Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) antagonists’ therapy are expensive and has a non-responsive rate between 30% to 40% in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Genetic variation plays a vital role in the responsiveness to this type of therapy.The aim of this study is to investigate if the presence of genetic polymorphism in the TNF-α gene promoter region at locations -376 G/A (rs1800750), -806 C/T (rs4248158), and -1031 T/C (rs1799964) affects rheumatoid arthritis patient's tendency to be a non-responder to etanercept.

Eighty RA patients on etanercept (ETN) for at least six months were recruited from the Rheumatology Unit at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Based on The European League Against Rheumatism response (EULAR) criteria, patient

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an endemic protozoal disease in Iraq. Recovery from the disease confers a solid and permanent immunity. Vaccination with a living inoculum of promastigotes isolated from culture reduce the incidence of disease.
Objective: To show the efficacy of different types of antigens for protection of Balb/c mice against cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Methods: Thirty Balb Ic mice were divided in to six groups, groups 1-4 were immunized with different types of antigens (heat killed, freezing-thawing, formalin fixed and ultrasonicated). Received June 2005 Group 5 was treated with freshly harvested viable promastigotes from liquid medium as positive Accepted Nov. 2005 control and group 6 was kept as negative con

The trial stage is one of the important stages in the criminal case, which aims to assess the weight of the evidence, whether it is in the interest of the accused or against his interest. When the subject court presents the evaluation of the evidence, it presents it in terms of its value in proof. Therefore, the trial procedures guarantee to the litigants, especially the accused, many guarantees, including the right to defense and to express the requests that the legislator allowed them to make, and the judge is not bound by the requests of the litigants. He is free to deny the evidence and is not obligated to include in the reasons for his ruling all the evidence that was presented during the session. Rather, he is only obligated to sta

This study was designed to highlight the role of Epstein Barr viruses (EBV) as a possible causative effect in multiple sclerosis (MS) through testing the viral load along with both biochemical and immunological parameters in female MS patients. We also aimed at finding the effects of different types of treatment line on the various study aspects. The results of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed first an increased level of EBV EBNA1IgG IL-17A (96.13±27.60 pg/ml) in sera of female MS patients (0.05±0.01 U/ml, n=50) compared with the control group (n=40). We confirmed this result using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) which also showed a significantly higher EBV load in MS patients (22.61±12.72 copi

Background: a rapid and accurate identification of Methicillim-Resistant Staphylococci (MRS) is of a particular clinical significance because they have cross-resistance to other antibiotics with high ability to be transmitted among hospitalized patients known as epidemic MRS.
Objectives: the detection of MRS and the susceptibility of isolates to antimicrobial agents, also to determine inducible and constitutive macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) resistance mechanisms by pharmacodynamic interpretative reading approaches.
Methods: standard disk diffusion method was performed for 30 Staphylococcus aureus and 10 Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from wound, burn patients admitted to Ramadi General Hospital in Ramadi and e

Background: Chronic kidney disease is a gradual loss of kidney function with diabetes and hypertension as the leading cause. Chronic kidney disease is one of these systemic diseases that can affect salivary contents. Aims: This study aimed to assess salivary immunoglobulin A, interleukin-6 and C- reactive protein in chronic kidney disease patients on hemodialysis and those on conservative treatment in comparison with control subjects. Materials and methods: Ninety subjects were included in this study divided into three groups: 30 patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis for at least 6 months ago; 30 patients with chronic kidney disease on conservative treatment and 30 healthy control subjects. Secretory immunoglobulin A, inte

In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry is actively devising strategies to improve the diversity of clinical trial participants. These efforts stem from a plethora of evidence indicating that various ethnic groups respond differently to a given treatment. Thus, increasing the diversity of trial participants would not only provide more robust and representative trial data but also lead to safer and more effective therapies. Further diversifying trial participants appear straightforward, but it is a complex process requiring feedback from multiple stakeholders such as pharmaceutical sponsors, regulators, community leaders, and research sites. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to describe three viable strategies that can p

Background: Diabetic mellitus (DM) is a collection of metabolic disorder identified by hyperglycemia. The heterogeneous etiology includes defects either in insulin secretion, or in insulin action, or the both. In addition to the distraction in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. Inflammatory reaction that caused by many pro-inflammatory cytokines play a central role in the pathogenicity of T2DM, these cytokines can enhance insulin resistance which led to impaired glucose homeostasis. Subjects: The study included 75 patients (38 males and 37 females) suffering from T2DM with age mean ± SE 52.30 ± 1.60, and 70 individuals as healthy controls (35 males and 35 females) with age mean ± SE 48.88 ± 0.64. Evaluation of immunological marke

Background Immunological gene and serum level for interleukin- 9 rs 17317275 have been established to have linked to predisposition systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its severity. SLE is a severe, systemic autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody generation, complement activation, and immune complex deposition. In the pathophysiology of SLE, cytokines have a pleiotropic function. Recently, IL-9 was discovered to mediate strong anti-inflammatory effects in numerous cells or experimental autoimmune models. Objective This study aimed to determine the role of age, IL-9 serum level and genetic polymorphism, C-reactive protein (CRP), Anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) and Anti- double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) to recognize SLE pathogenesis.