The study aimed to assess the level of ANG‑2 in MM patients at diagnosis and in remission state and elaborate on its correlation with interleukin‑6 (IL‑6) and beta‑2 microglobulin (B2M) levels. Sixty MM patients; 20 newly diagnosed (ND), and 40 patients in remission were included. Twenty healthy individuals were included as a control group. Plasma levels of ANG‑2, B2M, and IL‑6 were tested by enzyme‑lin ked immunosorbent assay. There are significant statistical differences between ND patients and those in remission in hemoglobin, neutrophil count, blood urea, serum creatinine, glomerular filtration rate, B2M, IL6, and ANG‑2 (P = 0.001, 0.033, 0.005, 0.001, 0.001, 0.001, 0.004, and 0.001, respectively). ANG‑2 showed significant positive correlations with B2M (P = 0.001) and IL‑6 (P = 0.012). CONCLUSION: The low ANG‑2 level in the remission group with an insignificant difference from that in the control group with a high level in the untreated patients renders it a useful indicator for treatment response follow‑up in MM. The positive correlation of ANG‑2 with B2M and IL‑6 reflects the active angiogenesis with a high tumor burden and disease progression.
Orbital varices are vein dilations in the orbit presenting various symptoms. This scoping review synthesizes existing evidence on their epidemiology, clinical features, and treatment efficacy.
Literature was reviewed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed and Scopus were searched until April 31, 2024, for articles on clinically diagnosed ocular varices detailing diagnostic methods, treatments, and outcomes. Exclusions were reviews, animal studies, and incomplete case reports. Data on study characteristics, diagnosis, management, and o
Background: migraine is a chronic neurovascular disorder characterized by intermittent attacks of sever headache with or without aura that can include various combinations of neurological, gastrointestinal tract (G.I.T), and autonomic changes, without evidence of primary structural abnormalities. The Autonomic nervous system involvement suggested by many symptoms and signs including nausea, diarrhea, constipation, coldness in the extremities, paroxysmal tachycardia and chest pain.
Objectives: To evaluate autonomic functions in patients with migraine and to clarify the autonomic dysfunction weather its sympathetic, parasympathetic, or combined. Also to assess the severity of this dysfunction and its relation to age, gender and type of
Background: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G)and Toll-like receptor-9 (TLR-9)play a role in the regulation of autoimmune diseases and inflammatory processes. Aim of the study: To detect the HLA-G + 3142G > C gene polymorphism that associated with the susceptibility to SLE patients and associated with Hepatitis B infection and TLR-9 serum level. Patients and methods: This study was done on 75 SLE patients and 75 healthy control groups. Genotyping of HLA-G + 3142G > C were detected by PCR and PCR-RFLP methods. In addition to the estimation of Hepatitis B surface (HBs)antigen status by immunochromatography technique and TLR-9 serum level by ELISA technique. Results: The HLA-G + 3142G > C gene polymorphism between the SLE patients and controls
... Show MoreTuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis; it is considered as one of the most common, infectious diseases and major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A prospective study was conducted to obtain more clarification about the impact of causative agent and its treatment to enhance autoantibodies production such as ANCA and BPI which used as diagnostic markers for several diseases, and to provide further insight into the classical risk factors (age and sex).Seventy patients with tuberculosis involved in this study, 35 of them were untreated and 35 with treatment administration these patients were attending to directorate of general health national reference laboratory in Baghdad during the period between November/ 2012 and
... Show MoreChronic Hepatitis B(CHB) is a serious sequel after Hepatitis B Virus infection, although the rate of chronicity is inverse with age but it may be associated with a significant proportion of deaths related to cirrhosis and liver cancer. HBV serology and measurement of hepatocytic enzymes with viral load can predict disease prognosis and response to treatment. HBeAg refers to a high viral replication and associated with more infectivity to others. This study aimed to determine the impact of HBeAg status in chronically infected patients on various baseline tests. A total of 90 patients with CHB infection who were included in this study. Several standardized measures used for liver function tests, viral load and hepatitis B serological
... Show MoreCytokines are signaling molecules between inflammatory cells that play a significant role in the pathogenesis of a disease. Among these cytokines are interleukins (ILs) 17A and 33, and accordingly, the current case-control study sought to investigate the role of each of the two cytokines in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixty-eight relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) Iraqi patients and twenty healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to determine serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33. Results revealed that IL-17A and IL-33 levels were significantly higher in MS patients than in controls (14.1 ± 4.5 vs. 7.5 ± 3.8 pg/mL; p < 0.001 and 65.3 ± 16
... Show MoreThe treatment of migraine headache targets the neurovascular mechanism and involves the use of serotonin receptor antagonists. Some of these drugs are used for the treatment of acute attacks; while others are effective as prophylactic measures to decrease the duration and frequency of attacks. Pizotifen, a 5-HTA antagonist, is one of the prophylactic drugs for which the clinical use resulted in low outcomes in reducing migraine symptoms. Melatonin, a serotonin derived neurohormone, was reported to exert many functions like sleep induction, anti-inflammatory, neurovascular regulation, cytoprotection and modulation of neurotransmitter release. In the view of the involvement of serotonin in the pathophysiology of migraine a
... Show MoreObjectives: The present study aims at detecting the depression among nurses who provide care for infected patients with corona virus phenomenon and to find out relationships between the depression and their demographic characteristics of age, gender, marital status, type of family, education, and years of experience of nurses in heath institutions, infection by corona virus, and their participation in training courses.
Methodology: A descriptive study is established for a period from October 10th, 2020 to April 15th, 2021. The study is conducted on a purposive (non-probability) sample of (100) nurse who are providing care for patients with COVID-19 and they are selected from the isolation wards. The instrument of the study is develope
Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) could be regarded as a set of chronic metabolic disorders which have a common aspect of hyperglycemia. The resistance in the peripheral actions of insulin or impaired insulin secretion could be the reason hepcidin which is a peptide hormone derived from liver, in systemic iron homeostasis is an essential regulator, and its lopsided production participates in the pathogenesis of iron disorders in spectrum. Osteoporosis often accompanies many diseases like ß-thalassemia, hemochromatosis, sickle liver diseases, cell disease and hemosiderosis featured by iron overload, evidences suggest that Iron overload and iron deficiency are suggested by evidences that they affect bone in a negative way, acting
... Show MoreIn this study the prevalence of acute, sub-acute and chronic toxoplasmosis were monitored in a group of Iraqi pregnant women according to the anti-T.gondii antibodies (IgG and IgM), as well as the levels of both progesterone and estrogen hormones were measured using mini-VIDAS®technique. This study demonstrated that there was high prevalence of chronic toxoplasmosis (31.70%) when it compared with acute and sub-acute type, results also showed that the acute toxoplasmosis always related with low concentration of both progesterone and estrogen which were (5.35 ± 7.15 ng/ml) and (70.66 ± 51.08 pg/ml) respectively