Introduction: Candida spp. has become increasingly resistant to antifungal drugs, with elevated MIC levels causing a negative medical impact and increasing the number of patients at risk of candidiasis. According to the CDC, about 7% of Candida blood samples show reduced susceptibility to fluconazole. Monitoring the antifungal resistance profile of Candida spp. is vital, as non-Albicans species may limit treatment options. Objective: Evaluate the antifungal effectiveness against clinical Candida spp. isolates of six antifungals: amphotericin B, fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, caspofungin, and 5-fluorocytosine. Methods: 100 samples were collected from various clinical samples at the National Centre of Teaching Laboratories in Baghdad, Iraq, from May to December 2023. The effectiveness of six antifungals (fluconazole (FLC), itraconazole (ITR), voriconazole (VRC), amphotericin B (AMB), caspofungin (CAS), and 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC)) was tested using the MA120 Automated ID and AST System (Render) according to CLSI standards. Results: Out of 100 isolates, nine Candida species were identified: C. albicans (54%), C. glabrata (20%), C. dubliniensis (10%), C. tropicalis (6%), C. krusei (5%), C. parapsilosis (2%), and C. rugosa, C. lusitaniae, and C. kyfer (each 1%). The non-susceptible rates to the six antifungals were: 5-FC (42%), FLC (21% intermediate, 9% resistant), AMB (11%), ITR (8%), VRC (6%), CAS (4% intermediate, 1% resistant). Conclusion: We observed increased resistance rates to 5-FC, FLC, ITR, AMB, and VRC, but not to caspofungin. C. albicans showed a high 5-FC non-WT phenotype (72%) with elevated MIC values, while C. glabrata had a 7% non-WT rate against AMB. C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis revealed limited susceptibility to azoles
Acinetobacter baumannii received attention for its multi-drug resistant associated with many severe infections and outbreaks in clinical environment. The aims of the study are to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility profile of clinically isolated A. baumannii, biofilm production, and the efficiency of Low Frequency Ultrasound (LFU) and honey to attenuate biofilm production. A total of 100 samples were taken from different sources from Baghdad hospitals. The susceptibility patterns revealed the percentage of pan drug resistant (PDR) isolates were 1.5 %, 72.7 % were extended drug resistant (XDR), 16.7 % were multidrug resistant (MDR), and 9.1 % were non MDR and sensitive to most antibiotics used. The ability to form
... Show MoreA simplified parallel key was presented in this work for the Taxa of Stackys L. wildly grown in Iraq. Three records within this genus were newly recorded to our country in the present work and they are S. kermanshahansis Rech S. setifera C.A. Mey. subsp setifera, S. setifera ssp iranica (Reck.) The characteristics of these new records were also given with some representative specimens.
A new spectrophotometric flow injection method has been establish for the determintaions of some catecholaminedrugs
The objective was to study the effect of prepared ginkgo biloba extracts against Candida albicans isolated from healthy persons. Conducting susceptibility test, biofilm formation test, phytochemical screening test, and antioxidant activity test. One hundred oral swabs sample were obtained from healthy persons with oral lesion attending dentistry teaching hospital in dentistry college, their age ranged from 1-30 years of both sexex. The studied samples collected through 8 months (April - December / 2018). This study included two different types of ginkgo bilola extracts were prepared as aqueous and ethanolic extracts. Many tests were used, which included isolation and identification of C.albicans, conduct susceptibility test, biofilm form
... Show MoreBackground: Small cardamom or green cardamom is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The major use of small cardamom on world wide is for domestic culinary purpose and in medicine. This study was conducted to test the effect of small cardamom extracts on Mutans streptococci and Candida Albicans in comparison to 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate and de-ionized water in vivo. Materials and Methods: Mutans streptococci and Candid Albicans were isolated, purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic and biochemical test. In this experiments, the effect of control agents and small cardamom extracts as a mouth rinses was tested on the saliva
... Show MoreBiological drugs have an active substance that is made by a living organism or derived from a living organism. They are one of the important therapy options used in a wide range of diseases especially life-threatening diseases. Biological therapy opens new opportunities for treating different diseases for which drug therapy is minimal, but they have considerable differences in the safety consequences in comparison with non-biological drugs. The aim of the current study was to assess the post-marketing safety profile of biological drugs used in Iraqi hospitals by the analysis of the reported adverse drug reactions regarding their severity, seriousness, preventability, expectedness, and outcome. It is a retrospective study of the individu
... Show MoreAbstract Drug addiction is considered a criminal behavior, which led the Iraqi legislator to prohibit and criminalize it, imposing penalties on those who use or even approach it. This aims to limit its presence in Iraq and reduce unethical behaviors, leveraging the divine prohibition to curb it. The legislator also encourages media organizations to raise awareness about the dangers of this substance, which has contributed to reducing the phenomenon of drugs in Iraq.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a worldwide inflammatory chronic autoimmune disease with varying severity. Due to no definitive cure for this disease, current therapies aim to decrease the pain and slow further damage. The interleukin (IL)‐36 cytokine was little known for its role in rheumatoid arthritis; this research aimed to evaluate the serum IL36 levels in RA patients compared to healthy controls. This study included 80 patients with rheumatoid arthritis registered at the Rheumatology Clinic in Baghdad teaching hospital. The patients were divided into three groups based on the treatments received. Group 1 included patients treated with biological therapy (etanercept, adalimumab), Group2 patients with non-biological treatment (methotr
... Show MoreA total of 70 pregnant women with toxoplasmosis were studied to evaluate of some immunological aspects. The women were distributed into three groups: 37 women were IgG positive, 18 women were IgM positive and 15 women were IgG and IgM positive as well as 25 healthy women were considered as control group. Serum samples were collected and ELISA method was employed to assess levels of interleukins 4, 6, 10, Interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10), Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). As compared with control the levels of cytokines were significantly increased in serum of three pregnant women groups with toxoplasmosis and the highest increase was observed in the IgM positi
... Show MoreAsthma is chronic inflammatory disease affecting 5% of world population. Characterized by eosinophilic type2 inflammation. FKBP51 immunophilin, important modular protein of glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We aimed to evaluate immunocytochemical localization of GR and FKBP51 in induced sputum cells by using immunocytochemical method and immunofluorescent ant-FKBP51 and anti –GR antibody and estimation of IgE and Type 2 inflammatory cytokine IL-5,IL-13 by ELISA technique.GR in the sputum show non-significant decrease of cytoplasmic distribution of the patient groups and highly significant increase in steroid treated patients and non-significant increase in nuclear distribution in non-steroid, FKBP51 nuclear localization show non-significant i
... Show More