Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is a heterogeneous disorder and its etiology appears to be complex and multifactorial; characterized by hyperandrogenism, chronic anovulation and infertility. It’s associated with evidence of low-grade chronic inflammation, as indicated by the presence of elevated levels of high sensitive C- reactive protein levels, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α. The source of excess circulating tumor necrosis factor-α in obese Polycystic ovary syndrome patient is likely to be the adipose tissues while in lean women increased visceral adiposity has been proposed as a source of excess tumor necrosis factor-α.Objectives: to evaluate the levels of high sensitive C- reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome before and after treatment with metformin; with emphasis on their relationship with the improvement in ovulation rate and body mass index in Iraqi women.Methods: 69 Iraqi females with PCOS, with mean age of 25.8±4.4 years, body mass index 31.14±2.23 kg/m2 and insulin resistant equal to 3.15±0.25. Additionally, 30 healthy fertile women BMI= 26.87±3.1 kg/m2 and mean age 23.4±2.8 years), the patients were treated with metformin 1500 mg/day for 3 months. Blood samples were obtained in the morning subsequent to an overnight fasting at baseline and at the end of the 12 weeks period of treatment, the samples were analyzed for plasma glucose level estimated by enzymatic colorimetric kit, while serum insulin , TNF-α, IL-6 , hs-CRP, Progesterone and sex hormone binding globulin . Results: BMI values were significantly increased at baseline value in patients (P<0.05) compared with healthy controls, then significantly decreased (12.9%) after treatment compared with baseline values, HOMA-IR index were significantly elevated in patients group at baseline compared with control, and significantly decreased by 17.4% after treatment. Regarding the influence of metformin on inflammatory markers, the present study demonstrated significant elevation of baseline levels (P<0.05) of TNF-α, hs-CRP and IL-6 compared with controls, and the baseline levels significantly decreased after treatment by 16%, 38% and 37% respectively. Meanwhile, sex hormone binding globulin levels were significantly decreased in PCOS patients compared with healthy controls, and significantly increased after treatment by 16.6%, also progesterone levels decline at baseline compared with control group, and it was increased significantly after treatment by 24%.Conclusions: The study detects an increased level of inflammatory cytokines, SHBG and decrease level of progesterone in Iraqi females with PCOS, and metformin therapy improves serum levels of the inflammatory cytokines associated with increased ovulation rate.
The present study was set to demonstrate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection and its effects on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) through determining their serum levels of anti-dsDNA and IL-18 antibodies. For this purpose, the sera from 132 SLE and/or toxoplasmosis patients and 30 healthy women, were collected. The study sample was divided into four groups of SLE, toxoplasmosis, SLE coinfected with toxoplasmosis, and healthy control. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies were examined for all the samples using ELISA kit. The results showed a high mean level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG among SLE patients coinfected with toxoplasmosis (104.8792±12.31585pg/ml) in comparison to that in toxoplasmosis patients (91.1705±12.577
... Show MoreChronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm arises from Bcr-Abl gene translocation(called Ph chromosome) in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs).JAK2V617F mutation is an acquired singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) occurs in JAK2 gene and is associated with many hematological malignancyother than CML. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of JAK2V617F mutation and serum levels ofalkaline phophatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in Ph+ CML Iraqi patients treated with imatinib.Blood samples were collected from 42 Ph+ CML patients who have been received at least six month therapywith imatinib. DNA was extracted, and real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used for JAK2V617Fdetection. Serum levels of A
... Show MoreThe aims of the present study are to evaluate the levels of CA19-9 in sera and tissues' homogenate of breast and thyroid benign patients in order to assess its use as an early diagnostic parameter in differentiation between malignant and benign cases. The study was conducted on 8 patients with breast benign tumor and 8 patients with thyroid benign tumor, by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. The results of CA19-9 levels in sera were (15 ±1.58 and 10.67 ±2.08)U/ml respectively compared with serum CA19-9 levels of control group which was 7.74 ±4.92 U/ml, the results were found to be highly significantly in breast tumor patients and non significantly in thyroid
... 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 deals with China's soft power and diplomacy in the Middle East, and it focuses specifically on the tools and foundations of China's soft diplomacy and how it achieves its goals in the region in addition to its challenges in the region. In this regard, the study also focuses on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and its soft foundations and how they serve China’s diplomacy and soft power in the region. The study ends with a set of conclusions, perhaps the most prominent of which is that diplomacy and soft power have become a fundamental pillar of China's foreign policy to achieve its foreign goals and to establish an international system compatible with China's principles. As for the Middle East, China has established a poli
... Show MoreThe arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin to power in the Russian Federation is an important factor in delineating a new approach to Russian policy towards regions that have great strategic importance affecting its national security. Therefore, NATO's progress eastward towards these regions prompts Russia to delineate a new strategy to confront this progress as well as preserving its control in the near neighboring regions represented by the countries of Eastern Europe, especially after the changes that occurred in those regions following the color revolutions that swept the region, such as the first application of this Russian policy in 2014, through the annexation of Crimea, and the latest military operations in Ukraine i
... Show MoreReceipt date: 8/8/2020 acceptance date: 9/11/2020 Publication date: 31/12/2021
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The American-Iranian relations have been characterized by tensions since the arrival of the guardian jurist regime in Iran to leadership in 1979, as it was considered a turning point not only in the cont
... Show MoreThe Iraqi political and social arena has been characterized, subjectively and objectively, by the weakness of leadership building. This has led to a leadership crisis, which is reflected in the quality of the outcome of the process of rebuilding the state in Iraq. Thus, this building process has lacked the simplest requirements and conditions of success. It has suffered from a major and obvious failure: the situation in Iraq has raised conflict leaders, not constructive leaders, and this confirms the existence of a cultural crisis in the production of conscious, aware leadership compatible with democratic action. The weakness of leadership in Iraq is reflected in a series of ongoing crises that require radical solutions in accordance with l
... Show MoreThe objective of this review was to describe the COVID-19 complications after recovery.
The researchers systematically reviewed studies that reported post-COVID-19 complications from three databases: PubMed, Google Scholar and the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 database. The search was conducted between 21 November 2020 and 14 January 2021. Inclusion criteria were articles written in English, with primary data, reporting complications of COVID-19 after full