Background: Chromogranin A is a useful tumor marker for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) diagnosis & follow-up, Octreotide (somatostatin-long acting repeatable (SAS-LAR)) is an established treatment for NETs. Studies regarding the relation between response to SAS-LAR & the change in Chromogranin A (CgA) plasma level are still lacking.
Objectives: To determine the association between the using of Octreotide (SAS-LAR) and CgA level on time sequence & clinical status.
Patients & methods: a prospective observational study included 38 neuroendocrine patients in The Oncology Teaching Hospital/medical city complex/Baghdad, started at September 2013 till May 2016; assessing their circulating chromogranin A (CgA) plasma levels on multiple occasions(0,2 and 4 months) by ELISA technique and its correlation with response to somatostatin analogues (SAS-LAR) in those patients.
Results: the study recruited 38 neuroendocrine patients. 21 (55%) of them were males, 23 (60%) patients were older than 50 years old & 17 (44%) had metastasis to different sites. Somatostatin analogues (octreotide 30mg) was administered to 20 out of 38 (52.6%) studied patients. Serial CgA tests were performed in (17 out of 20) patients used SAS-LAR, with a change in mean value from (225.3 U/L) pre-using the agent to (17.5 U/L) two months after its use & to (8.7 U/L) four months after its use (p=0.009, p=0.002 respectively) while the change in mean of CgA level was from (205.9 U/L) to (200.9 U/L) in 10 patients who did not use Octreotide (p=0.2).Also results showed that no statistically significant difference in mean value of CgA pre & two months after using Octreotide with regard to grade of the tumor.
Conclusions: Plasma CgA is a reliable marker for NETs (regarding diagnosis, prognosis and response to treatment including somatostatin analogues).All patients with NETs should undergo a baseline plasma CgA level at diagnosis. Serial assessment of circulating CgA could be done for NET patients when there is baseline elevation of CgA level in circulation
Origanum majorana (Majorana hortensis), an evergreen herbaceous plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family, has been well known for being used for gastrointestinal, cardiac, respiratory, rheumatologic and many other illnesses, but in wounds management hasn’t been qualified scientifically yet. The goal of the study was to evaluate the wound healing properties of sterols in n-hexane and phenols in ethyl acetate extract fractions of the Iraqi Origanum majorana L aerial parts by contrasting their wound healing abilities with those of commercially available MEBO ointment in a rat excised wound repair model. At various periods, the size of the wounds was measured and skin tissue samples were taken for histopathology. When compared to positive and
... Show MoreIn this research, the X-ray diffraction pattern was used, which was obtained experimentally after preparation of barium oxide powder. A program was used to analyze the X-ray diffraction lines of barium oxide nanoparticles, and then the particle size was calculated by using the Williamson-Hall method, where it was found that the value of the particle size is 25.356 nm. Also, the dislocation density was calculated, which is equal to1.555 x1015 (lines/nm2), and the value of the unit cell number was also calculated, as it is equal to 23831.
Dysregulation of matrix metalloproteinases-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitors of
matrix metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) may contribute to the development of
cardiovascular diseases in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. The aim of this
study was to determine the effects of chronic hyperglycemia on serum
concentrations of MMP-9 and TIMP-1of T2DM patients without dyslipidemia (one
of atherosclerosis risk factors) and with duration less than 5 years in comparison
with T2DM patients with dyslipidemia and with duration more than 10 years and
controls. Also to investigate if serum levels of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 could be
potential markers for early detection of the development of cardiovascular
complications in T2DM pati
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The adsorption ability of Iraqi initiated calcined granulated montmorillonite to adsorb of 4-(4-Nitrobenzeneazo) 3-Aminobenzoic Acid from aqueous solutions has been investigated through columnar method. The azo dye adsorption found to be dependent on adsorbent dosage, initial concentration and contact time. All columnar experiments were carried out at three different pH values (5.5, 7and 8) using buffer solutions at flow rate of (3 drops/ min.), at room temperature (25±2) °C. The experimental isotherm data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin equations. The monolayer adsorption capacity is 6.4066 mg Azo ligand per 1g calcined Montmorillonite. The experiments showed that highest removal rate 90.5 % for azo dye at pH 5.5.The
... Show MoreAdontomerus amygdali (Boucek, 1958) (Hymenoptera, Torymidae) is recorded for the first time in Iraq, parasitizing almond fruits wasp, Eurytoma amygdali Enderlein, 1907 (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae) infesting fruits of almond trees Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D. A. Webb (=Amygdalus communis Linn.) growing in Koysinjaq district, Erbil, Iraq. A short morphological description of this species is presented.
The current research aims to identify the level of impact of strategic improvisation as an independent variable on organizational health. The dependent variable in the Department of Health of Dhi Qar to reach appropriate mechanisms in order to reach appropriate mechanisms and recommendations proposed to contribute to the achievement of organizational health in the Department of Health of Dhi Qar (the research department) and based on the importance of the subject of research in government institutions and the important and service role of the Department of Health of Dhi Qar in the Iraqi society. The descriptive analytical approach was adopted in the completion of the research based on the opinions of the leaders in the surveyed depa
... Show MoreTwo local fish Himri Carasobarbus luteus (Heckel, 1843) and Hishni Liza abu (Heckel, 1843) were stained with Alizarin Red and featured some anatomical qualities which cleared the difference of the muscular and skeletal fabric for each fish. Since clear Histologic differences appeared in these two species, it was intended from this study the possibility of adopting a diagnosis between local fish species by staining bones and tissues.
The researchers have a special interest in studying Markov chains as one of the probability samples which has many applications in different fields. This study comes to deal with the changes issue that happen on budget expenditures by using statistical methods, and Markov chains is the best expression about that as they are regarded reliable samples in the prediction process. A transitional matrix is built for three expenditure cases (increase ,decrease ,stability) for one of budget expenditure items (base salary) for three directorates (Baghdad ,Nineveh , Diyala) of one of the ministries. Results are analyzed by applying Maximum likelihood estimation and Ordinary least squares methods resulting
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