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.
An experiment was conducted in the plastic house of the Botanical Garden in the Department of Biology, College of Education for Pure Sciences (Ibn Al-Haitham), University of Baghdad during one growth season. The experiment included the study of the effect of three concentrations of citric acid (0, 75, 150) mg. L-1 and four concentrations of malic acid (0, 50, 100, 150) mg. L-1 and their interaction in some of the growth and yield parameters of the broad bean plant, plant height, dry weight, number of leaves, total chlorophyll content, the number of flowers and pods and the weight of the pod. The experiment was carried out in full random design (4× 3) and with three duplicates, the results showed a significant effect of citric and malic aci
... Show MoreBackground: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a disorder of systemic inflammatory condition. Its important features are represented by recurrent oral, genital ulcerations and eye lesions. Aims. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate and compare cytological changes using morphometric analysis of the exfoliated buccal mucosal cells in Behçet’s disease patients and healthy controls, and to evaluate the clinical characteristics of Behçet’s disease. Methods. Twenty five Behçet’s disease patients have been compared to 25 healthy volunteers as a control group. Papanicolaou stain was used for staining the smears taken from buccal epithelial cells to be analyzed cytomorphometrically. The image analysis sof
... Show MoreOsteoporosis (OP) is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mineral density and deterioration of bone architecture, resulting in bone strength reduction and increased fracture susceptibility. Estrogen deficiency in post-menopausal women is possibly responsible for the instability between bone formation and resorption, which is managed by specific osteoclastogenic cytokines that may be leading to resorption. This study aims to estimation of the concentrations of interleukins −8, −17, −22, beside to certain parameters in blood serum and explained their roles in the development of osteoporosis pathogenicity in postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods A case-control study included 108 Iraqi postmenopausal women participa
... Show MoreIn this paper, the dynamic behaviour of the stage-structure prey-predator fractional-order derivative system is considered and discussed. In this model, the Crowley–Martin functional response describes the interaction between mature preys with a predator. e existence, uniqueness, non-negativity, and the boundedness of solutions are proved. All possible equilibrium points of this system are investigated. e sucient conditions of local stability of equilibrium points for the considered system are determined. Finally, numerical simulation results are carried out to conrm the theoretical results.
Braces in straight bridge systems improve the lateral-torsional buckling resistance of the girders by reducing the unbraced length, while in horizontally curved and skew bridges, the braces are primary structural elements for controlling deformations by engaging adjacent girders to act as a system to resist the potentially large forces and torques caused by the curved or skewed geometry of the bridge. The cross-frames are usually designed as torsional braces, which increase the overall strength and stiffness of the individual girders by creating a girder system that translates and rotates as a unit along the bracing lines. However, when they transmit the truck’s live load forces, they can produce fatigue cracks at their connection
... Show MoreThe capacity factor is the main factor in assessing the efficiency of wind Turbine. This paper presents a procedure to find the optimal wind turbine for five different locations in Iraq based on finding the highest capacity factor of wind turbine for different locations. The wind data for twelve successive years (2009-2020) of five locations in Iraq are collected and analyzed. The longitudes and latitudes of the candidate sites are (44.3661o E, 33.3152o N), (47.7738o E, 30.5258o N), (45.8160o E, 32.5165o N), (44.33265o E, 32.0107o N) and (46.25691o E, 31.0510o N) for Baghdad, Basrah, Al-Kut, Al-Najaf, and Al-Nasiriyah respectively. The average wind velocity, standard deviation, Weibull shape and scale factors, and probability density functi
... Show MoreForest fires continue to rise during the dry season and they are difficult to stop. In this case, high temperatures in the dry season can cause an increase in drought index that could potentially burn the forest every time. Thus, the government should conduct surveillance throughout the dry season. Continuous surveillance without the focus on a particular time becomes ineffective and inefficient because of preventive measures carried out without the knowledge of potential fire risk. Based on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), formulation of Drought Factor is used just for calculating the drought today based on current weather conditions, and yesterday's drought index. However, to find out the factors of drought a day after, the data
... Show MoreThis study investigated the prevalence of quinolones resistance proteins encoding genes (qnr genes) and co-resistance for fluoroquinolones and β-lactams among clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Out of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of K. pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 15 (30%) of isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (≥4µg/ml), 11 (22%) of isolates were resistant to levofloxacin (≥8 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were re
... Show MoreBackground: Pleural effusion is a common clinical
problem.
Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the
diagnostic utility of Carcino embryonic antigen
(CEA), CA 15- 3, and alpha-feto protein ( AFP ) as
a tumor markers in serum and pleural effusion and
evaluate the value of combining them as a diagnostic
tools that are complementary to cytology in the
diagnosis of malignancies .
Methods: Forty patients (18 malignant and 22 benign
pleural effusion) were included in this study .The
serum and effusion levels of CEA, CA 15 – 3 and
AFP were measured using immunoradiometric assay
Results: from the 40 effusions studied 26 were
exudates and 14 were transudates. The level of
pleural effusions
The study seeks to examine the level of personal efficacy and its relation to mental alertness among university students. Besides, the statistically significant differences in regard of students' gender, and the correlation between male and female. To do this, the researcher adopted two scales: one to measure the personal efficacy which was made up by (abed al-jabaar, 2010) included (26) items, and the other to measure the mental alertness that designed by (abed Allah, 2012) included (36) items. A total of (120) student were selected randomly from three-different colleges at the Al-Mustansiriyah University for the academic year 2016-2017. The findings revealed there are no significant differences among students in regard of the personal
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