Background: Preterm labor and related prematurity are predisposing factors that increase perinatal morbidity and mortality. Acute phase reactants are inflammatory markers which are positive and negative reactants explained by the reaction of reactants to the subclinical infection that are commonly associated with preterm labor. Objectives: To assess the role of acute phase reactants in pregnant women with preterm delivery. Patients and method: A case control study conducted in Gynecological Department of Baghdad Teaching Hospital from 1st February 2021 to 30th October 2021, on one hundred pregnant women with gestational age (28weeks - 36weeks+6days) who attended outpatient clinic; fifty pregnant women with established preterm labor as case group and fifty pregnant women with no signs and symptoms of preterm labor as control group. Data was collected using structured questionnaire included demographic features, and biochemical parameters (serum ferritin (ng/ml), albumin (gm/dl), fibrinogen (mg/dl), and calcium (mg/dl) . Results: Mean±SD serum ferritin in control group was (46.2 ± 16.2 ng/ml) while in case group (52.47 ± 11.6ng/ml) with significant difference between both groups (P=0.03), mean±SD serum albumin in control group (3.18 ± 0.31 ng/ml) while in case group (2.92 ± 0.39) with highly significant difference between both groups (P<0.001). Validity test of serum ferritin at cutoff ≥ 52.7 (ng/ml) in case group was as follows: Sensitivity (94%), specificity (90%), negative predictive value (94%), positive predictive value (90%) and the accuracy was (92%). The validity test of serum albumin at cutoff ≤ 3.06 (gm/dl) to detect the preterm labor as follows: Sensitivity (78%), specificity (86%), negative predictive value (78%), positive predictive value (83%) and the accuracy was (84%). Mean±SD serum fibrinogen in control group was (400.9 ± 38.1) while in case group was (410.7 ± 51.2) with no significant difference between both groups (P=0.1). Mean±SD serum calcium in control group was (8.1 ± 0.7) while in case group was (7.92 ± 0.5) with no significant difference between both groups (P=0.1). Conclusion: serum ferritin and albumin can be used in prediction of preterm labor in 3rd trimester.
Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune disease of the skin and mucous membrane. Renal transplantation is a common procedure in
To study the frequency of skin tumors and infections in patients with pemphigus vulgaris compared with renal transplant recipients and normal controls.
One hundred kidney transplant recipients, their ages ranged from 14 to 70 (46.65 ± 4.74) years
The load shedding scheme has been extensively implemented as a fast solution for unbalance conditions. Therefore, it's crucial to investigate supply-demand balancing in order to protect the network from collapsing and to sustain stability as possible, however its implementation is mostly undesirable. One of the solutions to minimize the amount of load shedding is the integration renewable energy resources, such as wind power, in the electric power generation could contribute significantly to minimizing power cuts as it is ability to positively improving the stability of the electric grid. In this paper propose a method for shedding the load base on the priority demands with incorporating the wind po
... Show MoreBackground: Client satisfaction with the immunization service is used to evaluate the quality of the admitted service and at the same time it affects the goodness of the health care outcome.
Objectives: This study assessed the satisfaction with immunization services offered to children and factors affecting this satisfaction.
Methods: Exit interviews for clients were conducted in Baghdad, Al-Karkh in a representative sample of primary health care centers to assess clients’ satisfaction with immunization services. Clients are companions of children encountered at study settings.
Results: Among the 253 respondent clients, 183 (72.3%) reflected satisfaction with the immunization
... Show MoreBackground: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a significant role in the activation of adaptive immunity and may have an essential role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives: To assess the gene expression of TLR4 in individuals with RA compared to healthy individuals. Methods: From July to December 2022. A total of 100 individuals were encompassed in the study, consisting of 50 individuals diagnosed with RA, of whom 42 were females and 8 were males, with an average age of 45.22 years. Additionally, there were 50 healthy control participants, 40 of whom were females and 10 were males, with an average age of 45.64 years. To assess the TLR4 transcript levels, blood samples were collected from each participant, and RN
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the largest causes of mortality worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of clopidogrel on the oxidative stress in CAD patients. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after receiving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in this study. Parameters include catalase (CAT), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidant capacity (TOC), total protein, albumin, and globulins were determined before and after treatment with clopidogrel. Results: CAT, TAC, and Tp were significantly decreased (P<0.0001) in CAD patients compared to healthy control and
... Show MoreMultilocus haplotype analysis of candidate variants with genome wide association studies (GWAS) data may provide evidence of association with disease, even when the individual loci themselves do not. Unfortunately, when a large number of candidate variants are investigated, identifying risk haplotypes can be very difficult. To meet the challenge, a number of approaches have been put forward in recent years. However, most of them are not directly linked to the disease-penetrances of haplotypes and thus may not be efficient. To fill this gap, we propose a mixture model-based approach for detecting risk haplotypes. Under the mixture model, haplotypes are clustered directly according to their estimated d