Pregnancy-associated anemia is a widespread condition that can have varying impacts on both the mother and the developing fetus, depending on the level of hemoglobin in the mother’s blood and the stage of pregnancy at which the anemia occurs. In Iraq, 27% of all registered thalassemia cases are thalassemia minor. Pregnancy may aggravate mild undiagnosed thalassemia early in pregnancy. The objective of the study was to access the prevalence of undetected thalassemia minor in primigravida women who received prenatal care before 20 weeks and to compare the demographic and socioeconomic characteristic features between women with iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) and those without any anemia. A total of 298 primigravida women who attended prenatal care at 20 weeks or less were recruited and their hematocrit level was assessed. Participants were segregated into two groups regarding the presence of anemia. Patients who had packed cell volume lower than 33% underwent iron study and standard Hb electrophoresis. Information about women’s demographics, socioeconomic status, and family history of hereditary anemia were recorded. The participants had a mean age of 22.7 years, with an age range spanning from 16 to 43 years. 33.33% of 298 women had pathological anemia. All the participants exhibited microcytic anemia, with 26.85%, had confirmed IDA, whereas 6.71% had β thalassemia minor (BTM) phenotype. Both BTM and IDA patients frequently reported a positive family history of anemia at 80% and 68.7%, respectively, which was significantly greater than the control group at 39.9% (
In the present study, magnet silica-coated Ag2WO4/Ag2S nanocomposites (FOSOAWAS) were fabricated via a multistep method to address the drawbacks related to single photocatalysts (pure Ag2WO4 and pure Ag2S) and to clarify the significant influence of semiconductor heterojunction on the enhancement of visible-light-driven organic degradation. Different techniques were performed to investigate the elemental composition, morphology, magnetic and photoelectrochemical properties of the fabricated FOSOAWAS photocatalyst. The FOSOAWAS photocatalyst (1 g/L) exhibited excellent photodegradation efficiency (99.5%) against Congo red dye (CR = 20 ppm) after 140 min of visible-light illumination. This result confirmed the ability of the heterojunction be
... Show MoreBackground: Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells within the bone marrow. In most patients, monoclonal immunoglobulin heavy chains or light chains are produced and are associated with organ dysfunction. The growth factor B-cell activating factor (BAFF) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma due to its ability to promote B-cell survival, expansion, and differentiation. Objective: to measure the circulatory level of B-cell activating factor in multiple myeloma patients in relapsed and remission states and explore its possible correlations with the clinical staging, β2-microglobulin, and interleukin-6. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 60
... Show MoreBacteriocin is an important antimicrobial peptide that can be used in industrial and medical fields due to its characteristics of antibacterial, food preservation and anticancer activities. Fifty isolates of Bacillus sp were collected from different soil samples which were already recognized via morphological and biochemical identification process. The isolates were screened for bacteriocin production effective against Staphylococcus spp in order to select the highest producing isolate. The isolate NK16 showed the maximum bacteriocin production (80 AU/ml) which was further characterized as Bacillus subtilis NK 16 through using API identification system (API 20E and API 50CHB). Then, next step was to detect the optimal conditions for maximum
... Show MoreThis study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From
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