Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the chronic inflammatory autoimmune diseases which occurs as a result of unknown reasons. This study was conducted at Baghdad Teaching Hospital/City of Medicine, where blood samples were taken from 60 Iraqi patients with RA (49 females and 11 males) and these patients were matched by age and sex with 20 healthy controls (16 females and 4 males). Patients with RA were diagnosed by a consultant rheumatologist according to ACR / EULAR criteria in 2010. In this study the patients were divided into four groups as follows; the first group consisted of 12 patients treated with methotrexate (MTX), the second group consisted of 10 patients treated with etanercept, the third group consisted of 18 patients treated with a combination of MTX, etanercept and prednisolone, the fourth group consisted of 20 patients treated with MTX and etanercept. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect CCL18/PARC antibodies, while a spectrophotometer (Humalyzer2000) was used for the measurement of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Serum levels of CCL18 / PARC showed a significant increase in RA patients compared with healthy controls (p ≤ 0.001). The levels of CCL18/PARC showed a significant correlation with disease activity (CDAI), except in RA patients treated with etanercept. There was also no significant correlation between CCL18/PARC and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The results showed a significant increase in serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was recorded in RA patients (with treatment) as compared to healthy controls (p ≤ 0.001).
Hypertension is one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease, which causes serious health problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the lipid profile levels in sera of Iraqi hypertensive patients by measuring Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) and kidney function levels by measuring uric acid, urea and creatinine. Seventy five individuals of Iraqi adults (Males) were divided into three groups: 25 hypertensive patients with duration of disease (1-10) year (group 1), 25 hypertensive patients with duration of disease (11-30) year (group 2) and 25 normal individuals as control group (group3). The findings indicate that serum (TC, TG and LDL) levels were significantly elevated (
... Show MoreBy measuring Adropin, fasting blood glucose (FBG), cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in the sera of Iraqi patients with MetS and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the current study was designed to compare some crucial markers in metabolic syndrome (MetS) sera and diabetic patients (T2DM) with control. Twenty female subjects were divided into three groups: group I=40 with MetS and group II=40 with T2DM, and 40 healthy subjects were employed as a control group. Compared to the control group, Adropin levels in the Mets group and T2DM group decreased significantly (p < 0.05). In contrast, none of the patient groups (MetS and T2DM)
... Show MoreProstate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. A total of 110 Iraqi Arab individuals were included in this study; 60 individuals of them had prostate cancer with increased levels of TPSA (patients group); their age range 52-90 years. They were referred for diagnosis and treatment to the National Al-Amal Hospital for oncology in Baghdad during the period from July 2017 to October 2017. While the other 50 apparently healthy subjects were the control group, their age range similar to patients group. Sera and blood samples were collected from all patients and controls than used to assess for the level of IL-18 and DNA extraction, respectively. The polymorphisms were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-single specific
... Show MoreObjectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate serum levels of clusterin (CLU) in type 2 diabetics with and without cardiovascular disease and to explore possible correlations with insulin resistance and related progression of cardiovascular disease in Iraqi men.
Methods: Sixty-three T2DM patients, including forty-two with cardiovascular disease (CVD), were divided into three subgroups; twenty-one with myocardial infraction (MI), twenty-one with other CVD, and twenty-one without any cardiac complication. In addition, a group of twenty-one men served as healthy controls (HCs) for comparison purposes. The four groups were analyzed for parameters that included fasting serum glucose (FSG), l
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) is a metabolic disorder that influences above 450 million individuals around the world. Type 2 diabetes is a lack of insulin due to pancreatic β-cell malfunction and insulin resistance. This study aimed to detect insulin resistance using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA IR) and determined the correlation with glutathione-s-transferase (GST) activity in T2DM and neuropathy patients as a predictor of oxidative stress, which occurs when the oxidation-antioxidant equilibrium is disrupted. Reactive oxygen species causes vascular injury and a series of inflammation. In the present study, the results show there is no significant difference in diabetic patients (DM) and neuropathy patients (NU) versus healthy p
... Show MoreBackground: COVID-19 has caused a considerable number of hospital admissions in China since December 2019. Many COVID-19 patients experience signs of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and some are even in danger of dying. Objective: to measure the serum levels of D-dimer, Neutrophil-Lymphocyte count ratio (NLR), and neopterin in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 in Baghdad, Iraq. And to determine the cut-off values (critical values) of these markers for the distinction between the severe patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 and the controls. Materials and methods: In this case-control study, we collect blood from 89 subjects, 45 were severe patients hospitalized in many Baghdad medical centers who were diagnosed with COVID
... Show MoreReactive arthritis (ReA) is an incendiary joint inflammation that occurs few days to weeks after a gastrointestinal or genitourinary infection. The etiology of the disease is not well-known. Therefore, the present study included 80 females and 25 males, divided into 51 patients with reactive arthritis and 54 healthy individuals as control group. The study involved the detection of serum levels of anti-rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) as well as those of CRP and C3 in all subjects. In addition, EBV levels were detected by Real Time-PCR technique. The results showed significantly increased levels (P < 0.05) of CRP, C3 and anti-CCP Ab in ReA patients’ group compared to th
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a proangiogenic factor that exerts different effects over stem cell survival growth, apoptosis, and adhesion. Its impact on leukemogenesis has been established by many studies. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of plasma HGF activity on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients at presentation and after remission. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional prospective study of 30 newly-diagnosed, adult, and AML patients. All patients received the 7+3 treatment protocol. Patients’ clinical data were taken at presentation, and patients were followed up for 6 months to evaluate the clinical status. Plasma HGF levels were estimated by ELISA based methods in the pa
... Show MoreBackground: human paillomavirus infections (genital warts) are the most frequent sexually transmitted viral infections. a wide range of treatment options is available with different efficacy.
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of podophyllin, trichloracetic acid (TCA) in the treatment of genital warts and side effects of them.
Subjects and methods: a total of sixty patients with genital warts were randomly selected, 30 in each group, in the Department of Dermatology, medical city for a Duration of 11 months from January 2009 to December 2009 treated with 35 % podophyllin in the tincture of benzoin or 50% TCA) .Forty-eight patients were followed up for three months.
Results: wart
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