Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a collection of chronic, recurrent inflammatory illnesses of the gastrointestinal system, including Crohn's disease (CD). Infliximab is one of the biological medications used to treat CD. Therapeutic drug monitoring has evolved as a treatment in IBD, aiming to optimize benefit while meeting more demanding, objective end criteria. Objective: To determine the achievement of target trough level (TL), develop anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to infliximab, assess response to therapy, and study TL relations with different variables. Methods: The present study was cross-sectional and conducted from May 2022 to November 2022. It included 40 CD patients allotted into 2 groups: group 1 patients achieved the TL target, and group 2 patients did not achieve the TL target. Results: Twenty-two patients achieved target TL, while 18 patients did not. Dose escalation is recommended for 11 patients, switching therapy for 15 patients, and continuing the same dosage regimen for 14 patients. In addition, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, serum calprotectin and ADAs were significantly lower in patients who achieved target infliximab TL. Only serum calprotectin can be used to predict the achievement of the target TL of infliximab. Conclusions: Therapeutic drug monitoring of infliximab to determine the TL and ADAs can help to explain why some patients do not respond to this drug. Serum calprotectin may be used as a novel marker to predict the TL and response to infliximab.
Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated sites at Al-Rumaila Iraqi oil fields have been characterized as a part of soil remediation project. Activity of radium isotopes in contaminated soil have been determined using gamma spectrometer High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) and found to be very high for Al-Markezia, Al-Qurainat degassing stations and storage area at Khadhir Almay region. The activity concentration of samples ranges from 6474.11±563.8 Bq/kg to 1232.5±60.9 Bq/kg with mean value of 3853.3 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 843.59±8.39 Bq/kg to 302.2±9.2 Bq/kg with mean value of 572.9 Bq/kg for 232Th and 294.31±18.56 Bq/kg to 156.64±18.1 Bq/kg with mean value of 225.5 for 40K. S
... Show MoreEverywhere carriers incur a measure of liability for the safety of the goods. Carriers are liable for any damage or for the loss of the goods that are in their possession as carriers unless they prove that the damage or loss is attributable to certain excepted causes. Damaged and lost items can unfortunately be a common problem when shipping freight. Legal responsibilities arise due to loss or damage during transit while cargo is in their care. This study intends to investigate the nature of the liability of the maritime carrier when this liability is realized, and the extent to which it can be paid or disposed of given the risks realized from the transportation process, which may result in damage or loss of the goods, and the damag
... Show MoreMorus alba, member of the Moraceae family, is a perennial tree utilized in folk medicine, preparing the modern drug, and considered the main food for silkworms. However, data on chemical content in the leaves is still limited; the main objective of this study is to detect the presence and determine the concentration of different polyphenolic constituents in the leaves of the Morus alba plant by reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and evaluate the cytotoxic effect of ethyl acetate extract of this plant on human breast cancer (AMJ-13) cell line. Phytochemical analysis of the Morus alba leaves ethyl acetate extract led to identifying and quantification of six polyphenolic constituents designated as phenolic a
... Show MoreEmergency contraceptives (ECs) are indicated for preventing the chance of unintended pregnancy that follows unprotected sexual intercourse in cases of incorrectly used regular contraceptives and in sexual assault. It is considered a safe choice to prevent pregnancy than abortion which is considered life threating. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of community pharmacists towards emergency contraceptives and their association with sociodemographic variables. This study was a cross sectional study conducted between August and September 2021 on a convenient sample of community pharmacists from Iraq. The survey tool was an online, self-administered questionnaire, in English language and a paper-bas
... Show MoreThe plants of genus Heliotropium L. (Boraginaceae) are well-known for containing the toxic metabolites called pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in addition to the other secondary metabolites. Its spread in the Mediterranean area northwards to central and southern Europe, Asia, South Russia, Caucasia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and over lower Iraq, Western desert. The present study includes the preparation of various extracts from aerial parts of the Iraqi plant. Fractionation, screening the active constituent, and identification by chromatographic techniques were carried out.Heliotropium europaeum
... Show MoreThe performance grading system (superpave) has provided means to incorporate binder characteristics with
pavement failure types. It’s a comprehensive system that relates climate, traffic conditions and aging with
critical pavement distress. The objective of this paper is to develop an improved asphalt binder grading
system for Iraq based on the principal of superpave. The country was divided into different zones according
to the highest and lowest temperature ranges and traffic loading. The Performance graded binder proposed
for each zone was compared with some States of USA that have same hot weather of Iraq by using Long
Term Pavement Performance (LTPP v3.1) software. Iraqi asphalt samples were tested using the Supe
This research is qualitative in nature. It aims to investigate descriptively, analytically, and comparatively the modern AK model represented by the Sudan Open University Series, and the European framework, the common reference for Teaching Foreign Languages, to uncover what was achieved in them in terms of communication and language use. Accordingly, an integrated, multi-media approach has been adopted to enable the production and reception activities, and the spread of Arabic in vast areas of the world. Such a spread helps Arabic language to be in a hegemonic position with the other living languages. The study is based on getting benefit from human experiences and joint work in the field of teaching Arabic to non-Arabic speakers to mee
... Show MoreObesity is a risk factor for a number of chronic conditions. Obesity is clinically defined using the body mass index (BMI) as weight in kg divided by (height)2 in m2 correlated with obesity. Currently, genetic markers of obesity are being studied. This study focused on the association between the angiotensin II receptor AGTR1 gene (A1166C) and fat mass and obesity-associated protein also known as alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (FTO) (rs9939609) in obese children and adolescents patients in Rostov region, Russia. Five-hundreds of Russian nationality child and adolescent were recruited for the obesity-control studies. The relationship between the A1166C polymorphism of the AGTR1 gene in
... Show MoreBackground: Modifications of life style are often critically important to adequately control excising hypertension.
Objective: :to determine the source of information regarding hypertension and lifestyle modification practices in the management of hypertension in a sample of Iraqi hypertensive patients.
Type of the study: Across-sectional study.:
Methods: The study was conducted over a period of two months during November and December 2015 at Primary Health Care center of Baghdad Al-GidedaAwaland Bab Al Mudhum primary health care centers. The sample included 219 hypertensive patients (102 females and 117males). They were subjected to a
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