Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 since December 2019; however, about 20% or less developed severe symptoms. The main aim of the current study was to assess the relationship between the severity of Covid-19 and different clinical and laboratory parameters. A total number of 466 Arabs have willingly joined this prospective cohort. Out of the total number, 297 subjects (63.7%) had negative COVID-19 tests, and thus, they were recruited as controls, while 169 subjects (36.3%) who tested positive for COVID-19 were enrolled as cases. Out of the total number of COVID-19 patients, 127 (75.15%) presented with mild symptoms, and 42 (24.85%) had severe symptoms. The age range for the participants was 20 to 82 years. Compared with controls, the severity of the disease was associated with significantly high ferritin levels (P < 0.001). The severity of the disease was also associated with a significant increase in C-reactive protein (P < 0.001), D-dimer (P < 0.001), white blood cell count (WBC) (P < 0.01), IgM (P < 0.001), and Granulocytes (P < 0.01). In addition, severe COVID-19 symptoms in the current study were associated with a significant decrease in lymphocytes (P < 0.01). There was a four-fold increase in serum ferritin levels in COVID-19 patients presented with severe symptoms upon admission. The former was associated with significantly high levels of CRP and D-dimer. Thus, hyperferritinemia, together with high CRP and D-dimer concentrations, may serve as reliable predictors for disease severity and poor prognosis in Arabs with COVID-19.
Background: The highest concentrations of
blood glucose during the day are usually found
postprandialy. Postprandial hyperglycemia (PPH)
is likely to promote or aggravate fasting
hyperglycemia. Evidence in recent years suggests
that PPH may play an important role in functional
& structural disturbances in different body organs
particularly the cardiovascular system.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of (PPH) as a
risk factor for coronary Heart disease in Type 2
diabetic patients.
Methods: Sixty-three type2 diabetic patients
were included in this study. All have controlled
fasting blood glucose, with HbA1c correlation.
They were all followed for five months period
(from May to October 2008)
Crop diseases are usually caused by inoculum of pathogens which might exist on alternate hosts or weeds as endophytes. These endophytes, cum pathogens, usually confer some beneficial attributes to these weeds or alternate hosts from protection against herbivores, disease resistance, stress tolerance to secondary metabolites production. This study was therefore carried out to isolate potential crop pathogens which exist as endophytes on weed species in the University of Ilorin plantations. Green asymptomatic leaves were collected from 10 weed species across the plantations, and processed for their endophytic fungi isolation. Isolates were purified into pure cultures and used for molecular identification using the internal transcribed spac
... Show MoreAcademia Open Vol 8 No 2 (2023): December DOI: 10.21070/acopen.8.2023.8087 . Article type: (Medicine)Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Students' Psychological Health Maryam Hameed Alwan, [email protected], (1) Department of Oral Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, Baghdad University, Iraq, Iraq (1) Corresponding author Abstract This study investigates the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental students at Baghdad University College of Dentistry. Conducted between December 2021 and January 2022, this cross-sectional survey aligns with ethical guidelines and the Helsinki Declaration. The study utilized Cochran's equation to determine a sample size of at least 400, ensuring a 95% confidence level with a 5% margin of e
... Show MoreThe possible effects of COVID-19 vaccines on reproductive health and male fertility in particular have been discussed intensely by the scientific community and the public since their introduction during the pandemic. On news outlets and social media platforms, many claims have been raised regarding the deleterious effects of COVID-19 vaccines on sperm quality without scientific evidence. In response to this emerging conflict, we designed this study to evaluate and assess the effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility represented by the semen analysis parameters.
Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highe
... Show MoreThis study attempts to address the importance of communicative digitization in the field of various arts for the sake of continuity of shopping and aesthetic, artistic and intellectual appreciation of artistic achievements by the recipient on various places of their residence in light of the COVID 19 crisis, and to highlight the importance of the plastic arts of the Iraqi painter exclusively and how it expresses in a contemporary way the environment or life reality in Iraq in light of this crisis. With all its implications affecting the life reality from various aspects and methods of its negative and positive employment. As for the research procedures, the researcher reviewed the research methodology represented by the descriptive ana
... Show MoreThe research aims to employ one of the most important strategies for recovery from the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, which ravaged the economies of the entire world and its various sectors, including the banking sector, through financial technology that is based on digital transformation to achieve financial sustainability and the creation of innovative financial value chains in light of the decline in the banking sector as a result of The negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, be guided by the relevant international accounting standards to control the risks associated with financial technology. To recover from the Covid-19 crisis, the research came out with a set of recommendations, most notably financial technology from
... Show MoreToday, the prediction system and survival rate became an important request. A previous paper constructed a scoring system to predict breast cancer mortality at 5 to 10 years by using age, personal history of breast cancer, grade, TNM stage and multicentricity as prognostic factors in Spain population. This paper highlights the improvement of survival prediction by using fuzzy logic, through upgrading the scoring system to make it more accurate and efficient in cases of unknown factors, age groups, and in the way of how to calculate the final score. By using Matlab as a simulator, the result shows a wide variation in the possibility of values for calculating the risk percentage instead of only 16. Additionally, the accuracy will be calculate
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