Introduction and Aim: The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-39, a member of the IL-12 family plays a key role in the inflammatory response by modulating immune cell activity and inflammation. A literature search shows no study undertaken for the effect of IL-39's on arthritis so far. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of IL-39 in rheumatoid arthritis. Materials and Methods: This study involved 80 patients with rheumatoid arthritis registered at the Rheumatology Clinic at Baghdad teaching hospital. The patients were divided into three groups based on treatments received. Group 1 included patients who were not on any treatment for arthritis, Group 2 with patients on hydroxychloroquine and or prednisone treatment, and Group 3 that received Enbrel® (etanercept) and HUMIRA® (adalimumab) treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. A control group was included in the study. Patients in all groups were assessed for their serum IL-39 concentration, C - reactive protein, Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACCP) and ESR. Results: The patient age and BMI were not significantly different between the groups receiving treatment for Rheumatoid arthritis. A significant increase in the interleukin 39 concentration was observed in treatment groups (G1, G2, G3) as compared to normal healthy controls regardless of whether they were positive or negative for the anti-CCP test. Conclusion: This study showed that the serum interleukin IL-39 levels significantly increased in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis thus suggesting that IL-39 could be considered as a potential inflammatory biomarker of RA.
Background and Objectives: Urinary tract infections (UTIs), among a wide range of microbial infections, are of a double-edged worry with health-care and economic implications. They are serious diseases that can influence various parts of the urinary tract. The aim of this study was characterization of the enteric bacteria isolated from urine of human UTIs and studying their antimicrobial sensitivity. Materials and methods: A total of 50 urine samples were collected from patients with UTIs of both genders. The isolates identification was done using routine diagnostic methods and confirmed by Vitek2. Antimicrobial susceptibility was done against 10 antimicrobials. Results: Both genders of human were found to suffer from urinary tract problems
... Show MoreTo determine the expression of key epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers in gingival tissue samples collected from patients with periodontitis.
Epithelial–mesenchymal transition is a process responsible for shifting epithelial‐phenotype to mesenchymal‐phenotype leading to loss of epithelial‐barrier function. Thus, EMT could be involved as a pathogenic mechanism in periodontitis as both conditions share common promoters and signalling pathways.
Gingival tissue samples were collected fro
The study included the collection of 75 bronchial wash samples from patients suspected to have lung cancer. These samples were subjected to a diagnostic cytological study to detect the dominant type of lung cancer. It was noticed that 33 patients proved to have a lung cancer out of 75 (44%) of these, 19 cases (57.6%)were diagnosed having Squamus cell carcinoma,7cases (21.21%) showed Adenocarcinoma ,6 cases (18.18%) were having small cell carcinoma while only one case (3.03%)was large cell carcinoma .Nearly 70% of cases were correlated with smokers .Bacteria were isolated from 53 patients in which 33 isolates were associated with the cancer cases while 20 of them from non infected patients. By using different morphological ,biochemical test
... Show MoreThirteen isolates were collected from various clinical sources during the periodfrom 22/10/2017 to 22/12/2017. All the isolates were diagnosed based on the microscopic and biochemical propertiesby Vitek-2 Compact system. All isolates formed biofilm 100%, with 30% of isolatesbiofilm produced strongly and 70% on medium. The results of the present study have shown the presence of Curli fimbriae genes in E. cloacae bacteria from cases of urinary tract infections, infected patient with blood bacteremia and inflammation of wounds. Curli fimbriae is considered to be an important factor in the virulence of E.cloacae bacteria, which plays an important role in adhering and combining cells on solid surfaces to form the biofilmand helps in the adhesion
... Show MoreBackground : Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common cause of infertility in reproductive-age women , it is an important harbinger of metabolic disorders. It has been reported that hyperamylasemia can be used as marker of ovarian cancer patients . The current study was conducted to evaluate amylase activity and to estimate the correlation of this enzyme with insulin and insulin resistance in PCOS patients. Methods: This study was conducted on forty five patients with PCOS in comparison to twenty five women as control. Fasting blood sample was taken from each subject and analyzed for amylase activity , FSH,LH, Insulin , proteins, and blood sugar , meanwhile insulin resistance was determined by HOMA-IR index. Results: The result
... Show MoreBackground: Crohn's disease (CD) is an immunological disorder associated with chronic inflammatory process of several unspecific regions of gastrointestinal tract but frequently detected in the terminal Ilium and proximal colon or both. This disease frequently presented with various oral manifestations as a consequence of inflammatory process of the disease, nutritional deficiency or medications side effects. Several therapeutic approaches have been developed for CD management that are targeting the inflammatory process and directed at controlling the host immune response. Immunosuppressants such as Azathioprine and anti-TNF α agents as well as the combination of them have been widely used as an effective therapeutic modality with a bett
... Show Morewater quality assessment is still being done at specific locations of major concern. The use of Geographical Information System (GIS) based water quality information system and spatial analysis with Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation enabled the mapping of water quality indicators along Tigris river in Salah Al-Din government, Iraq. Water quality indicators were monitored by taking 13 river samples from different locations along the river during Winter season year 2020. Maps of 10 water quality indicators. This meant that the specific water quality indicator and diffuse pollution characteristics in the basin were better illustrated with the variations displayed along the course of the river than conventional line graphs. Creation of
... Show MoreThis study was designed for isolation and molecular identification of Nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) from fish during the period between October and December 2017 from Karbla province, Iraq. This study included 200 fresh fish samples from four different species including Spondyliosoma cantharus, Liza abu, Carassius carassius and Cyprinuscarpio. Three samples of each fish were taken including gills, muscles and all internal organs. The samples were processed by decontamination, concentration of 4% sodium hydroxide, and 0.1 ml of sediment was streaking on Löwenstein Johnson (LJ) media; then the bacterial cultures were incubated at 28-30 °C for 3days up to 4 weeks and suspected colonies were stained with acid fast stain to confir
... Show MoreYersinia enterocolitica has ranked a third among the pathogens that most frequently cause gastrointestinal disorders transmitted to humans through food materials, especially contaminated meats. The meat infected with Yersinia enterocolitica had no change in apparent texture or smell. The aim of this research is to survey the frequency of Y. enterocolitica in ovine meat, compare their ratio of infection between the season, To carry out this study (125) samples of local ovine meat were collected by random sampling from the middle region of Iraq. The samples were divided into two groups steak and mince, then many microbiological tests (culture, & staining, biochemical Tests Api 20E, Vitik 2 and species-specific PCR amplicon for 16S RNA gene) w
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