BACKGROUND: Idiopathic immune thrombocytopenia purpura is an autoimmune bleeding disorder that accounts for approximately one-third of clinical hemorrhagic diseases. Pathophysiologically, it involves a complicated imbalance in the immune system. OBJECTIVES: This study focuses on evaluating the levels of the immunomodulatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-35, interleukin-10, and transforming growth factor-β (TGF)-β in patients with refractory idiopathic immune thrombocytopenia undergoing treatment with romiplostim. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study encompassed 78 individuals with idiopathic immune thrombocytopenia and conducted measurements of different immunomodulatory cytokines in response to different responses of idiopathic immune thrombocytopenia patients on romiplostim therapy. The research was carried out from May 1, 2025, to September 1, 2025, and it was conducted at the Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Centre, Medical City, Baghdad, Iraq. RESULTS: More than half of them have responded to romiplostim 52 (66.7%) with a mean dose of 103.8 mcg. The study demonstrated a notable link between immunomodulatory cytokines (IL-10, IL-35, and TGF-β) and platelet count; however, no significant difference was found between responders and nonresponders regarding these cytokines. CONCLUSIONS: Romiplostim demonstrated effective management in Iraqi patients, and the Treg cells and their associated cytokines (IL-35, IL-10, and TGF-β) may contribute to immune system dysregulation in adult patients with chronic idiopathic immune thrombocytopenia.
Background: Periodontitis (PD) is well-known chronic disease affecting the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone, Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic joint disease with compound reasons characterized by synovial inflammation, subchondral bone remodeling, also the formation of osteophytes, that cause cartilage degradation. Chronic periodontitis and osteoarthritis are considered widely prevalent diseases and related to tissue destruction due to chronic inflammation in general health and oral health. The aim of this study is todetermine the association of chronic periodontitis and osteoarthritits in patients by analysing tumor necrosis factor alpha TNFα and high sensitive c-reactive protein (hsCRP) in the serum. Materials and Method: A tot
... Show MoreThe levels of circulating angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors, namely vascular endothelial growth factor–A (VEGF-A) and soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1), have been linked to the development of renal dysfunction due to the proliferation of microvasculature within the kidneys of type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients. The study aims to scrutinize serum levels of VEGF and sVEGFR-1 in a sample of Iraqi diabetic nephropathy patients to support their reliability as markers for the prediction of nephropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients as well as to assess the ACE inhibitor’s effect on the levels of these two markers. Method: The ninety participants of this case-control study were split into three gr
... Show MoreBackground: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most commonly encountered valve lesion in modern clinical practice. Severe mitral regurgitation may cause systolic dysfunction. Left ventricular ejection fraction may not be an accurate measurement of LV function in patients with mitral insufficiency. Myocardial performance index (MPI) is a simple non invasive measure of myocardial function. Methods: The study involved 50 patients with valvular mitral regurgitation and 50 healthy subjects as a control group. Transthoracic echocardiography was carried out for all patients and control group. The echocardiographic measurements included left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic dimensions, left atrial diameter, ejection fraction (EF), and myoca
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Vaccine hesitancy and reluctant had an important obstacle in achieving protection and population immunity against coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). It is essential to achieve high COVID-19 vaccination acceptance rates among medical students and health care workers to provide recommendations and counseling vaccine hesitant population. AIM: This study aims to identify level of COVID-19 hesitancy, attitude, knowledge, and factors that affect vaccination decision. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done among medical students in Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. Data collection was done through an online Google Forms questionnaire during 2021 from 810 medical students.
... Show MoreBackground: The physiologic, biochemical and anatomic changes that occur during pregnancy are extensive and may be systemic or local. However, most of these changes return to pre pregnancy status six weeks postpartum. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of dental caries among preterm postpartum women and it's relation to baby birth weight and salivary interleukin-6 (IL-6). Materials and methods: 66 postpartum women were examined, 33 preterm postpartum women (study group) and 33 full term postpartum women (control group). Dental caries was recorded using, decayed, missing and filled surfaces index, also assess the decayed lesion by severity. Salivary samples were taken from all subjects to estimate salivary IL-6 levels. Babie
... Show MoreThere is a growing interest in studying the effects of arthritis on a person's work productivity using a growing variety of outcome indicators.
To develop a valid and reliable shortened version of the Workplace Activity Limitation Scale 12 (WALS‐12) for assessing work productivity limitations in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
A cross‐sectional study involving 277 RA patients was conducted. An exploratory factor analysis on WALS‐12 was used for item reduction on the first sample. Then confirmatory factor ana