Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in the world, standing for the most frequent cause for hospitalization and emergency cases. Respiratory viruses are the most triggering cause. Aim: To assess the role of viral infections, especially COVID-19, in the pathogenesis of asthma initiation and exacerbations. Method: Electronic search was done for the manuscripts focusing on asthma as a risk factor for complications after COVID-19 infection. The outcomes were titles, materials, methods and classified studies related or not related to the review study. Three hundred publications were identified and only ten studies were selected for analysis. Seven studies were review, one retrospective, one longitudin
... Show MoreObjective: The study the association of procalcitonin (PCT) and c-reactive protein (CRP) levels in COVID-19 patients and it's role as a guide in progress and management of those patients. Methodology: This cross-sectional study analyzed 200 CIOVID-19 patients in a single privet center in Baghdad, Iraq from January 1, 2021 to January 1, 2022. Demographic data like age, sex, and clinical symptoms were recorded. High sensitivity CRP and PCT in the serum were measured via dry fluorescence immunoassay (Lansionbio-China). Results: Out of 200 patients, 50 had moderate Covid and 150 had severe disease. Mean serum PCT levels was 0.039±0.05 ng/mL in the moderate group (range 0.011-0.067) and 0.43±0.21 ng/mL in the severe group (range 0.21
... Show MoreObjective: To assess role of obesity in Covid-19 patients on antibodies production, diabetes development, and treatment of this disease. Methodology: This observational study included 200 Covid-19 patients in privet centers from January 1, 2021 to January 1, 2022. All patients had fasting blood sugars and anti-Covid-19 antibodies. Anthropometric parameters were measured in all participants. Results: The patients were divided into two groups according to body weight; normal body weight (50) and excess body weight (150). There was a significant difference between them regarding age. Diabetes mellitus developed in 20% of normal weight patients while 80% of excess weight patients had diabetes (p=0.0001). Antibodies production (IgM and
... Show MoreThe genus Hafnia, a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae, consists of Gram negative bacteria that are occasionally implicated in both intestinal and extraintestinal infections in human. This genus contains only a single species (Hafnia alvei). Methods The above bacterium was identified from 250 bacterial strains which were isolated from 220 urine samples of patients with urinary tract infection. Results One H. alvei strain was isolated from an elderly patient, and identified by conventional biochemical tests and API20E system at the first time in Iraq. Antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that this strain is sensitive to Cefotaxime, Ciprofluxacine, Chloramphenicol, Doxycycline and Trimethoprim-sulfamethaxzole, while it is resistant t
... Show MoreObjective: To evaluate the therapeutic activity of probiotics mixture of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus towards Cryptosporidium infection in experimentally infected mice. Oocysts of Cryptosporidium were separated from the stool of humans to infect mice. Methods: Forty male albino mice were split equally into four groups, every group contained 10 mice, the group I (early treated group), were treated from the 1st day from infection to the 11th post-infection, group II (late treated group), were treated from the 4th day from infection to the 15th post-infection, and group (III) (untreated group), were mice considered as a positive control group. Results: It was showed that daily application of a mixture of L. plantarum w
... Show MoreGiardia lamblia is the worldwide most common intestinal protozoan parasite. It was indicated that Giardia is the most important agent that causes acute and chronic diarrhea in infants, young children and travelers. The aim was to detect the influence of host HLA alleles on the susceptibility to infection with G. lamblia in a sample of Iraqi patients. A total of (40) patients with giardiasis aged (14-39) years were registered. All of them were symptomatic and (40) healthy individuals matched age and sexes were included as controls. All patients were prepared to stool examination to detect G. lamblia and eliminated other pathogens, as well as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles (DRB1) typing. The most common detected alleles in pat
... Show MoreLeishmania tropica is a species of flagellate parasites that infects humans and the cause of the disease cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is the most common form of leishmaniasis. It is one of the major parasites, which have high prevalence than other parasites in Iraq. The aim was to investigate the role of HLA alleles in susceptibility to cutaneous leishmaniasis infection in Baghdad in a sample of Iraqi patients. Cross sectional study (thirty Iraqi Arab Muslims patients with Leishmania tropica infection and thirty Iraqi Arab Muslims healthy persons) were participated in this study. Patients were consulted Department of Dermatology in Medical city Teaching hospital and AL Yarmook Teaching hospital for the period between March 2014 till May 2
... Show MoreBackground: The global threat of COVID-19 outbreak and on the 11 March 2020, WHO acknowledged that the virus would likely spread to all countries across the globe and declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic which is the fifth pandemic since 20 century and this has brought human lives to a sudden and complete lockdown and the confirmed cases of this disease and deaths continue to rise in spite of people around the world are taking important actions to mitigate and decrease transmission and save lives. Objectives: To assess the effect of exercise and physical activity on the immunity against COVID-19. Methods: Collected electronic databases including (Medline, EMBASE, Google Scholar, PubMed and Web of Science) were searched with
... Show MoreSilver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are of potential interest because of their effective antibacterial and antiviral activities. Capping agents are used for exhibiting a better antibacterial activity than uncapped Ag NPs. There are very few reports that have shown the usage of AgNPs for in-vivo antibacterial therapy. Citrate-capped silver nanoparticles were synthesized chemically by citrate reduction method; the size of Cit-AgNPs was determined by an atomic force microscope (AFM) and was between 15-90 nm. Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) isolates were the only sensitive species to Cit-AgNPs. MICs and MBC of Cit-AgNPs were determined by using A. baumannii. The results showed an additive effect of Cit-AgNPs. Four mice groups were infected with
... Show MoreAbstract Exotoxin A is the most lethal virulence factor produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It inhibits elongation factor-2 by ADP-ribosylation of EF2. This causes stop of the elongation of polypeptides. In recent study, the effect of low concentration of exotoxin A on some important internal organs of mice was studied. Four groups white mice were injected intraperitonialy with pure exotoxin A in the following manner 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 ng\ animals. One mouse receives normal saline inrtaperitonialy as a control. After 72 hours the mice were killed and four organs were taken, liver, spleen, lung and heart from each killed mice. Histological sections were made from each organ and stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain then examined under mic
... Show MoreInterleukin-6 (IL-6) is a proinflammatory cytokine implicated in the immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis (TB). TB is recognized worldwide as an important public health issue. To study the relationship between the age of patients with pulmonary TB and serum IL-6 levels, from the other hand, the severity of this disease with IL-6 levels. This study included 30 patients (16 female and 14 male) with pulmonary TB and 10 healthy persons (5 female and 5 male) as control group for comparison. An ELISA assay was used to quantify IL-6 in the sera. The results showed a significant increase of IL-6 levels with increase of age of patients, in (23-38) year old patients the IL-6 levels (median= 17.9 pg/ml, range 12.3-29.1), while in (50-70) year old patien
... Show MoreThe reticuloendothelial system (RES) play an important role in immunity against bacterial infection and Klebsiella pneumoniae one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections. Dextran70 (D70), a polysaccharide, may alter functions of this system through changing many biological activities in the tissues.
Metronidazole therapy is recommended in the treatment of giardiasis,athough some clinical reports mention the resistance to this drug from many pathogens. Many studies were applied to show the effect of probiotic to prevent or to heal diseases of gastrointestine, but only few is known about probiotic activity against infections of protozoa. This study aims to evaluate the efficiency of Bifidobacterium against infection with Giardia lamblia in experimental mice. It was found that daily application of viable Bifidobacterium cells with a single dose (0.1ml∕mice∕day) significantly reduced the shedding of Giardia lamblia parasite cysts in feces, and infection completely disappeared at the da
... Show MoreHBV and HCV are the major causes of chronic liver diseases throughout the world, and constitute a major global health risk. There is accumulated evidence that the imbalance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine production may play an important role in the pathogenesis of viral hepatic infections and may influence the clinical outcome and disease progression. This study was undertaken to analyze the circulating levels of Tumor Necrotic Factor (TNF-α) and Th2 cytokine IL-10 in patients infected with Hepatitis B and C virus. The study population consisted of 30 patients with chronic HBV, in addition to other 30 patients with chronic HCV infection were recruited on their first examination at the Al-Kindy General Hospital in Baghdad
... Show Moreervical cancer is one of the most frequently diag nosed malignancies representing the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in females’ worldwide, with approximately 500,000 new cases diagnosed and 280,000 deaths occurring each year. Mxi1, an antagonist of c-Myc, maps to human chromosome 10q24-q25, a region altered in a substantial fraction of prostate tumors, in prostate cancer, where a high frequency of loss and mutation of the MXI1 gene has been reported. The aim of present study was to find out the possible association of exon deletion of MXI1 gene with incidence of cervical abnormalities and cancers in some Iraqi married women. The present study include collection of 120 scraping cervical cells samples from women clinically di
... Show MoreRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important cause of respiratory infection among children and infants globally. The first line of the immune response against this virus is neutrophils, macrophages, and innate lymphoid cells. Antigen‑presenting cells such as dendritic cells which present the viral antigen to T lymphocytes that mediate viral clearance by T cytotoxic cells and initiate systemic lymphopenia. Humoral immunity will also be stimulated through B‑cell‑stimulating factors derived from epithelial cells of the respiratory tract that play an important factor in antibody production and induction memory to reinfection through IgG and IgA protective antibodies that are useful in vaccine production.
Parasitic diseases can affect infection with COVID-19 obviously, as protective agents, or by reducing severity of this viral infection. This current review mentions the common symptoms between human parasites and symptoms of COVID-19, and explains the mechanism actions of parasites, which may prevent or reduce severity of this viral infection. Pre-existing parasitic infections provide prohibition against pathogenicity of COVID-19, by altering the balance of gut microbiota that can vary the immune response to this virus infection.
The most common cause of upper respiratory tract infection is coronavirus, which has a crown appearance due to the existence of spikes on its envelope. D-dimer levels in the plasma have been considered a prognostic factor for COVID-19 patients.
The aim of the study is to demonstrate the role of COVID-19 on coagulation parameters D-dimer and ferritin with their association with COVID-19 severity and disease progression in a single-center study.
Objective: To assess role of obesity in Covid-19 patients on antibodies production, diabetes development, and treatment of this disease. Methodology: This observational study included 200 Covid-19 patients in privet centers from January 1, 2021 to January 1, 2022. All patients had fasting blood sugars and anti-Covid-19 antibodies. Anthropometric parameters were measured in all participants. Results: The patients were divided into two groups according to body weight; normal body weight (50) and excess body weight (150). There was a significant difference between them regarding age. Diabetes mellitus developed in 20% of normal weight patients while 80% of excess weight patients had diabetes (p=0.0001). Antibodies production (IgM and
... Show MoreThe goal of the current study was to research the changes in hematological parameters: WBC count, RBCs count, Hb, PCV, neutrophil, lymphocyte, and monocyte in albino mice infected with Aspergillus fumigatus by intraperitoneal injection after induced immunosuppression by intraperitoneal injection of cortisone. The current research also examined an attempt to reduce the infection load by treating Solanum aculeastrum. The result shows higher decreased significance (P≤0. 05) in RBCs, Hb, and PCV after being infected with A. fumigatus 7. 1 ± 0. 8, 11. 3 ± 0. 5 and 41. 5 ± 2. 4, respectively, while the total WBC count, neutrophil, lymphocyte, and monocytes were increased significantly (P≤0. 05) after treatment with S. aculeastrum i
... Show MoreThe purpose of this subject is to identify what is being studied in the article, which is the involvement of human Metapneumovirus in children with respiratory illnesses. During the period November 2020 to February 2021, 100 patients with respiratory tract infections were admitted to Al Zahra Teaching Hospital and AL-Forat AL-Awsat Teaching Hospital in Najaf Governorate. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from patients for molecular diagnosis of human metapneumovirus using Real-Time-PCR. The patients were distributed based on age into five groups as follows (Less than one, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, and 4-5 years), and twenty samples of healthy individuals were approved as a control group without any clinical signs of infection. the children of age gr
... Show MoreBackground: Candida tropicalis is one of the most causes of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) in women. Systemic candidiasis and candidemia may also occur in pregnancies. Objective: This study was carried out to detect and isolate of this yeast from aborted placenta, which may cause severe complications such as spontaneous abortion. Materials and methods: Fresh aborted placenta were collected and washed by normal saline to remove the blood. Then, cut it into portions and place it in test tube containing 5 ml of normal saline. Finally, shake for 10 minutes, after that, cultured for microbial isolation. Isolation and detection were done by some conventional methods with Api candida and CHROMagar. Results: The results showed that four iso
... Show MoreIntroduction & Aim: Long-term diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to have a deleterious impact on bone health, resulting in change in bone mineral density, bone turnover, and bone quality, all of which increase the risk of fractures. The aim of. this study was to link immunological and pro-inflammatory cytokine (I.L-6, I.L-1, and TNF-alpha) markers in patients.with type 1 diabetes to Their connection to bones formation (sPINP) and bone resorption parameters (sCTX). Materials & Methods: This study included 80 patients suffering from T1DM in the age range of 20-45 years. The patients were assayed for their biochemical (Vitamin D and HbA1c), Immunological (IL-6, IL-1 and TNF-alpha) parameters, as well as bone formation and resor
... Show MoreBackground: Cholera has been recognized as a killer disease since earliest time. The disease is caused by infection of the small intestine by Vibrio cholerae O1 and O1391 which is characterized by severe dehydrating diarrheal condition and is one disease in modern times that is epidemic, endemic and pandemic in nature. Objective: This study was carried out to detect and isolate V. cholerae from patients suffered from watery diarrhea, which may cause severe complications such as dehydration, shock followed by death. Materials and methods: stool specimens were collected from 308 patients with watery diarrhea. These samples were tested with many criteria such as TCBS agar, gram stain, biochemical tests and VITEK-2 system to improve the isolati
... Show MoreObjective. Infection with Coxsackie virus. This virus that damages pancreatic cells, has long been linked to the onset of insulin-dependent diabetic mellitus (IDDM). Pro-inflammatory cytokines can be produced as a result of this illness. Tumor necrosis factor-a is one of these pro-inflammatory cytokines. Materials and Methods. Blood sample were collected from 180 Iraqi participants. Ninety of them is type 1 diabetic patients and other 90 is healthy control .both groups were tested for the incidence of Coxsackie virus B IgG. So the patients groups is divided to two groups according to sero positivity of CVB-IgG .all 180 patients tested to measure of level of TNF-α. Results. The Results showed increasing in levels of TNF-α in CBV po
... Show MoreBackground: Globally, hepatitis B is one of the most common infectious diseases. Estimates indicate that at least 2 billion people have been infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), with more than 378 million people being chronic carriers. Those individuals at higher risk for acquiring HBV and transmitting disease like pregnant women should be screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) to prevent transmission by vaccination and operation. Aim of study: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBsAg and its associated parameters in pregnant women who referred to antenatal clinic in Baghdad Province. Methods: The 234 apparently healthy pregnant women and their families, husbands and children were se
... Show MoreCOVID-19 is a pandemic disease that has a wide spectrum of symptoms from asymptomatic to severe fatal cases due to hyperactivation of the immune system and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study aimed to assess the level and impact of interleukin (IL)-13, IL-33, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α cytokines on immune responses in mild and moderate COVID-19-infected Iraqi patients. A prospective case-control study was conducted from January 2023 to January 2024; it included 80 patients infected with moderate COVID-19 infection who consulted in different private clinics and 40 healthy controls. The serum of both groups was tested for quantification of serum IL-13, IL-33, and TNF-α using the human enzyme-linked immunosorbe
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