Background: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory, systemic rheumatic condition that mostly affects the axial skeleton. Tenascin-C (TN-C) is a hexameric glycoprotein of considerable size, upregulated in many inflammatory conditions, while Interleukin-17 (IL-17) a cytokine that plays an important role in SpA symptoms. Objective: to investigate the upregulation between the serum levels of TN-C and IL-17 in Iraqi axSpA patients and the disease characteristics. Patients and Methods: Seventy-four axSpA patients and 28 matched controls were studied. Fifty-four patients received a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) and 20 did not. Serum TN-C and IL-17 concentrations were determined using the ELISA technique. The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) was assessed. For statistical tests, Chi Square, Mann Whitney, Independent Samples T, and Pearson's correlation tests are used. Results: Patients mean age was 35.6±0.9 years, 65 males and 9 females, and disease duration was 5.18±0.6 years. 47.4% were smokers, 47% had inflammatory low back pain, and HLA-B27 was present in 91%. BASDAI mean was 6.1±0.4 in non-TNFi and 2.6±0.3 in those on TNFi. The serum TN-C concentration was significantly increased in patients, especially those on non-TNFi (79±9.6 pg/mL) compared to those on TNFi (69.1±3.2 pg/mL) and control (53±3.9 pg/mL) (p=0.003). Serum IL-17 was significantly elevated in those receiving TNFi (877.9±257 pg/mL) compared to non-TNFi (487.2±234 pg/mL) and control (182.4±36.6 pg/mL) (p=0.033). The TN-C significantly correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r=0.27, p=0.02) and with hemoglobin (Hb) concentration (r=0.26, p=0.02). TN-C and IL-17 were non-significantly related (r=0.14, p=0.2). Conclusions: axSpA Patients demonstrated high levels of serum TN-C, particularly in those not receiving TNFi, and high IL-17 levels in those receiving TNFi, suggesting that there is an association with tissue injury from the disease and stimulation of immunological and resident tissue cells. Patients who had not received TNFi showed significantly higher disease activity than others.
The current study was conducted in the period extending from November 2018 to October 2019 and designed as a case-control study and aimed to assess the seroprevalence of HCMV. However, a total number of 91serum specimens were collected to fulfill this purpose from females (71 breast cancer patients, and control group of 20 females) attending Al-Amal hospital for cancer management and Baghdad teaching hospital and the practical part was performed in College of Science, University of Baghdad. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Department of Biology (Reference: BEC/0220/0011). The immunological part for evaluation of seroprevalence of HCMV was accomplished by ELISA technique which revealed that anti-HCMV IgG was sco
... Show MoreBackground: Oxidative stress may contribute to the etiology of hypertension in humans. Oxidative stress is an imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant defense mechanisms, causing damage to biological macromolecules and dysregulation of normal metabolism and physiology. Amlodipine as an antihypertensive agent is a long-acting calcium channel blocker that dilates blood vessels and improves blood flow. The aim of this study was to assess the oxidative stress in hypertensive patients on Amlodipine treatment through the assessment of salivary Malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as a marker of oxidative stress.
Mat
... Show MoreThe objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of aspirin, clopidogrel or their combination on different parameters in hypertensive patients.Platelets adhesion, activation, and aggregation are central to thrombus formation, which follows atherosclerotic plaque disruption and causes acute coronary syndromes. Aspirin and clopidogrel exert their antiplatelet effects by inhibiting thromboxane A2 production and adenosine diphosphate–induced platelet aggregation pathways, respectively. This study was designed to evaluate the possible effects of aspirin and clopidogrel given either alone or in combination in patients with essential hypertension on blood pressure and other parameters in addition to lipid profile using a randomized
... Show MoreBackground: It is well known that oral carriage
of Candida species increase in many situations, like
obesity, debility, leukemia, viral infection, use of
certain drugs in addition to diabetes mellitus.
Objective: find the relation between diabetes and
its control on oral carriage of Candida.
Methods: Thirty four hundred oral swabs from
diabetic patients 67% are females and 33% are
males, 41.7% are type 1 diabetes and 58.3% are type
2.different culture media are used.
Results: we found that 37.9% of diabetics had oral
carriage, older age group had more but the
difference is not significant statistically P>0.05, in
addition females carry more Candida than males
P<0.05, while type of diabetes
Objective: To assess role of obesity in Covid-19 patients on antibodies production, diabetes development, and treatment of this disease. Methodology: This observational study included 200 Covid-19 patients in privet centers from January 1, 2021 to January 1, 2022. All patients had fasting blood sugars and anti-Covid-19 antibodies. Anthropometric parameters were measured in all participants. Results: The patients were divided into two groups according to body weight; normal body weight (50) and excess body weight (150). There was a significant difference between them regarding age. Diabetes mellitus developed in 20% of normal weight patients while 80% of excess weight patients had diabetes (p=0.0001). Antibodies production (IgM and
... Show MoreToxoplasmosis is a widespread infection usually caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite. It occurs in humans and other warm blooded animals, causing severe problems. It was found that there is an alteration in the trace elements concentrations levels associated with some human diseases. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the concentrations of some trace elements (Mg, Fe , Zn, and Cu) in the sera of 60 immunocompetent patients with chronic toxoplasmosis and 82 healthy individuals as a control group. Measuring the serum level of seropositivity rate of anti-T. gondii antibodies was done by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kit, while the concentrations of trace elements were measured by absorption spectrophotometry
... Show More500 samples of diarrhea stool were collected from different ages(less than 1year –upto30years) and for both genders from some patients in (Alwiya hospital for children, Al-kendi, central health public laboratory and some gavernarated labs) period(1/11/2009—1/10/2010). Kinds of bacteria and parasites agents were isolated and identified from patients with diarrhea. Nine species of gram negative bacteria from enterobacteriaceae were isolated, E. coli isolated are the higher ratio 4.8% of all, then Salmonella typhi4.6% while the lowest ratios is Citrobacterfreundii 0.4%, while the other identified species were be among the previous rotios. also Plesomonasshigelloides was isolated which concedride one of the bacterial local studies.many met
... Show More:Background: Many studies had stated that there are marked variations in the clinical presentation of depressive states between different cultures.Objectives: The main aim of the study is to identify the symptoms profile of patients with major depressive disorder living in Baghdad.Method: Ninety two patients with major depressive disorder consulting Ibn-Rushd psychiatric teaching hospital were studied thoroughly to identify the frequency of symptoms among them. The fifth edition of the Arabic version of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I) was used to identify the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – fourth edition (DSM-IV) symptoms. A list of other symptoms, which were found to present variably in depression acco
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