BACKGROUND: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a proangiogenic factor that exerts different effects over stem cell survival growth, apoptosis, and adhesion. Its impact on leukemogenesis has been established by many studies. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of plasma HGF activity on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients at presentation and after remission. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional prospective study of 30 newly-diagnosed, adult, and AML patients. All patients received the 7+3 treatment protocol. Patients’ clinical data were taken at presentation, and patients were followed up for 6 months to evaluate the clinical status. Plasma HGF levels were estimated by ELISA based methods in the patients at two intervals first at diagnosis and the 2nd time after remission of disease. Plasma HGF levels were only measured once in twenty healthy control individuals. RESULTS: A statistically significant lowering in the median levels of HGF after remission induction therapy has been found when compared with those before treatment (p = 0.006) and in the group of patients who achieved complete remission in comparison with those before treatment (p = 0.005). Furthermore, a significant reduction was also demonstrated after treatment in patients presenting with extramedullary involvement (p = 0.003) and in the alive group (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Plasma HGF estimation can be a useful parameter in predicting treatment outcomes in patients with AML, and it can add potentially useful information to risk stratification parameters.
Introduction and Aim: Graves ophthalmopathy is one of the pandemic public health disorders in Iraq. The current investigation attempts to determine the variation in the complete total blood cells on the recovery of individuals with Graves' ophthalmopathy following low and high-dose Radioactive Iodine 131 (RI-131) exposures. Materials and Methods: The complete blood CBC level in people with Graves' illness and healthy, normal controls were quantitatively identified using the CBC counter. Thyroid stimulating hormone was utilized to compare the recovery of ophthalmopathy patients in comparison to a control group. Results: In comparison to healthy controls, patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy disease who received 10 mci of RAI-
... Show MoreDermatophytes are species with slight genetic variation, and are yet several uncertainties about the differences among species. This study aims to isolate and diagnose the Trichophyton interdigitale by molecular technique and to reveal the phylogenetic distance and similarity of the Iraqi isolates to other isolates from the globe, in addition, to submit the obtained sequences to the NCBI database. This study included 86 with multiple lesions on different parts of the body. The results showed different variations within the ITS gene between the isolates. It was concluded that Trichophyton interdigitale in Iraqi isolates had two types of substitution variations (Transition and Transversion) different than global isolates. Moreover, it
... Show MoreTest results of nine reinforced concrete one way slab with and without lacing reinforcement are reported. The tests were designed to study the effect of the lacing reinforcement on the flexural response of one way slabs. The test parameters were considered is the lacing steel ratios of (0, 0.0025, 0.0045, and 0.0065), flexural steel ratios of (0.0025, 0.0045, and 0.0065) and span to the effective depth ratios of (11, 13, and 16). Two specimens had no lacing reinforcement and the remaining seven specimens had the lacing reinforcement. Four point bending test were carried out, one of the specimens was tested under the static load applied gradually up to failure and the other specimens were tested under repeated load (5 cyc
... Show MoreThe 2011 Iraqi Measles Control Campaign had as its aim to improve immunization coverage among young adults' 17-24years and, in the longer term, prevention of measles epidemics. The aim of the study is estimation measles vaccination and revaccination efficacy by evaluate the seroprevalence of antibody and response to reimmunization in young adults. A previously vaccinated 189 young adult medical students were tested for measles specific IgG &IgM pre and post catch-up revaccination by using commercially available ELISA. To assess the seroprevalence of antibody response pre measles reimmunization in previously vaccinated young adults; 45 were found to be seronegative. To differentiate between primary and secondary vaccine failure, anti- mea
... Show MoreBackground:Wilson’s disease (WD) is an inherited
disorder of copper metabolism that is characterized
by tremendous variation in the clinical presentation.
Objective: To assess demographic distribution,
clinical presentations, diagnostic evaluation, and any
association between clinical presentations and other
studied variables of a sample of Iraqi patients with
WD.
Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study with
analytic elements was conducted during 2011, from
the 1st of February till the 10th of June. The sampling
method was a convenient non-random one, carried
out through consecutive pooling of registered WD
patients. A questionnaire-form paper had been
developed for the process of data col
Giardia 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 MoreAbstract Objectives: to determine efficiency and safety of three misoprostol regimens for 2nd trimester pregnancy termination in individuals with two or more cesarean section scars. Methods: a cross-sectional study included 100 pregnant ladies at 13th-26th weeks gestation with previous two cesarean sections (CSs) who were scheduled for pregnancy termination using misoprostol. Patients were conveniently assigned to 100µg/3h, 200µg/3h or 400 µg/3h regimens. Primary outcome was time to abortion, secondary outcomes were side effect and complications. Results: a significant association was found between number previous CSs and longer time to abortion (p=0.01). A highly significant association was identified between earlier gestatio
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