Background: 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, and twenty (20) were healthy control subjects. Blood and saliva samples were taken from each subject for immunological analysis of Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptides antibodies by ELISA. Each patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis disease was examined by means of Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temromandibular Disorders for the assessment of tempromandibularjoint involvement. Results: Frequency of positive serum Anti-CCP antibodies was higher in rheumatoid arthritis patients compared to healthy controls (p=0.000).Tempromandibular joint clinical findings were bilaterally involved except joint sounds, sometimes; it was unilateral. Chronic rheumatoid arthritis patients associated with higher prevalence of tempromandibular joint disorders than newly diagnosed RA, except limited mouth opening which were prevalent in newly diagnosed RA patients, (p=0.012) was significant.Positive serum Anti-CCP rheumatoid arthritis patients were associated with higher frequency of tempromandibular joint disorderscompared with RA patients with negative serum Anti-CCP, a non-significant difference was found. Conclusions:Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide antibodies are considered as a biomarker of inflammation and disease activity. Tempromandibular joint disorders are frequently involved in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Rheumatoid arthritis patients with positive serum Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptides antibodies associated with higher frequency of tempromandibular joint disorders.
Atrial fibrillation is associates with elevated risk of stroke. The simplest stroke risk assessment schemes are CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc score. Aspirin and oral anticoagulants are recommended for stroke prevention in such patients.
The aim of this study was to assess status of CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores in Iraqi atrial fibrillation patients and to report current status of stroke prevention in these patients with either warfarin or aspirin in relation to these scores.
This prospective cross-sectional study was carried out at Tikrit, Samarra, Sharqat, Baquba, and AL-Numaan hospitals from July 2017 to October 2017. CHADS2
... Show MoreBackground: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are said to be inherited in a multifactorial fashion, i.e. genetic-environmental interaction. Maternal nutritional deficiencies had long been reported to cause NTDs, especially folate deficiency during early pregnancy. More attention had been paid to the exact mechanism by which this deficiency state causes these defects in the developing embryo. The most significant of all researches was that connecting reduced folate and increased homocysteine level in maternal serum on one hand and the risk of developing a NTD baby on the other hand. Objectives : to determine the significance of homocysteine level in Iraqi mothers who gave birth to babies with NTDs as compared to normal controls. Patients, Materials
... Show MoreThe immune infertility caused by anti-sperm antibodies (ASAs) represented about 10–20% of infertility among the couples. The ASAs interfere with sperm parameters such as sperm motility and sperm ability to penetrate cervical mucus, sperm-oocyte binding, and fertilization and embryo development. Objectives: The present study designed to assess semen analysis, presence of ASAs and DNA fragmentation index as well as correlation within these parameters in normzoospermic Iraqi subjects Patients, Materials, and Methods: A total number of Iraqi subjects (116) with range of age (20-51) years and their mean duration of infertility (4.70 ± 2.77). Seminal fluid for macroscopic and microscopic assessments done according to WHO 2010 criteria. The
... Show MoreThe gastrointestinal system is one of the many organs in the body that have been affected by the new viral illness known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To find out the GIT symptoms are into patients with Covid-19 and how they correspond with the severity of the illness. At the Al-Shifaa facility, 172 patients infected with COVID-19 participated in our study. A clinical examination, laboratory tests (CRP, D.Dimer, and serum ferritin), a chest CT scan, and a medical history were performed on each patient. The severity of the illness and other factors were taken into consideration while evaluating the gastrointestinal symptoms. Data collection from 172 patients, 91 patients infected with COVID-19 infection, 91 patients (52.9%) had GIT
... Show MoreBackground: Significant numbers of patients with spinal tuberculosis (TB), especially in developing countries, still present late after disease onset with severe neurological deficits.
Objective:This study was conducted to assess the outcome of surgery in patients with tuberculosis of the spine with motor deficits.
Type of the study: Retrospective study.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data obtained in all the patients with severe motor deficits due to spinal TB admitted to and surgically treated in four hospitals in Baghdad/Iraq during the period from January 2012 to January 2014. History, examination, imaging, histological, postoperative, a
... Show MoreThis work aims to detect the associations of C-peptide and the homeostasis model assessment of beta-cells function (HOMA2-B%) with inflammatory biomarkers in pregnant-women in comparison with non-pregnant women. Sera of 28 normal pregnant women at late pregnancy versus 27 matched age non-pregnant women (control), were used to estimate C-peptide, triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxin (T4) by Enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA), fasting blood sugar (FBS) by automatic analyzer Biolis 24i, hematology-tests by hematology analyzer and the calculation of HOMA2-B% and homeostasis model assessment of insulin sensitivity (HOMA2-S%) by using C-peptide values instead of insulin. The comparisons, correlations, regression analysis tests were perfo
... Show MoreBackground: Benign Prostate Hypertrophy(BPH)is a common urological problem worldwide which is defined as denomatous hyperplasia of the periurethralpart of prostate gland that occurs especially in men over 50 years old and that tend to obstruct urination by constriction the urethra Objectives: The study was aimed to investigate the level of Malondialdehyde (MDA), Nitric Oxide (NO) and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) as an antioxidant, besides other factors such as the level of Lipids Profile (Total Chlosterol (TC), High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), Very Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (VLDL-C), and Triglyceride (TG))in patients suffer from BPH . Methods: In this study ;clinical ,spec
... Show MoreBackground: Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic disease characterized by low bone mass and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue, resulting in an increased risk of fractures and has touched rampant proportions. Osteocalcin, one of the osteoblast-specific proteins, showed that its functions as a hormone improves glucose metabolism and reduces fat mass ratio. This study is aimed to estimate the osteocalcin and glucose level in blood serum of osteoporotic postmenopausal Women with and without Type 2 Diabetes.Materials and methods: 60 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis divided into two groups depending on with or without T2DM, 30 patients for each. Serum samples of 30 healthy postmenopausal women were collected as control group. Ost
... Show MoreBackground: 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 con
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