Background Psoriasis is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin conditions; its prevalence ranges from 1 to 3%. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), a cytokine that enhances inflammation, is overexpressed in synovium and skin plaques in psoriasis. TNF-α plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. IL-10 is the most crucial cytokine for reducing excessive immune responses and decreasing pro-inflammatory reactions in all autoimmune disorders. Objective To evaluate the effect of Apremilast on ILـ10, TNFـα, and BMI in obese psoriatic patients. Methods Thirty patients included in this investigative study to measure the concentrations of TNFـα, ILـ10 and BMI, before and after receiving Apremilast. TNFـα and ILـ10 were examined by ELISA technique. Results The present work found that the concentration of TNF-α before receiving Apremilast was 286.80 pg/ml, and after six months from baseline, it was reduced to 131.08 pg/ml (P<0.01). Also, IL-10 before using Apremilast was 69.28 pg/ml, and after six months of treatment it increased to 112.57 ±7.89, which was statistically significant (P<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in BMI (P>0.05). Conclusion Apremilast significantly reduced the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α and increased the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, leading to improvement in psoriasis lesions. It also reduced Body Mass Index in obese psoriatic patients.
The leaves and stems of the local Purslane plant ( Portulaca oleracea oleracea L. ) were used to preapare the extract of two types ( wet and dried extractions) the extracts were prepared by weighting of 60grams of the wet and the dried plant individually, then boiled in 500ml of distal water. Finally the volume was completed to1 liter, then we used these extracts to prepare of 8 types of the culture media contained basic, selective and enrichment media for growing a group of pathogenic bacteria. 8 types of bacteria were used for this purpose: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas flouresence, Staphylococcus aureus , Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris. The stastica
... Show MoreType 2 diabetes mellitus is often characterized by hyperglycemia as a result of increased insulin resistance in hepatic/peripheral tissues and pancreactic B-cell dysfunction. Approximately 92% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus demonstrate insulin resistance, however hyperglycemia is always a consequence of insulin deficiency. This study was done on 120 patients newly diagnosed diabetes type 2 characterized by dyslipidemia that is increased triglycerides and decreased HDL. Hypoglycemia and weight gain are common problem with oral sulfonyl urea drugs. In this work three different oral hypoglycemic drugs repaglinide and glibenclamide (insulin secretagogues) and rosiglitazone (insulin sensitizer) were used for treatment of patients w
... Show More4 Blood Res 2018;53:314-319. Received on August 11, 2018 Revised on August 30, 2018 Accepted on August 30, 2018 Background Iron overload is a risk factor affecting all patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI). We aimed to determine whether there is a relationship of serum ferritin (SF) and alanine ami- notransferase (ALT) with liver iron concentration (LIC) determined by R2 magnetic reso- nance imaging (R2-MRI), to estimate the most relevant degree of iron overload and best time to chelate in patients with TI. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 119 patients with TI (mean age years) were randomly se- lected and compared with 120 patients who had a diagnosis of thalassemia major (TM). Correlations of LIC, as determined by R2-MRI, with SF
... Show MoreSystemic lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology affecting multiple organ system. Reactive nitrogen and oxygen species are claimed to play a role in this disease. However, the potential of Nitrosative/Oxidative Stress to elicit an autoimmune, response remain till now largely unexplored in humans. This study was done to investigate the status and contribution of nitrosative/oxidative stress in Iraqi patients for systemic lupus erythematosus. Blood samples from 19 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 19 age-and sex- matched apparently healthy controls were evaluated for serum levels of nitrosative/oxidative stress markers including nitric oxide, peroxynitrite and malondialdehyde. Nitric oxide levels were
... Show MoreBackground: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mostly involves the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is associated with a decreased quality of life. Biological medicines such as infliximab and its biosimilar are the mainstay treatments for active ankylosing spondylitis.
Objective: The study objective was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic study comparing the cost-effectiveness of the reference infliximab with its biosimilar in ankylosing spondylitis patients visiting public hospitals.
Subjects and Method: This is a two-center pharmacoeconomic study performed at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, which s
... Show MoreThe present work aims to study the efficiency of using aluminum refuse, which is available locally (after dissolving it in sodium hydroxide), with different coagulants like alum [Al2 (SO4)3.18H2O], Ferric chloride FeCl3 and polyaluminum chloride (PACl) to improve the quality of water. The results showed that using this coagulant in the flocculation process gave high results in the removal of turbidity as well as improving the quality of water by precipitating a great deal of ions causing hardness. From the experimental results of the Jar test, the optimum alum dosages are (25, 50 and 70 ppm), ferric chloride dosages are (15, 40 and 60 ppm) and polyaluminum chloride dosages were (10, 35 and 55 ppm) for initial water turbidity (100, 500 an
... Show MorePerchloroethylene (PERC) is commonly used as a dry-cleaning solvent, it is attributed to many deleterious effects in the biological system. The study aimed to investigate the harmful effect associated with PERC exposure among dry-cleaning workers. The study was carried out on 58 adults in two groups. PERC-exposed group; include thirty-two male dry-cleaning workers using PERC as a dry-cleaning solvent and twenty-six healthy non-exposed subjects. History of PERC exposure, use of personal protection equipment (PPE), safety measurement of the exposed group was recorded. Blood sample was taken from each participant for measurement of hematological markers, liver and kidney function tests. The results showed that 28.1% of the workers were usin
... Show MoreMetal oxide nanoparticles, including iron oxide, are highly considered as one of the most important species of nanomaterials in a varied range of applications due to their optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. Iron oxides are common compounds, extensive in nature, and easily synthesized in the laboratory. In this paper, iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation of (Fe+2) and (Fe+3) ions, using iron (II and III) sulfate as precursor material and NH4OH solution as solvent at 90°C. After the synthesis of iron oxide particles, it was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These tests confirmed the obtaining o
... Show MoreThis paper introduces some properties of separation axioms called α -feeble regular and α -feeble normal spaces (which are weaker than the usual axioms) by using elements of graph which are the essential parts of our α -topological spaces that we study them. Also, it presents some dependent concepts and studies their properties and some relationships between them.