Background: In December 2019, an episode of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) was reported in Wuhan, China and has spread around the world, increasing the number of contagions. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are common herpesviruses that can cause persistent latent infections and affect the developing immune system.The study was conducted to explore the prevalence and reactivation of CMV and EBV antibodies in COVID-19 patients group in comparison to healthy group and to investigate the association between the presence of these viruses with each of severity of disease and oral hygiene. Materials and Methods: Eighty Five subjects were participated in this case control study (50 patients with COVID-19 and 35 healthy controls), their age range from 18 to 77 years. Oral health status was established by oral hygiene index. Serum obtained from patients and controls was analyzed using ELISA to assess levels of anti- CMV and anti- EBV antibodies. Results: The study revealed that the mean of anti-EBV IgG in patients was significantly elevated (p<0.01) than that in controls. Otherwise, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in levels of anti- EBV IgM, anti- CMV IgG and IgM between two groups (P>0.05). In addition there were no significant differences between patients and controls (p>0.05) in the number and percentage of anti-EBV and anti-CMV antibodies. Interestingly, there was a significant increase in the level of anti-CMV IgM in severe cases as compared to mild cases, (P<0.01). Furthermore, these results revealed that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in levels of anti-viral antibodies in patients with good oral hygiene compared to patients with poor oral hygiene. Conclusions: Higher frequency of anti-EBV IgG among patients indicates that latent infection is more common in COVID-19 patients. While an increased percentage of anti-CMV IgM indicated reactivation of latent infection and is related to disease severity suggesting that COVID-19 can cause cellular immune impairment.
Background: The menopause is physiological changes in women that give rise to adaptive changes at both systemic and oral level. During menopause, ovarian function declines and the production of sex steroid hormones reduces significantly affecting the oral tissues and periodontal structures leading to chronic inflammation of the gingiva, increased risk of tooth loss. Aim of study: The present study was designed to estimate the oral hygiene status in relation to salivary estradiol level among pre and post-menopausal women. Materials and Methods: Ninety women aged 48-52 years old, the control group consisted of 45 pre-menopausal women and the study group consisted of 45 post-menopause were examined for gingival index, plaque index and calcu
... Show MoreBackground: It is well known that mycotic antigens have an important
role in atopy and the induction of asthma. Now one of the important
subjects is the relation between respiratory bacterial and viral
infections in the inflammatory reactions accompanied with bronchial
asthma viruses Bacteria or their metabolites act as trigger for asthma
or increase it's intensity .
Objectives: To show the relation between asthma and some viral
infections serologically.
Methods: Direct ELISA test was employed to detect lgG specific for
Respiratory Syncytial virus (Rsv) parainfluenza virus type (p13) and
influenza virus in sera of (100) asthmatic patients of two age groups.
(10-17) and(18-50) years old. Serum samples from
Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early-onset CAD, also known as PCAD, is a severe form of CAD associated with high mortality and a poor prognosis. Early diagnosis is crucial to reducing complications. While hsCRP is an established biomarker for CAD, kalirin is a potential novel biomarker due to its role in promoting smooth muscle proliferation and endothelial dysfunction. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between serum kalirin and hsCRP levels with the presence and severity of PCAD and to compare the diagnostic value of both biomarkers. Method: The study recruited 92 participants into two groups: the PCAD group (46) included patients with confirmed CAD by an
... Show MoreBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic has had effects beyond the respiratory system, impacting health and quality of life. Stress-related to the pandemic has led to temporary menstrual pattern changes in around one-third of women. These changes, likely driven by stress and anxiety, can result in problematic heavy bleeding, causing anemia and negatively affecting women's well-being. This also places a substantial socioeconomic burden on individuals, families, healthcare, and society.
Objectives: This study examined the impact of COVID-19 infection on the hormone levels (estradiol, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone) and heavy menstrual bleeding in Iraqi premenopausal women
... Show MoreSevere acute respiratory corona viruses (SARS-COVs) are a particular category of RNA viruses that have emerged as a potential danger to the human population, triggering epidemics and pandemics that have resulted in catastrophic human mortality. The SARS-CoV2, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that began on December 12, 2019 in Wuhan, China, has been linked to bats. A new SARS-CoV-2 variant appeared in late December 2020. Mutations with variants continued to appear until the time of this study. Thus, this study aimed to provide a local database among Iraqi patients about SARS-COV-2 variants as there have been very few local studies documenting its existence and its relationship with the progression and severity of infection.
... Show MoreAutomated clinical decision support system (CDSS) acts as new paradigm in medical services today. CDSSs are utilized to increment specialists (doctors) in their perplexing decision-making. Along these lines, a reasonable decision support system is built up dependent on doctors' knowledge and data mining derivation framework so as to help with the interest the board in the medical care gracefully to control the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) virus pandemic and, generally, to determine the class of infection and to provide a suitable protocol treatment depending on the symptoms of patient. Firstly, it needs to determine the three early symptoms of COVID-19 pandemic criteria (fever, tiredness, dry cough and breat
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is considered a highly infectious and life threatening disease. OBJECTIVE: The present paper aims to evaluate various aspects of preventive measures and clinical management of the scheduled visits for orthodontic patients to the dental clinics during the outbreak of COVID-19, and to assess how orthodontists dealt with this challenge. METHODS: Orthodontists in private and public clinics were invited to fill a questionnaire that addressed infection control protocols and concerns about clinical management of patients in the clinics during the pandemic. Frequncies and percentages of the responses were obtained and compared using Chi-square tests. RESULTS: About 77% of those working in private clinics, a
... Show MoreA case-control study was performed to examine age, gender, and ABO blood groups in 1014 Iraqi hospitalized cases with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 901 blood donors (control group). The infection was molecularly diagnosed by detecting coronavirus RNA in nasal swabs of patients.
Mean age was significantly elevated in cases compared to controls (48.2 ± 13.8