Human beta-defenses (hBDs) are antimicrobial peptides involved in innate immune protection, and their association with the risk of respiratory allergy has been proposed. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate this association in allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma (AS) of Iraqi patients. A case-control study was conducted to investigate serum levels of hBD1, hBD2, hBD3, and hBD4 in 52 AR and 60 AS patients and 61 healthy controls (HC). The hBDs were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results revealed that median levels of hBD1, hBD2, and hBD3 were significantly elevated in the serum of AR and AS patients compared with HC (p < 0.01). Levels of hBD4 were also elevated in AR and AS patients but the differences were not significant. The levels of hBDs showed no significant differences between AR and AS patients. Age, gender, symptoms, and disease duration of patients influenced some of these variations. Logistic regression analysis indicated that hBD3 was the most important marker associated with the risk of AR and AS, and the estimated Odds ratios were 25.31 (95% confidence interval: 2.97-215.78; p = 0.012) and 32.20 (95% confidence interval: 2.49-415.89; pc = 0.032), respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that hBD3 occupied a very good area under the curve in AR and AS (0.83 and 0.84, respectively). In conclusion, the role of hBDs in the pathogenesis of AR and AS was indicated. In this context, hBD3 was the most important, and its association with the risk of developing AR and AS was suggested.
Background: Modifications of life style are often critically important to adequately control excising hypertension.
Objective: :to determine the source of information regarding hypertension and lifestyle modification practices in the management of hypertension in a sample of Iraqi hypertensive patients.
Type of the study: Across-sectional study.:
Methods: The study was conducted over a period of two months during November and December 2015 at Primary Health Care center of Baghdad Al-GidedaAwaland Bab Al Mudhum primary health care centers. The sample included 219 hypertensive patients (102 females and 117males). They were subjected to a
... Show MoreBackground: Radioactive iodine-131 therapy is highly effective in treating patients with hyperthyroidism. An ablative dose is preferred by a number of endocrinologists, and, a fixed dose protocol seems to be better than a calculated dose in real practice.
Objective: To check for hypothyroidism in hyperthyroid patients one year after RAI therapy, comparing between the results of high ablative versus usual dosages of RAI-131.
Methods: This study included 174 hyperthyroid patients, 101 males and 73 females, divided into 2 groups, the first consisted of 162 patients given a usual fixed dose of RAI while the second consisted of 12 patients given a high fixed ablati
... Show MoreBackground: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mostly involves the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is associated with a decreased quality of life. Biological medicines such as infliximab and its biosimilar are the mainstay treatments for active ankylosing spondylitis.
Objective: The study objective was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic study comparing the cost-effectiveness of the reference infliximab with its biosimilar in ankylosing spondylitis patients visiting public hospitals.
Subjects and Method: This is a two-center pharmacoeconomic study performed at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, which s
... Show MoreThe study focuses on the problem that Iraq is approaching an increasing rate of literacy;the available data refers to a rate of (18% -19%). In addition to the fact that the generalcurrent role of the programs directed to literacy is not actually effective enough to limit the expansion of this rate.
The importance of this study highlights the fact that the Iraqi universities are an important tributary among the tributaries of human development, especially in spreading the education of the voluntary work in literacy field and confirming the connection between the students and their society and their role in solving one of the prominent challenges that face the development, i.e., literacy.
<
... Show MoreBackground: To evaluate the bony supports of the teeth adjacent to the area of cleft in patient with unilateral cleft lip and palate and to compare these measurements with the measurements of the same teeth in non-cleft side by using CBCT. Materials and methods: The CBCT scans of 30 patients having cleft lip( unilateral) and palate(unilateral), were analyzed and the measurements of the alveolar bony support for teeth that are adjacent to the cleft area were measured with those teeth located on opposite side (non- clef) side. For each tooth, the measurements will taken for the distance between the( cementoenamel junction) (CEJ) and the bony crest (AC) at the( buccal area) was measured and the thickness of the buccal plate At zero, one, tw
... Show MoreIn this study, Iraqi bentonite taken from Trefawi area/ Al-Anbar region province/ Iraq, was activated to enhance its rheological and filtration properties and increase its quality by decreasing the non-clay minerals (impurities), in order to be used in Iraqi oil companies instead of commercial bentonite. Bentonite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and particle size distribution (PSD) before and after activation to show the effects on its mineral and chemical properties. The rheological properties of bentonite were enhanced by using different weights (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8 gm) of sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃), whereas the filtration properties were enhanced by using different weights (0.5
... Show MoreAn analytical and clinical study has been applied for measure the bioavailability of Zinc in serum of twenty adults healthy volunteers, using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS) at 213.9 nm. The calibration graph is linear in the ranges of 0.25-1.5 μg.mL-1 with correlation coefficient (R) 0.09996)μg.mL1-and molar absorpitivites 22957.76(L.mol1-cm-1.The concentration of Zinc determined in serum of all volunteers before and after administered orally a tablet of 50 mg zinc sulphate, produced by Samara drugs company (SDI). All data were subjected to statistical analysis by calculating accuracy, precision in addition to other parameters. The results indicate that the average maximum concentration (C-max ± SD) of blood zinc was 0.
... Show MoreThe main purpose of this research aims to measure the role of banking strategies marketing in achieving competitive advantage within a sample of Iraqi private banks, and in order to achieve this purpose, the researcher depend on number of sober research approaches which consisted of descriptive, analytical and practical methodologies, to strengthen concepts addressed by the research, size of the sample was (56) individuals which makes up the senior leadership represented (Chairman and members of the Board of Directors, Commissioners and their assistants and department heads) while the primary tool for research (questionnaire), which has been designed based on a number of solemn scientific metrics, after adapted these metrics commen
... Show MoreThe cervical cancer considered as the fourth female prevalent disease worldwide, it was once the most extensively recognized female cancer two in many low-income countries. Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) exhibits broader tropism and can cause infection in most of the human body organs. Although, human cytomegalovirus HCMV is not yet considered an oncogenic virus, there is increased evidences of HCMV infection implication in malignant diseases of different cancer types. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of CMV infection on the development of HPV16 positive cervical cancinoma. The current retrospective study enrolled a number of paraffinized cervical cancer tissues .included 30 cervical carcinomatous tissues and 10 biopsies from an
... Show More