The rapid spread of novel coronavirus disease(COVID19) throughout the world without availablespecific treatment or vaccine necessitates alternativeoptions to contain the disease. Historically, childrenand pregnant women were considered high-riskpopulation of infectious diseases but rarely have beenspotlighted nowadays in the regular COVID-19updates, may be due to low global rates of incidence,morbidity, and mortality. However, complications didoccur in these subjects affected by COVID-19. Weaimed to explore the latest updates ofimmunotherapeutic perspectives of COVID-19patients in general population and some added detailsregarding pediatric and obstetrical practice.Immune system boosting strategy is one of therecently emerging issues allowing the body defensemechanism to produce virus-neutralizing antibodies tocounteract the viral impacts on multiple organdamage. Measles vaccination (which is universallyused for children in many countries, butcontraindicated during pregnancy) could urge thebody to produce these antibodies which may applytheir effects through cross-reactivity of measlesvaccine and COVID-19 antigenic proteins. Inaddition, intravenous immunoglobulin andconvalescent plasma could have such neutralizingantibody effect leading to clinical improvement andviral elimination. Pediatric and obstetrical experiencehas appeared in previous publications.Human monoclonal antibodies are the futurepromising approach to treat and prevent COVID-19with the use of tocilizumab in recent studies. Pediatricdata are still in progress while no pregnancy ongoingtrials are planned up to date.The better understanding of the host antiviral responsemay pave the way to develop immunotherapeuticplans against COVID-19 in the near upcoming days.
KE Sharquie, R Hayani, J Al-Rawi, A Noaimi, SH Radhy, CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY, 2010
The nature and intensity of the association of myasthenia gravis (MG) with distinct human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes differ between ethnic populations, so this study determined the association of HLA class II antigens with myasthenia gravis (MG) in Iraq.The study included Iraqi patients diagnosed with MG and two control groups the first of 54 insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients and the second of 237 subjects as a normal control group. The test used was microlymphocytotoxicity test.The work was done in the Teaching Laboratories/Medical City/Baghdad.Results: positive associations were observed (etiological risk factors) as follows: 1. HLA-DR locus showed one positively associated allele when compared to healthy control and th
... Show MoreBackground: Normal Left Ventricular systolic function is present in nearly 50% of patients with congestive heart failure, the majority of such patients have systemic hypertension. Recent studies have demonstrated Left Ventricular dyssynchrony among patients with heart failure and normal systolic function. The co-existence between Left Ventricular dyssynchrony and hypertension with normal systolic function (with no clinical evidence of heart failure) is less well understood.
Objective:
To assess the Left Ventricular dyssynchrony among hypertensive patients with normal systolic function by using Tissue doppler imaging.To find out the associations between the LV dyssynchrony and other global
... Show MoreBackground: Arylesterase activity of Paraoxonase-1 (ARE-PON-1) exhibits an antioxidant role which protects lipoprotein from oxidation. It is known that ARE-PON-1 antioxidant activity associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) reduces the oxidative damage mediated by low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The present study was aimed to examine the level of serum ARE-PON1 in Iraqi patients with β-thalassemia minor and its relationship with lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C), and LDL-C) and hematologic changes as a part of antioxidant system action. Methods: In the present study, the ARE-PON-1 activity was investigated in serum of patients with β-thalassemia minor. Resu
... Show MoreObjective: The present study aims to assess the stressful life events for patients with substance abuse in Baghdad city.
Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out at (Baghdad teaching hospital and Ibn-Rushed Psychiatric hospital).
Starting from 1
st of December 2012 to 3
rd of July 2013, A non-probability (purposive) sample of 64 patients that
diagnosed with substance abuse, the data were collected through the use of semi-structured interview by
questionnaire, which consists of three parts sociodemographic data, medical information, and Life events scale
consists of 49-items distributed to six domains including, family and social domain, health domain, security, legal and
criminal domain, work and school do
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has a worldwide distribution and common infections. The presence of HCMV genome and antigens has been detected in many kinds of human cancers. The proto-oncogene Her2/neu is overexpressed in 25% to 30% of human breast cancers and frequently associated with tumor aggressiveness and worse prognosis. Examination was applied to detect different HCMV antigens and to demonstrate their correlation with Her2/neu overexpression in breast cancer. The present study includes samples from 70 women of 60 breast cancer patients and 10 normal breast tissues. Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks were obtained from each woman according to ethical approval. Human cytomegalovirus early antigen expression was detected in 5
... Show MoreResearchers have recently increased their focus on the link between autoimmune diseases and infections. Most of the recent research indicates that silent human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), may have diverse roles in the initiation, development, and exacerbation of autoimmune diseases, such as coeliac Disease (CD) and inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of HCMV infection in Iraqi patients with CD. Serum samples were obtained from 60 patients with CD, and from 60 healthy subjects. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the Anti-Transglutaminase IgG/IgA, Anti-gliadin IgA/ IgG, as well as the HCMV IgM/ IgG levels in the serum samples. Significantly higher percentage of positivity for seru
... Show MoreObjective Thalassemic patients present with multiple immune abnormalities that may predispose them to oral Candida, however this has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to assess oral candidal colonization in a group of patients with β-thalassemia major both qualitatively and quantitatively. Study design The oral mycologic flora of 50 β-thalassemia major patients and 50 age- and sex-matched control subjects was assessed using the concentrated oral rinse technique. Candida species were identified using the germ tube test and the Vitek yeast identification system. Results Oral Candida was isolated from 37 patients (74%) and 28 healthy subjects (56%; P = .04). The mean candidal count was significantly higher in thalassemic patie
... Show MoreObjective(s): to assess the factors which are associated with the prolonged prehospital delay of patients with
acute myocardial infarction.
Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted at the Coronary Care unit (CCU) in Al-Yarmok Teaching
Hospital, Ibn AL-Nafis Hospital for Cardiovascular Diseases, AL-Kadumia Teaching Hospital, Baghdad Teaching
Hospital, and AL-Kindy Teaching Hospital during the period of the study from February 2
nd
, 2009 to October 30th
,
2009. A random sample of (160) paƟent who were admiƩed to the hospitals were selected one by one. A
questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of the study, which is comprised of four parts that include (1)
sociodemographic data; (2) prehospital d