Background: Despite the importance of vaccines in preventing COVID-19, the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines is lower among RA patients than in the general population. Objective: To determine the extent of COVID-19 knowledge among RA patients and their attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: A qualitative study with a phenomenology approach was performed through face-to-face, individual-based, semi-structured interviews in the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, rheumatology unit. A convenient sample of RA patients using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs was included until the point of saturation. A thematic content analysis approach was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: Twenty-five RA pa

Background: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a significant role in the activation of adaptive immunity and may have an essential role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives: To assess the gene expression of TLR4 in individuals with RA compared to healthy individuals. Methods: From July to December 2022. A total of 100 individuals were encompassed in the study, consisting of 50 individuals diagnosed with RA, of whom 42 were females and 8 were males, with an average age of 45.22 years. Additionally, there were 50 healthy control participants, 40 of whom were females and 10 were males, with an average age of 45.64 years. To assess the TLR4 transcript levels, blood samples were collected from each participant, and RN

The current study included the collection of 175 samples (blood-urea) of patients suffering from rheumatism, collected from Baghdad Teaching Hospital (Educational Laboratory), Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital, Al-Imamian Al-Kadhimya in Medical City in Baghdad at different duration between 2016/10/1-2017/2/1. The bacterial growth results showed that 80% of urea samples positive for bacterial culture, while the rate of samples did not show any bacterial grow this 20%. The isolation subjugates to morphological, microscopically and biochemical tests, as also diagnosis by Api system. The most frequent bacterial pathogenic is E. coli which appeared highly rate (41.97)% followed by E. cloacae (21.25)%, P. aeruginosa (12.5)%, Salmonella (10)% and the pro

            Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systematic autoimmune disorder with chronic inflammation changes of unknown etiology. Various synovial inflammatory and proliferative alterations may contribute to the cartilaginous tissues and invasive bony tissues, leading to destructive joints and malformed bones. This disease is mostly due to infective microorganisms or genetic susceptibility causing immune system disturbances through triggering both T-cells and B-cells. Furthermore, different immune cells may secret cytokines, which are responsible for some RA pathogenesis activity. From ninety individuals, serum sample was collected; thirty of them were normal and sixty cases were patients with RA attended a privet medical clin

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have increased morbidity and mortality from premature cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD). Framingham risk score (FRS) is a simplified coronary prediction tool developed to enable clinicians to assess the risk of a cardiovascular event and to identify candidate patients for risk factors modifications worldwide. The predictive ability of the FRS varies between populations, ethnic groups, and socio-economic status. The aim of this study is to find if there is any correlation between the Framingham risk score and the inflammatory and biochemical parameters used to measure disease activity and functional ability in Iraqi patients with active RA.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukins play important roles in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Genetic research has been employed to find many of the missing connections between genetic risk variations and causal genetic components. Objective: The goal of this study is to look at the genetic variations of TNF-α and interleukins in Iraqi RA patients and see how they relate to disease severity or response to biological therapy. Method: Using specific keywords, the authors conducted a systematic and comprehensive search to identify relevant Iraqi studies examining the genetic variations of TNF-α and interleukins in Iraqi RA patients and how they relate to disease severity or response to biolo

The prolactin hormone played role in the many autoimmune disorders. To determine the importance of high levels of prolactin in triggering rheumatoid arthritis, thirty patient's women with hyperprolactinemia aged (20-45) years old have been investigated and compared with twenty five healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure the concentration of citrulinated peptide(CCP) by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay( ELISA), antikeratin antibodies (AKA)and antinuclear antibodies(ANA) by indirect fluorescent assay IFAT. There was a significant elevation of CCP concentration compared with control groups (P< 0.05). The percentage of antikeratin antibodies and antinuclear antibodies was (20%, 10%) respectively, and

Rheumatoid arthritis is a worldwide inflammatory chronic autoimmune disease with varying severity. Due to no definitive cure for this disease, current therapies aim to decrease the pain and slow further damage. The interleukin (IL)‐36 cytokine was little known for its role in rheumatoid arthritis; this research aimed to evaluate the serum IL36 levels in RA patients compared to healthy controls. This study included 80 patients with rheumatoid arthritis registered at the Rheumatology Clinic in Baghdad teaching hospital. The patients were divided into three groups based on the treatments received. Group 1 included patients treated with biological therapy (etanercept, adalimumab), Group2 patients with non-biological treatment (methotr

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the autoimmune diseases characterized by the synovial inflammation which causes organs and tissues damage especially synovial tissues and joints. The study included 50 serum samples from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when compared with 50 serum samples from healthy individuals as control with age range 35 – 60 years (41.3 ± 2.4 years vs. 41.0 ± 2.0 years, respectively). ELISA technique was used to assess the Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide IgG antibody (anti-CCP IgG Ab) level, anti-rheumatoid factor IgG antibody (anti-RF IgG) and anti-Cytomegalovirus (anti-CMV IgG) antibodies frequencies in the studied groups. The present findings demonstrated that all RA patients have 100% seropositive fr