish EFL context. To this end, 50 participants have participated in this study. An open-ended questionnaire in the form of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) is used to elicit responses fr
... Show MoreVitiligo is an acquired idiopathic skin disorder characterized by depigmented macules due to loss of cutaneous melanocytes. A potential role of the immune dysfunction has been suggested in vitiligo, so to test this hypothesis, certain cytokines (IL-17A and TNF-?) and immunoglobulins (IgM, IgG, IgA and total IgE) were investigated in all participants. The study included: 60 patients with age range between (6-55) year; 30(11 males and 19 females) were untreated and 30(12 males and 18 females) were treated with Narrow Band Ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB) and 30 (14 males and 16 females) apparently healthy control. Serum was separated and cytokines (IL-17A and TNF-?) and total immunoglobulin E (IgE) were detected by using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Ass
... Show MoreThis study includes design and synthesis of new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) with expected cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) selective inhibition to achieve better activity and low gastric side effects. Two series of compounds have been designed and synthesized as potential NSAIDs,these are: Salicylamide derivatives (compounds 3,4,5 ) and Diflunisal derivatives (compounds 10&11). In vivo acute anti-inflammatory effect of one of the synthesized agents (compound 3) was evaluated in the rat using egg-white induced paw edema model of inflammation. Preliminary pharmacological study revealed that compound 3 exhibited less anti-inflammatory effect compared to that of aspirin after
... Show MoreKurdish language multifunctional morphemes indicate the different functional morphological, syntactical, and semantic tasks of the morphemes. The present study discusses the multifunctional task of the Morpheme Le in Kurdish Language. The Morpheme Le has marginally been included in other studies, yet up to the present times, there has not been a research inclusively dedicated to thoroughly discuss and clarify its multifunctional aspects. The present study is divided into two chapters: Chapter one discusses the theoretical aspect of chapter two that is entirely concerned with the practical aspect of the morpheme Le. The first part of chapter one sheds light on the morphological aspect of the morpheme while part two discusses
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, SA Al-Mashhadani, A A Noaimi, RK Al-Hayani, SA Shubber, Iraqi Journal of Community Medicine, 2017 - Cited by 1
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with increased oxidative stress and impaired endothelial function. Ticagrelor treatment improves antioxidant properties in addition to its antiplatelet effects. This study investigated the impact of Ticagrelor treatment on serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels and other biochemical parameters in PAD patients. It also evaluated the potential diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of specific biomarkers based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Seventy individuals were categorized into healthy control (n=40), baseline PAD patients not on Ticagrelor (B-PAD, n=30), and same PAD patients after treated with Ticagrelor (A-PAD, n=30). Parameters measured included SOD concent
... Show MoreA sensitive and accurate colorimetric method was developed for the determination of the Sitagliptin phosphate monohydrate, here and after will be named Sitagliptin, in its pure and pharmaceutical form. The suggested approach is based on boosting the sensitivity of the traditional spectrometric methods by derivatizing Sitagliptin into a colored product that absorbs the visible spectrum at 573 nm. The proposed method has effectively improved the sensitivity and the limit of detection for the analysis of Sitagliptin. A linear calibration curve was obtained over the concentration range of 0.1-10 μg/ml with a correlation coefficient of 0.9983. The calculated recovery was within the range of 98.98–100.11%. While the limit of detection LOD and
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