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.
Background: Prolactin is a hormone, as well as a cytokine which is synthesized and secreted from the anterior pituitary gland and various extra pituitary sites including immune cells under control of a superdistal promoter that contains a single nucleotide polymorphism -1149 G/T. Rheumatoid Arthritis has been associated with increased serum prolactin levels.Objectives: To investigate the association of the extra pituitary -1149 G/T promoter polymorphism among Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients and prolactin levels.Methods: We tested 73 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 40 healthy individuals. The DNA samples were genotyped using the Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction fragment Length Polymorphism method and the levels of prolacti
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This study aims to investigate the possible role of circulating microRNA-142-3p (miR-142-3p) in the
development of graves disease (GD) and its association with the antibody directed against thyroid
stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR-Ab) production in patients with GD. Forty patients with positive
TSHR-Ab enrolled in this study were divided ,based on treatment, into (22 untreated (newly diagnosed) and
18 treated patients) and based on family history (30 with positive family history and 10 with negative family
history). In addition to forty healthy subjects with sex and age matching as a control group. The expression
level of circulating miR-142-3p was determined by two steps reverse transcription polymerase c
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The infection with H. Pylori stimulates a signaling cascade that causes the generation of Cytokines and provokes Oxidative stress that is involved in the chronic inflammatory response leads to Gastric cancers. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produce 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), the persistent oxidative DNA damage product. The study objective was to assess if there was a link between inflammatory cytokine levels and the presence of Oxidative DNA damage in Gastric tumor patients. In addition, evaluation of the diagnostic and prognostic value of Oxidative DNA damage and inflammatory cytokine biomarkers for Stomach cancers is being conducted. The study was accomplished on medically diagnosed Stomach cancer patients before any form of trea
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Chitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42
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Background: Diabetic patients have been reported to be more susceptible to gingivitis and periodontitis than healthy subjects. Many intracellular enzymes like (alkaline phosphatase- (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase- (AST) and alanine aminotransferase- (ALT) that are released outside cells into the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and saliva after destruction of periodontal tissue during periodontitis. This study was conducted to determine the periodontal health status and the levels of salivary enzymes (ALP, AST and ALT) of the study and control groups and to correlate the levels of these enzymes with clinical periodontal parameters in each study group. Subjects, Materials and Methods: One hundred subjects were enrolled in the study, with a
... Show MoreBackground: Salivary biomarkers, a non-invasive alternative method to serum and tissue based biomarkers and it is consider as an effective modality for early diagnosis. Salivary microRNA 21, a nucleotide biomarker, was reported to increase in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. This study was conducted to measure the fold change of microRNA 21 in stimulated saliva and to study its association with smoking and occurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and methods: A 20 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma who used to be smokers was included in addition to 40 control subjects (20 smokers and 20 non- smokers health looking subjects). Stimulated saliva was collected under standardized condition. Salivary microRNA 21 wa
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