During infection, T. gondii disseminates by the circulatory system and establishes chronic infection in several organs. Almost third of humans, immunosuppressed individuals such as HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, and organ transplant recipients are exposed to toxoplasmosis. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the possibility that Toxoplasma infection could be a risk factor for COVID-19 patients and its possible correlation with C-reactive protein and ferritin. Overall 220 patients referred to the Al Furat General Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq were enrolled from 2020–2021. All serum samples were tested for T. gondii immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) antibodies, C-reactive protein and ferritin levels. In patients with COVID-19, the results revealed a high positivity percentage for anti-Toxoplasma IgG. In COVID-19 patients infected with T. gondii, the C-reactive protein and ferritin levels were higher than the controls. The ferritin level was high in COVID-19 patients infected with toxoplasmosis compare with COVID-19 patient without toxoplasmosis in different gender and age while the level of CRP had no significant differences in COVID-19 patient with or without toxoplasmosis. These finding suggest that the incidental rate of toxoplasmosis could be considered as an indication to the high risk of COVID-19.
Background: COVID-19 is an ongoing disease that caused, and still causes, many challenges for humanity. In fact, COVID-19 death cases reached more than 4.5 million by the end of August 2021, although an improvement in the medical treatments and pharmaceutical protocols was obtained, and many vaccines were released. Objective: To, statistically, analyze the data of COVID-19 patients at Alshifaa Healthcare Center (Baghdad, Iraq). Methods: In this work, a statistical analysis was conducted on data included the total number, positive cases, and negative cases of people tested for COVID-19 at the Alshifaa Healthcare Center/Baghdad for the period 1 September – 31 December 2020. The number of people who got the test was 1080, where 424 w
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to identify the relationship between health anxiety associated with Coronavirus (Covid 19) and its relationship to health behavior among Baghdad University employees, as well as to identify the differences in health anxiety and health behavior according to the variables (gender, occupation, and age). To achieve the objectives of the research, a scale was designed to measure the health anxiety in addition to the adoption of the health behavior scale prepared by (Renner & Schwarzer, 2005). The two scales were applied to a sample of (277) academics and (206) employees, while the number of students was (667). The sample was chosen by electronic application from a number of colleges at Al-Jadiriyah Complex. Afte
... Show MoreThe activation and reaction energies of the C-C and C-H bonds cleavage in pyrene molecule are calculated applying the Density Functional Theory and 6-311G Gaussian basis. Different values for the energies result for the different bonds, depending on the location of the bond and the structure of the corresponding transition states. The C-C bond cleavage reactions include H atom migration, in many cases, leading to the formation of CH2 groups and H-C≡C- acetylenic fragments. The activation energy values of the C-C reactions are greater than 190.00 kcal/mol for all bonds, those for the C-H bonds are greater than 160.00 kcal/mol. The reaction energy values for the C-C bonds range between 56.497 to 191.503 kcal/mol. As for the C-H cleavage rea
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The current research aims to identify the attitudes towards the Covid-19 vaccine and the Locus of Control (internal, external) among university students, to identify the significance of the difference in attitudes towards the Covid-19 vaccine, the significance of the difference in the Locus of Control (internal, external) according to the gender variable (male, female), and to identify the significance of the difference in students’ attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccine according to the Locus of Control (internal, external). To achieve the objective of the research, the researcher developed two scales, a scale of (20) items to identify the attitudes toward a covid-19 vaccine, and a scale of the locus of c
... Show MoreThis work studies the role of serum apelin-36 and Glutathione S-transferases (GST) activity in association with the hormonal, metabolic profiles and their link to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy and patients' ladies with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A total of fifty-four (PCOS) patients and thirty-one healthy woman as a control have been studied. The PCOS patients were subdivided on the basis of body-mass-index (BMI), into 2-subgroups (the first group was obese-PCOS with BMI ≥ 30 and the second group was non-obese PCOS MBI<30). Fasting-insulin-levels and Lipid-profile, Homeostatic-model assessment-of-insulin-resistance (HOMA-IR), follicle-stimulating-hormone (FSH), luteinizing-hormone (LH), testosterone and
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of trace elements Magnesium (Mg), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), and Selenium (Se) in blood sera of asthmatic patients by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The concentrations of Mg, Cu, and Zn have been determined by Flame Atomic Absorption spectrophotometry (FAAS), and Se with flameless Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (GFAAS). The study involves (55) asthmatic patients as study group and (28) subjects as control from both genders. Serum levels of Mg, Cu, and Se were significantly higher (p<0.001 for all) in patients when compared with healthy subjects, while Zn level was relatively significant (p<0.05). Our observations confirm the efficacy and applicability of (AAS) in
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