Background: Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL)of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)patients have a property of phenotypic and functional activation. Glutathione S- transferase pi (GSTπ) has been implicated in playing an important role in the initiation and progression of cellular activation.
Objectives: To determine the percentage of cellular expression of GSTπ in the lymphocytes of RA patients in comparison with controls and to explore the relation between its cellular expression and disease activity pattern.
Patients and Methods: This prospective study included46 RA patients and 17 healthy controls. Blood samples were taken and from all subjects PBL were isolated and then smeared on slides. The cellular reactivity for GSTπ was determined by immunocytochemistry technique.
Results: This study found lower expression of GSTπ in the RA patients with a statistical significant difference with control group, while no statistical difference was found in RA with high and minimum disease activity groups. No correlation was observed between GSTπ with Disease Activity Score (DAS).
Conclusion: Although the decrease in the expression of GSTπ in PBLs was pronounced in RA patients, however it doesn’t correlate with disease activity state.
Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) results from a progressive accumulation of long-lived, functionally incompetent, nonproliferating lymphocytes.
Angiogenesis is defined as the formation of new capillaries from pre-existing blood vessels and plays an important role in the progression of solid tumors as well as several hematologic malignancies like CLL.
Patients and methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study done on 68 patients with CLL compared with 15 control individuals (anemic patients), all recruited at the Medical City Teaching Laboratories from January 2005 to December 2008. The bone marrow biopsy (BMB) of each was re-examined histologically. Immunohistochemical (IHC) technique was performed on BMB sections ut
Background: It's believed that HBD-3 is involved in the tissue remodeling process of articular cartilage. Also, HBD-3 has anti-inflammatory properties. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assay human beta-defensine-3 (HBD-3) in serum from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and investigate its correlation with proinflammatory cytokines. Methods: In this case-control study, fifty-eight RA patients were aged 20–65 years, and 29 age-matched healthy subjects (HS) had no inflammatory rheumatic diseases. The disease activity score-28 joint erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) was used to measure RA activity. CRP, ACPA, HBD-3, TNF-α, and IL-1β were assessed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique (ELISA). Res
... Show MoreBackground :Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a low-grade B-lineage lymphoid malignancy. Both Ki-67 which is a large nuclear protein associated with cell proliferation and Bcl-2 which is an anti-apoptotic protein which is associated with dysregulation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway , were thoroughly investigated in many cancer patients particularly in hemopoietic malignancies .
Patients, materials and methods: This retrospective study was conducted from November 2009 to May 2010 , on fifty formaline fixed paraffin embedded blocks of CLL cases retrieved from Medical City Teaching Hospital ; their age range was 39-75 years along with twenty control cases with benign r
... Show MoreThe results shows existence of metals such as copper, iron, Cadmium, lead and zinc in most of examined samples , the highest concentration are up to (2.26, 40.82, 282.5, 31.02, 19.26, 4.34) Part per million) ppm) in pasta hot (Zer brand), Indomie with chicken, granule (Zer brand), brand (Zer brand), and rice (mahmood brand) respectively, with presence nickel in spaghetti( Zer brand), granule, Zer brand with concentration reached to 4.34 ppm and 1.06 ppm respectively.
The results of cereals group and its products show that two kinds of fungi, Aspergillus spp. and Penicillin spp. were found in rice (Mahmood brand) with numbers got to 1.5×103 Colony Forming Unit/ gram (c.f.u./g),while Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus were isola
Background: The gene responsible for encoding the protein of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) has been found to be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in different ethnic populations. But the association of +49A/G CTLA-4 polymorphism with susceptibility of RA among Iraqi Arab populations has not yet been determined. Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight patients were examined, 67 of them were males (mean age 54.71 ± 10.4 years), while 167 were examined for the control group, of whom 64 were males and the rest were females. CTLA-4 DNA genotyping was carried on to determine the +49 A/G (rs231775) polymorphism using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Enzyme-linked immuno
... Show MoreObjectives: To study the prevalence of rs1799964 (-1031 T/C) and rs361525 (- 238 G/A) SNPs and their effect on the disease activity, severity, and cytokines production in newly diagnosed Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Patients and Methods: sixty-three patients were diagnosed by a specialist physician while attending the rheumatology unit and twenty control participated. The inflammatory markers were measured and PCR amplification and sequencing were performed to demonstrate TNF-α SNPs. Results: Regarding (-1031 C/T) SNP, the TT genotype and allele C were significantly present in the controls, and the CT genotype was distributed significantly in the patients. The TT genotype was mostly distributed in the mild-moder
... Show MoreBackground: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukins play important roles in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Genetic research has been employed to find many of the missing connections between genetic risk variations and causal genetic components. Objective: The goal of this study is to look at the genetic variations of TNF-α and interleukins in Iraqi RA patients and see how they relate to disease severity or response to biological therapy. Method: Using specific keywords, the authors conducted a systematic and comprehensive search to identify relevant Iraqi studies examining the genetic variations of TNF-α and interleukins in Iraqi RA patients and how they relate to disease severity or response to biolo
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis (AR) is one of the chronic diseases resulting in many complications such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Any change in the lipid profiles and myocardial markers indicates cardiovascular disease risk, so this study is designed to monitor the pattern of lipid profiles and myocardial markers in newly diagnosed RA patients. Blood samples were collected from 70 Iraqi patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (male and female) and 30 healthy served as control. These individuals were aged 35-65 years. The serum samples were obtained to determine myocardial markers; included troponin, creatinine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase GOT; and lipid profiles; such as choleste
... Show MoreAbstract
Background: A significant proportion of patients with ischemic heart disease have been associated with peripheral arterial disease, yet it is still underestimated by our health system as many of patients are asymptomatic and this condition remains under diagnosed and therefore undertreated.
Objective: To study prevalence of peripheral arterial disease of the lower limbs in patient with acute coronary syndrome and its association with certain risk factors.
Method: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in the coronary care unit at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital from the 1st of January 2016 to the 1st of Novem
... Show MoreBackground: About 10-15% of population HBV infection becomes chronic, and 85-90% are resolved. In Iraq, HBs-Ag assay by ELISA is only mandatory test for detection of HBV infection in blood donors. Anti- HBc and anti-HBs were not detectable in their sera.
Objective: To investigate the distribution of serological patterns for HBV who were HBsAg negative.
Material and method: Between July 18, 2011 to December 25, 2011, 10ml of blood samples were collected from National blood Transfusion Center donors, Baghdad, for 25782 individuals (25294 male, 488 female), mean age (20-65)years. HbsAg positive sera excluded (185), and final number of donors included in the
study was 25597 HbsAg negative.
Result: The data sho