Giardia lamblia is the worldwide most common intestinal protozoan parasite. It was indicated that Giardia is the most important agent that causes acute and chronic diarrhea in infants, young children and travelers. The aim was to detect the influence of host HLA alleles on the susceptibility to infection with G. lamblia in a sample of Iraqi patients. A total of (40) patients with giardiasis aged (14-39) years were registered. All of them were symptomatic and (40) healthy individuals matched age and sexes were included as controls. All patients were prepared to stool examination to detect G. lamblia and eliminated other pathogens, as well as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles (DRB1) typing. The most common detected alleles in patients group were HLA-DRB1*03:0101, HLA-DRB1*13:0101,and HLA-DRB1*07:0101 compared to control group (P< 0.003; odds ratio (OR) 6.32; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.35 to 28.03), secondly (P < 0.002; odds ratio (OR) 4.27; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.64 to 8.05) and lastly (P< 0.001; odds ratio (OR) 3.54; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22 to 5.68) respectively. In conclusion HLA- DRB1*03:0101 alleles,*13:0101 alleles and 07:0101 alleles may affect human susceptibility to giardiasis
Background: Beta thalassemia major (β-TM) is an inheritable condition with many complications, especially in children. The blood-borne viral infection was proposed as a risk factor due to the recurrent blood transfusion regimen (hemotherapy) as human parvovirus B19 (B19V). Objective: This study investigated the B19V seroprevalence, DNA presence, B19V viral load, and B19V genotypes in β-TM patients and blood donors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study incorporating 180 subjects, segregated into three distinct groups each of 60 patients, namely control, β-TM, and β-TM infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). For the B19V prevalence in the studied group, the ELISA technique and real-time PCR were used. The genotyping was follo
... Show MoreVitamins k is an important fat-soluble vitamin that can be obtained from plants, bacteria and animals and is necessary for the blood clotting. It plays a key function as a cofactor in the synthesizing of blood clotting proteins in the liver; recently, the interest for its functions in extra-hepatic tissue has increased. Vitamin k deficiency is usually caused by abnormal absorption rather than in the lack of vitamin in food. Apart from its impact on clotting, chronic subclinical deficiency of vitamin K maybe a risk factor for many diseases such as osteoporosis, atherosclerosis, cancer, insulin resistance, neurodegenerative diseases and others, while current food intake guidelines be focused on the daily dose necessary to avoid blood loss.
... Show MoreHuman Adenosine deaminase is an essential enzyme for modulating the bioactivity of thyroid hormones, and It is important for the maturation and differentiation of lymphocytes, although its clinical importance in thyroid diseases have yet to be identified. Objective: The aim of the current study is to determine the Adenosine deaminase concentration in healthy controls, and in autoimmune thyroid diseases such as Graves' Disease, and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Patients and methods: A total of 183 serum specimens of 103 female patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases and 80 healthy control groups were included in this study and collected from the Baghdad Medical City, Iraq. Quantitative Human Adenosine Deaminase ELISA kits were used to estimate
... Show MoreVitiligo is an acquired idiopathic skin disorder characterized by depigmented macules due to loss of cutaneous melanocytes. A potential role of the immune dysfunction has been suggested in vitiligo, so to test this hypothesis, certain cytokines (IL-17A and TNF-?) and immunoglobulins (IgM, IgG, IgA and total IgE) were investigated in all participants. The study included: 60 patients with age range between (6-55) year; 30(11 males and 19 females) were untreated and 30(12 males and 18 females) were treated with Narrow Band Ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB) and 30 (14 males and 16 females) apparently healthy control. Serum was separated and cytokines (IL-17A and TNF-?) and total immunoglobulin E (IgE) were detected by using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Ass
... Show MoreBackground: Arterial stiffness is related with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease events. Patients with atherosclerotic disease show to have larger diameters, reduced arterial compliance and lower flow velocities. Aim of study : To compare between patients of two age groups with concomitant diseases diabetes and hypertension in regard to intima media thickness and blood flow characteristics in order to estimate the blood perfusion to the brain via the common and internal carotid arteries. Subject and Methods : 40 patients with (diabetic and hypertension) diseases were enrolled , they were classified according to age. Color Doppler and B mode ultrasound was used to determine lumen Diameter (D), Intima – media thickness (IMT)
... Show MoreBackground: Non-host-adapted Salmonella serovar Typhimurium is a facultative intracellular bacterium, which invades and multiplies within mononuclear phagocytes in liver, spleen, lymph nodes and Peyer’s plaques. Salmonella infection is a crucial medical and veterinary problem globally. S. Typhimurium causes various clinical symptoms, from asymptomatic infection to typhoid-like syndromes in infants or highly susceptible animals, for instance mice. Objective: The present study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of anthrax protective antigen (PA)as a potent adjuvant mixed with killed Salmonella Typhimurium (S.T.) to enhance the immunization capacity of the last. Materials and Methods: Two groups of mice were immunized with either th
... Show MoreBackground : Knee flexors tightness has been documented in apparently healthy adults and in those with musculoskeletal problems, but the influence of age on the tightness has not been studied in Iraq. This study was therefore designed to determine the influence of age on knee flexors tightness in apparently healthy subjects.Methods: Knee flexors tightness was measured using the active knee extension test (AKET) in 200 apparently healthy male and female subjects, aged 13 to 59 years. The subjects were recruited into 5 age groups using the purposive sampling technique.Knee flexors tightness was compared across the age groups using one-way analysis ofvariance (ANOVA). The independent t-test was used to compare knee flexors tightness on both
... Show MoreMethotrxate (MTX) has become the standard of care and first-line therapy for patients who have RA and consider as a gold standard of treatment for RA. The role of MTX in the treatment of RA has now been well established. The use of MTX treatment of RA inhibits proliferation of the lymphocytes, reduces signs and symptoms this disease, reduces progression damage of the joints and improves quality of life outcome. Progranulin (PGRN) acts a role in autoimmune inflammatory, has important function in several processes including immune response. Present study has conducted to find the effect of MTX drugs as a therapeutic target for RA patients because of its ability to bind with tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR), with progranulin, obestatin an
... Show More