The Growth Differentiation Factor -15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily. İt represents an example of the stress response cytokines. It's mostly found in cardiac myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vascular endothelial cells, whether they're generated normally or not. GDF-15 levels have increased and are associated with cardiovascular risk. Aim of the study: To investigate the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with the level of plasma GDF-15 in a group of hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A case-control study involved 90 individuals, 60 hypertensive patients (36 on ACE inhibitors and 24 on ARBs) and 30 healthy individuals. Serum GDF-15 was measured and compared statistically between the two groups. Results: serum GDF-15 was significantly higher in both groups of hypertensive patients compared to the control group. İn addition, there was no significant difference in mean serum GDF-15 concentration between patients treated with ACE inhibitors with those treated with angiotensin II receptor blockers. Conclusion: GDF-15 increases in hypertensive patients and might be a reasonable marker of cardiovascular disease. Both ACE inhibitors and ARBs are not powerful enough to decrease GDF-15 concentration to that of the control group.
8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHdG) is considered as an indicator of the oxidative stress. Pro inflammatory cytokines are critical parts of the pathophysiological processes to which treatment can be applied. The aim of this study was to evaluate 8-OHdG and pro inflammatory cytokines concentration in colon carcinoma patients. Blood samples were taken before treatment from 50 incident cases with colon cancer (stage III) admitted for health examination at the Nanakali Hospital in Erbil city with 45 healthy samples of controls with age range between 38-69 years for both groups. All studied parameters were estimated by ELISA. Participants at this study were 95 Participants ranged in age from 38 to 69 years, 50 Participants had been newly diagnosed wi
... Show MoreSusceptibility to the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recently been associated with ABO blood groups in patients of different ethnicities. This study sought to understand the genetic association of this polymorphic system with risk of disease in Iraqi patients. Two outcomes of COVID-19, recovery and death, were also explored. ABO blood groups were determined in 300 hospitalized COVID-19 Iraqi patients (159 under therapy, 104 recovered, and 37 deceased) and 595 healthy blood donors. The detection kit for 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) RNA (PCR-Fluorescence Probing) was used in the diagnosis of disease.
Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is inflammation of the sacroiliac joints and spine, associated with clinical symptoms such as pain and stiffness in the vertebral column, after which, in a considerable number of individuals, new bone growth occurs. Objective: The current research study attempted to find out whether the presence of SNPs in TNF receptor [TNFRSF1A (rs767455), TNFRSF1B (rs1061622)] encoding genes could influence patients' outcomes to etanercept in a specimen of Iraqi AS patients. Patients and methods: Sixty patients with established AS receiving only etanercept were selected to be enrolled in this research with a mean age of 40.75 ± 8.67 years, 51 patients of them were males and only 9 patients were females. Patients we
... Show MoreAbstract: Fluoroquinolones drugs are an important class of wide
... Show MoreBackground: There is a significant molecular response to imatinib given at standard doses in individuals with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) whose ABCB1 polymorphisms are present. Objective: To investigate the impact of the polymorphism in the ABCB1 gene rs1128503 on the effectiveness of nilotinib or imatinib therapy. Methods: From May 2022 until the end of January 2023, the current study was carried out in a single research institution, the National Center of Hematology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital at Medical City, Iraq. 76 people with chronic phase myeloid leukemia (CML-CP), who had previously received a diagnosis using the European Leukemia Net (ELN) criteria, enrolled in the trial. The PCR product was delivered to Macrogen Corpora
... Show MoreIn this study, dead and live anaerobic biomass was used in biosorption of Pb(II), Cr(III) and Cd(II) ions from a synthetic wastewater. The biosorption was investigated by batch adsorption experiments. It was found that, the biosorption capacities were significantly affected by biosorbent dosage. The process follows Langmuir isotherm (regression coefficient 0.995, 0.99 and 0.987 for Pb(II), Cr(III) and Cd(II) ions, respectively, onto dead anaerobic biomass) model with uniform distribution over the biomass surface. The experimental uptake capacity was 51.56, 29.2 and 28 mg/g for Pb(II), Cr(III) and Cd(II), respectively, onto dead anaerobic biomass, compared with 35, 13.6 and 11.8 mg/g for Pb(II), Cr(III) and Cd(II), respectively, onto live
... Show MoreAlopecia areata is considered as a major health problem, its importance is attributed to its
recent increased incidence in our population. Till now, there is no exact cause for alopecia areata
although researchers thought it's an autoimmune disease.
This clinical study was designed to evaluate the role of trace elements (zinc and copper) in patients
with alopecia areata. Twenty patients were diagnosed as having alopecia areata with an age range
(10-40 years) were involved in this study. Normal subjects of the same age group were also
evaluated as control. The level of serum Zn and Cu were measured by flame atomic absorption
spectrophotometry in both control and patient group. And the ratio of Zn/Cu was also estimated
Interleukins (IL-2 and IL-4) are increased in asthmatics and were reported to induce resistance to steroid therapy in some patients who fail to get benefit from glucocorticoids when used in full dose and for long period of time. In this context, the present study was conducted on Iraqi patients to provide additional laboratory mean, beside the clinical diagnosis, for the decision whether the asthma is steroid sensitive or resistant by monitoring the level of immunoglobulins, complement proteins and interleukins among asthmatic patients (steroid sensitive or resistant) and the possible contribution of other factors like age, sex and environments in the development of steroid resistance. A total number of 55 asthmatics and 28 normal subjec
... Show MoreThe novel Vierordt’s approach, or simultaneous equation method, was created and validated for the concurrent determination of vincristine sulfate (VCS) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) in pure solutions utilizing UV spectrophotometry. It is simple, precise, economical, rapid, reliable, and accurate. This method depends on measuring absorbance at two wavelengths, 296 nm and 278 nm, which correspond to the λmax of VCS and BSA in deionized water, respectively. The calibration curves of VCS and BSA are linear at concentration ranges of 10–60 μg/mL and 200–1600 μg/mL, with correlation coefficient values (R2) of 1 and 0.999, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LO
... Show MoreThe study aims to find out the extent to which several Iraqi institutional accreditation standards (governance and administration, scientific research, curricula) are applied in two public universities (Baghdad and Middle Technical University) and two private universities (Uruk and Al-Mansour College) by diagnosing strengths and weaknesses and proposing a mechanism and procedures to help educational institution aims to reduce or eliminate the gap. The study stems from the extent of application of several Iraqi institutional accreditation standards represented as it was worked on through observation and field coexistence to reach scientific and practical facts. The method of case study and comparison betwe
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