Background: Oral mucositis is regarded as one of the major complications of radiation therapy especially in patients with head and neck cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of glutamine in preventing or minimizing the development of mucositis of the oral cavity. Subjects and methods: Forty-six participants were randomly selected amongst those who were planned to receive radiation therapy for head and neck region cancers. They were randomly divided into two groups of 23 subjects, one group received glutamine and the second group received a placebo. Results: Glutamine had a statistically significant effect in reducing the occurrence and/or severity of oral mucositis in the treated patients compared to patients in the control group. Gender and age had no effect in the development or severity of oral mucositis in the studied patients. Conclusions: It can be concluded that glutamine can be used effectively to prevent or minimize oral mucositis amongst cancer patients who receive radiation therapy.
Severe periodontitis is ranked as the sixth most prevalent disease affecting humankind, with an estimated 740 million people affected worldwide. The diagnosis of periodontal diseases mainly relies upon assessment of conventional clinical parameters. However, these parameters reflect past, rather than current, clinical status or future disease progression and, likely, outcome of periodontal treatment. Specific and sensitive biomarkers for periodontal diseases have been examined widely to address these issues and some biomarkers have been translated as point-of-care (PoC) tests. The aim of this review was to provide an update on PoC tests for use in the diagnosis and management of periodontal diseases. Among the PoC tests developed so
... Show MoreSpices are natural substances taken from special plants and have a different taste when added to food and some of them have great benefits for health and body. These plants vary from country to country depending on the type of soil and how they are grown and this affects their quality. In this study, the specific activity of 40K, 238U and 232Th series and 137Cs in some selected natural food spices commonly used in Iraq kitchen were determined using gamma spectrometry and the ingested doses via food consumption were also assessed. The average specific activity of 40K, 238<
Vitiligo is a common depigmenting skin disorder classified as an autoimmune ailment. It is linked to immune mechanisms, oxidative stress, and disturbances in the cellular environment. Among the factors contributing to histological changes, proteolytic enzymes such as collagenase stand out, due to their role in degrading components of the extracellular matrix. Prolidase is a key enzyme in collagen metabolism, involved in the breakdown of proline-rich peptides. Objective: This study aims to investigate the mechanism of collagen decline in Iraqi vitiligo patients, prolidase activity and basic homeostasis to understand their roles in disease progression. This study was conducted as a cross-sectional comparative study, and 150 p
... Show MoreThe treatment of migraine headache targets the neurovascular mechanism and involves the use of serotonin receptor antagonists. Some of these drugs are used for the treatment of acute attacks; while others are effective as prophylactic measures to decrease the duration and frequency of attacks. Pizotifen, a 5-HTA antagonist, is one of the prophylactic drugs for which the clinical use resulted in low outcomes in reducing migraine symptoms. Melatonin, a serotonin derived neurohormone, was reported to exert many functions like sleep induction, anti-inflammatory, neurovascular regulation, cytoprotection and modulation of neurotransmitter release. In the view of the involvement of serotonin in the pathophysiology of migraine a
... Show MoreBackground: Oral pyogenic granuloma (PG) is a clinicopathological entity that could develop due to the reaction to a variety of stimuli, such as low-grade local irritation, traumatic damage, and hormonal stimulation. There are two histopathological types of pyogenic granuloma; lobular type -capillary hemangioma (LCH) and non-lobular type; with PG,LCH has highly vascular, diffuse capillary growth while non- lobular variant mimicking granulation tissue with heavily inflammated stroma. The study aims were to review the clinical and histopathological spectrum of an oral pyogenic granuloma from different intraoral sites in order to avoid diagnostic pitfalls associated with similar morphological lesions and to determine
... Show MoreBackground: Squamous cell carcinoma is a disease of elderly peopleand it is uncommon in people with less than 40 years old; however many literatures revealed that tumor developing in patients younger than forty years appears more aggressive at the time of diagnosis. The purpose of the present study was to focus on the clincopathological features of the oral SCC in different age groups. Material and methods: In this study thirty five cases of paraffin embedded tissue blocks of oral squamous cell carcinoma were studied. The age range was from 16 to 80 years. The clinicopathological data were recorded for evaluating the tumor characters according to age of patients. Results : The age was not significantly correlated to the clinicopathological
... Show MoreAdvancements and modernizations introduced into the educational and pedagogical systems have significantly impacted teaching processes and how subjects are presented and explained to students. The focus has shifted to how learners interact with the material they need to learn, providing sufficient opportunities for learning and granting them freedom and self-confidence to achieve learning objectives. The research problem stems from the researcher's experience as a lecturer in the College of Physical Education and Sports Science, particularly in teaching basketball. She observed that some instructors were deficient in using the most effective teaching methods. The researcher formulated her research question based on these observations: "What
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