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.
Inflammatory bowel disease includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic, progressive relapsing disease of gastrointestinal tract that require long-term treatment or maintenance therapy. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an important factor that affects compliance of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is a prerequisite for better compliance. The aim of the current study was to investigate and assess beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with inflammatory bowel disease and to determine possible association between these beliefs and some patient-specific factors.
This study is a cross-sectional study carried out o
... Show MoreKlebsiella pneumoniae causes lethal nosocomial infections, mostly affecting patients with severe burns. More than 80% of its isolates have shown resistance to routinely used antibiotics in parallel with increased infection rates. The study aimed to determine the molecular typing and genetic relatedness of K. pneumoniae. Therefore, 20 multidrug resistant (MDR) K. pneumoniae already isolated from infected burned wounds in two major hospitals of Al-Kut city east Iraq were subjected to genotyping analysis. The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used along with three oligonucleotide primers (P13, OPX-04, and OPY-01). The amplicons’ patterns of the electrophoresis-gel were analyzed by the
... Show MoreBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder that involves autoantibodies attacking and weakening joints. RA is characterized by leukocyte (Monocyte, Lymphocyte mast cell .etc) infiltrations into the synovial compartment leading to inflammation in the synovial membrane. Synovitis leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, matrix metalloproteinases, chemokines, complement proteins, and growth factors. Objective: The current study pointed to verify the diagnostic values of interleukin -17 A and interleukin -18 in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and the effect of treatment thereon. Study subjects and methods: A total of 88 samples with RA were selected from the health clinics of AL-Yarmouk
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was investigating the correlation between elevation of Prolactin levels and the increase of the concentrations of total sialic acids. The study was performed on 149 women consisted of 93 infertile hyperprolactinimic women (patients), age ranged16-38 years old, and 56 normoprolactinemic women as a control group, 18-37 years old. Serum prolactin (PRL) and gonadotroph hormones (Follicle stimulating hormone FSH and Luteinizing hormone LH) were measured using enzymatic immunoassay (EIA) method, resorcinol method for serum total sialic acids (SIA). Patients were divided into four groups, each group represented the level of prolactin of infertile women as follow: G1= (21-30), G2= (31-40), G3= (41-50), and G4= (51-60) ng/mL. S
... Show MoreAround 65 million individuals suffer from epilepsy worldwide, and when it is not properly treated, it is linked to higher rates of physical harm and mortality. Due to the requirement for long‐term therapy and the side effects of many medications, medication compliance is a significant issue. The purpose of this review was to summarize the findings of previous studies examining the quality of life (QOL), adherence, patient education, and medication knowledge, as well as the impact of a pharmacist‐led educational intervention. Additionally, to find out if these studies benefit epileptic patients, to find the appropriate method used to help them in all aspects of their lives, and to use these in future studies. A systematic and comprehensi
... Show MoreDyslexia is a learning disability in which people face difficulty reading though they are intelligent and have motivation for reading. Therefore; it impacts the portion of the brain responsible for processing language. Such a condition compromises the learning efficiency of the affected person, which generally gets unnoticed. Even affected children are unaware of their state. The study investigates the knowledge and awareness of dyslexia among teachers of English in Iraqi primary schools. this study has three objectives: (i) To investigate the amount of awareness and knowledge among the primary school teachers of English in Baghdad City about dyslexia.; (ii) To examine how English teachers’ awareness of dyslexia is affected by the
... Show MoreHuman herpes virus-8 (HHV-8) infection has increased recently in Arabic countries. HHV-8 in healthy persons does not necessarily cause life-threatening infection, and however, it causes a more severe infection among immunocompromised patients. The distribution of HHV-8 genotypes varies according to ethnicity and depends on the geographic region prior rapid development of global travel. A cross sectional prospective study included a hundred healthy blood donor samples with a mean age of (36.60±10.381), 81% were positive for molecular detection of HHV-8 DNA. PCR results for HHV-8 were strongly related with risk factors such as the number of sexual relations, previous surgeries, blood transfusion, dental operation, and the number of b
... Show MoreHepatitis B infection is a prominent infectious disease caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV), which infect liver and is considered as the main cause of liver cirrhosis, fibrosis and liver cancer worldwide. A pro-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin32 is believed to have a role in chronic HBV infections. Since its role in CHB infections is remain unclear, this study was done to detect IL-32 gene expression in CHB patients in order to identify its exact role. A total number of 110 blood samples were collected from Gastroenterology and Hepatology Teaching Hospital in Baghdad Medical City from CHB patients for both males and females with different age groups according to the research ethics form then sent to Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL),
... Show MoreBackground: Colonic cancer is a very common disease world-wide being fourth most common cancer characterized by abnormal proliferation of the inner wall of colon then taking full colon wall thickness then spreading to surrounding lymph nodes and tissues and finally distant metastasis. It is one of most complicated diseases with debilitating symptoms which becomes more sever , prominent and specific with advancing stage with high percent of fatality and relatively short survival if diagnosed late or if left untreated.Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of serum CEA & sAPRIL levels in the diagnosis and screening of colon cancer and their validity for this.Patients and methods: This study was applied on 35 patients with colonic can
... Show More