Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by joint inflammation, involvement of exocrine salivary and lacrimal glands may occur as extra-articular mani¬festations in this disease. This study aimed to provide evidence of altered in function and composition of salivary gland in patients with rheumatoid arthritis by determine salivary flow rate and some biochemical parameters(total protein, amylase, peroxidase) and to investigate the relationship between disease activity and changes in function and composition of salivary gland. Materials and Methods: Fifty five patients with RA (7 males and 48 females) were enrolled in this study with age range (20-69) years. The patients were separated into two groups in proportion to their salivation: normal salivation group (37) and hypo salivation group (18). Thirty five (9 male and 26 female) apparently healthy volunteers were also participated in the study. Three ml of unstimulated saliva was collected from all patients and control to determine salivary flow rate on one hand and salivary total protein, α-amylase and peroxidase by colorimetric method on other hand. Results:Resultsshowed that there is highly significant decrease (P< 0.01; p< 0.001) in the median salivary levels of (flow rate, total protein, α-amylase and peroxidase) among RA patients when compared to control. There was highly significant reduction (P< 0.01) in median salivary levels of flow rate, total protein, α-amylase and peroxidase in two study groups (normal salivation and hypo salivation) as compared to that in control group. Also the levels of all these parameters (sialometry and sialochemistry) were significantly decrease (P =0.00) in RA patients with hypo salivation as compared to that in patients with normal salivation. There was strong positive correlation between total protein and salivary flow rate (r= 0.651, P=0.000), in one hand, and on the other hand, there was strong positive correlation between α-amylase and both salivary flow rate (r=623, P= 0.000) and total protein r=658, P=0.000). Conclusion: These findings indicate that the changes in salivary composition may represent involvement of salivary glands in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
One of the key molecules in the conversion of sphingosine to sphingosine-1- phosphate is SPHK-1, also known as Sphingosine Kinase 1 (SPHK-1). Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a lipid that acts as a signaling molecule and plays an essential role in inflammatory and immunomodulatory responses. S1P has recently been identified as a mediator and a biomarker in inflammatory bone diseases such as osteoporosis and inflammatory osteolysis based on the biological effects of S1P in osteoclastic and osteoblastic cells and immune cells. According to recent research, S1P may play a role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis, an inflammatory bone-destructive condition. This study assesses the salivary level SPHK-1 in periodontitis and its correlat
... Show MoreThis study accomplished to determine levels of salivary Alpha-Amylase (sAA) in Iraqi children with positive family history of hypertension, Hypertension was believed to be a risk factor in 18% of all deaths in 2010 (9.4 million globally). This study included one hundred children from primary school aged 6 to 13 years, with a focus in child welfare and family health history, with an emphasis on close relatives' hypertension reputations, with hypertension close relatives record categories identified by 1st and 2nd relatives, after documenting the full details, the burden was assessed for the children's families. The influence of age is confirmed by a correlation study of our own numbers, which shows a positive correlation. The disparity betwe
... Show MoreBackground: Lymphomas are group of diseases caused by malignant lymphocytes that accumulate in lymph nodes and caused the characteristics lymphadenopathy. Occasionally, they may spill over into blood or infiltrate organs outside the lymphoid tissue. The major subdivision of lymphomas is into Hodgkin lymphoma and non–Hodgkin lymphoma and this is based on the histologic presence of Reed-Sternberg cells in Hodgkin lymphoma. Salivary immunoglobulin A is the prominent immunoglobulin and is considered to be the main specific defense mechanism in oral cavity. The aim of this study was to determine the level of salivary immunoglobulin A in lymphoma patients before and after chemotherapy treatment. Subjects, materials and methods: The study i
... Show MoreBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects mainly the synovial membranes and articular structures and is characterized by chronic, systemic inflammation involving multiple joints.Being a synovial joint, the Temporomandibular Joint is subject to the same disorders affecting other synovial joints, including RA.Beside it was considered as a specific serological marker for diagnosing RA disease ,antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide have proven to be associated with joints destruction, though; it may play a potential role in the prediction of the disease severity. Materials and Methods: Sixty nine individuals (69) were enrolled in this study, forty nine (49) were patients diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, a
... Show MoreIt was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 fem
... Show MoreBackground: The present study aimed to assess the distribution, prevalence, severity of malocclusion in Baghdad governorate in relation to gender and residency Materials and Methods: A multi-stage stratified sampling technique was used in this investigation to make the sample a representative of target population. The sample consisted of 2700 (1349 males and 1351 females) intermediate school students aged 13 years representing 3% of the total target population. A questionnaire was used to determine the perception of occlusion and orthodontic treatment demand of the students and the assessment procedures for occlusal features by direct intraoral measurement using veriner and an instrument to measure the rotated and displaced teeth. Results a
... Show MoreOral carcinoma is the 6th most common cancer in the world. MicroRNAs are small non-coding single stranded RNAs. They have been shown to be capable of altering mRNA expression; thus some are oncogenic or tumor suppressive in nature. The salivary microRNA-31 has been proposed as a sensitive marker for oral malignancy since it was abundant in saliva more than in plasma. A total of 55 whole saliva samples were collected from 35 cases diagnosed with OC their ages and gender matched with 20 healthy subjects. TaqManq RT-PCR was performed for RNA samples. Mean age was 52.23+13.73 years in cases (range:17-70 years) with male predominance represented 69%. Risk of smoking and alcoholism was highly significant. The median fold change of miR-31 was sign
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to determine serum IL-33 levels and atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) .Forty patients with moderate activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and forty healthy individuals as control group were enrolled in this study, age (25-45) years. Disease activity was assessed in patients by erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),C-reactive protein (CRP) and rheumatoid factor(RF) .Also lipid profile(cholesterol TC, triglyceride TG, low density lipoprotein LDL-C, very low density lipoprotein VLDL and high density lipoprotein HDL-C), AIP, and IL-33 were determined in all subjects. The results revealed a significant increase in ESR,CRP and RF , TG, VLDL,AIP and IL-33,while is a significant decrease in HDL concentration in patients gr
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