This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence rate of
toxoplasmosis among 294 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with
methotrexate (MTX), 50 RA patients without treatment and 50 samples as
healthy control. Blood samples were collected and the presence of T.gondii
IgG and IgM antibodies was determined by using Enzyme linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was
also estimated in serum of all subjects by using ELISA method too. The
seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis IgM and IgG in RA+MTX was
60(20.408%), and 98(33.33%), in RA patients 4(8%), and 18(36%) while,
it was 2(24%), 6(12%) in healthy group. Tumor necrosis factor alpha
(TNF-α) was also estimated in serum of all subjects by using ELISA
method too. The mean levels of TNF-α in seropositive anti-Toxoplasma
IgM and IgG of RA+MTX patients were 3.781 pg/ml ± 0.571) and (36.98
pg/ml ± 0.58), in RA patients (25.404 pg/ml ± 1.748) and (40.12 pg/ml ±
1.7) while, they were (5.04 pg/ml ± 0.643) and (10.7 pg/ml ± 1.7) in
healthy group. The results showed significant difference (P<0.05) was
found between treated and untreated patients.
The study involved 120 women, who were distributed into two groups of breast tumor patients (30 malignant and 30 benign) and a group of controls (60 women). The patients were referred to the Center for Early Detection of Breast Tumor at Al-Alwayia Hospital for Gynecology and Obstetrics (Baghdad) during the period June-December 2011. They were investigated for the frequency of ABO blood group phenotypes, menopausal status, oral contraceptive use, body mass index and family history of breast cancer or other cancers. The results demonstrated that 60.0% of malignant cases clustered after the age 50 years, while it was 20.0% in benign cases. Fifty percent of malignant breast tumor patients reached menopause, while in benign cases, the corresp
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus a major factor that has adverse effects on the vascular system and the heart. It causes an increase in cardiac muscle thickness, resulting in decreased compliance and increased peripheral arterial stiffness. This study aims to assess the left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular hemodynamic changes in diabetic patients measured by Doppler echocardiography. Patients and Methods: The study included 50 diabetic patients ranging in age between 25 and 80 years, (mean age: 54.1 ± 15.10, 19 males, 31 females) and 50 healthy subjects, aged 25 to 80 years (mean age: 48.52 ± 14.45, 11 males, 39 females). Doppler echocardiography was used to assess left ventricular function. The measurements included
... Show MoreObjective: Atorvastatin therapy is now recommended for reduction of cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM), based on convincing evidence of reductions in mortality and vascular events in major clinical outcome trials. The aim is to evaluate the effects of atorvastatin on proinflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-6), HbA1c andleptin in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Sixty fivenewly diagnosed T2DM patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups; group I treated with metformin only; in group II atorvastatin was added with metformin. Twenty healthy subjects were enrolled as control group. While maintaining their usual eating habits, fasting blood samples were collected at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment. Results
... Show Morethis study deals with effect of diabetes and hypertension on quality of life
Several adipokines are produced and secreted from adipose tissue, such as retinol binding protein-4, which triggers metabolic syndromes and insulin resistance. Retinol binding protein-4 transfers vitamin A or retinol in the blood. Higher levels of retinol binding protein-4 are interrelated with progress of metabolic disease, comprising obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The present study investigates the role of retinol-binding protein-4 levels in type 2 diabetic Iraqi patients with metabolic syndrome. Sixty type 2 diabetic patients aged 40–53 years were examined. Of these 30 patients has metabolic syndrome and 30 without metabolic syndrome. The patients sampled were from the National Diabetes Center/ Mustansiriyah
... Show MoreBackground: Obesity is considered an important risk factor for periodontal disease. It has been reported that reactive oxygen species linking both diseases, systemic melatonin supplementation as antioxidant therapy, was addressed as an adjuvant to scaling and root surface debridement (SRP) to enhance the treatment of periodontitis. Objective: To investigate the efficacy of systemic melatonin administration in periodontitis-obese patients as an adjuvant to scaling and root surface debridement (SRP). Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted at a dental-specialized center. Eighty subjects were included and allocated into group-I: twenty periodontium-healthy, normal-weight people; group-II: 30 obese patients with stage-III tre
... Show MoreBackground: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a cytokine that has several functions, including stimulating growth and inhibiting cell death. It has the potential to operate as a biomarker for the accurate prediction of disease severity and activity, platelets-rich plasma was used in the treatment of oral lichen planus and can change the salivary IL-6 level.
Objectives: To study the clinical outcome of intralesional platelets-rich plasma in patients with oral lichen planus and to measure salivary IL-6 levels before and after the treatment with platelets-rich plasma were the aims of this study.
Subjects and Methods: In this clinical trial, for each patient a standardi
... Show MoreMycobacterium tuberculosis is the cause of the major world health issue, tuberculosis (TB). The cytokine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has been implicated in protection against TB in the early stages of the disease. TNF-α is an effective cytokine in the killing of intracellular M. tuberculosis. This study inducted to investigate whether there is any relationship between levels of TNF-α in sera of TB patients and their recovery, and is there any difference in the level of this cytokine in sera of female and male TB patients. This study included 29 patients with pulmonary TB (18 female and 11 male), their ages ranging from 37 to 59 years. All of them received first line TB therapy. They were consulted at Pasture Center during Septem
... Show MoreNinety nine swabs were collected from patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), all swabs were cultured on different selective media for screening, 46 isolates confirmed as S. aureus by API staph. The results of antibiotic susceptibility test revealed that all isolates were resistant to metronidazole, 34 isolates were resistant to cefoxitin, ceftriaxone, and meropenim, 23 isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin, 17 and 16 isolates were resistant to tetracycline and trimethoprim, respectively; while all isolates were sensitive to tigecycline. The results of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) that carried out by using vancomycin, tigecycline and linezolid for 8 isolates, MIC results were1-2 µg /ml
... Show More