The Growth Differentiation Factor -15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily. İt represents an example of the stress response cytokines. It's mostly found in cardiac myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vascular endothelial cells, whether they're generated normally or not. GDF-15 levels have increased and are associated with cardiovascular risk. Aim of the study: To investigate the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with the level of plasma GDF-15 in a group of hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A case-control study involved 90 individuals, 60 hypertensive patients (36 on ACE inhibitors and 24 on ARBs) and 30 healthy individuals. Serum GDF-15 was measured and compared statistically between the two groups. Results: serum GDF-15 was significantly higher in both groups of hypertensive patients compared to the control group. İn addition, there was no significant difference in mean serum GDF-15 concentration between patients treated with ACE inhibitors with those treated with angiotensin II receptor blockers. Conclusion: GDF-15 increases in hypertensive patients and might be a reasonable marker of cardiovascular disease. Both ACE inhibitors and ARBs are not powerful enough to decrease GDF-15 concentration to that of the control group.
Genetic polymorphisms of genes whose products are responsible for activities, such as xenobiotic metabolism, mutagen detoxification and DNA-repair, have been predicted to be associated with the risk of developing lung cancer (LC). The association of LC with tobacco smoking has been extensively investigated, but no studies have focused on the Arab ethnic- ity. Previously, we examined the association between genetic polymorphisms among Phase I and Phase II metabolism genes and the risk of LC. Here, we extend the data by examining the correlation of OGG1 Ser326Cys combined with CYP1A1 (Ile462Val and MspI) and GSTP1 (Ile105Val and Ala103Val) polymorphisms with the risk of LC. Polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism (
... Show MoreThyroid hormones (TH) regulate the metabolic processes required for normal development and growth; also, to organizemetabolism in adults, any defect in thyroid function leads to abnormality in thyroid hormones level. The current study hasbeen designed to find the relationship between retinol-binding protein-4 and progranulin in the serum of Iraqi women withhypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, also, to study whether these patients are exposed to a risk of developing diabetes mellitus,and PGRN may be a biomarker in detection early stage of diabetes mellitus.Materials and Methods: in this study, serum samples were obtained from 50 Iraqis women patients, [25 patients withhypothyroidism (G2) and 25 patients with hyperthyroidism (G3)] in addition
... Show MoreHemogloin (Hb) and serum ferritin levels are used to assess anemia in pregnancy. Some studies referred to the influence of maternal age, body mass index (BMI) and parity on Hb and serum ferritin levels. The study aimed to examine the possible association of maternal Hb and serum ferritin with maternal age, parity, and BMI in a sample of pregnant women in Baghdad.
Ninety healthy pregnant women, grouped in three equal groups according to the pregnancy trimester, and thirty apparently healthy non-pregnant women from Baghdad were enrolled in this observational study. Blood and serum samples were obtained for the estimation of Hb and serum ferritin levels.
The pooled data of participants showed a n
... Show MoreThis article reviews the technical applicability of nanofiltration membrane process for the removal of nickel, lead, and copper ions from industrial wastewater.
Synthetic industrial wastewater samples containing Ni(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) ions at various concentrations (50, 100, 150 and 200 ppm), under different pressures (1, 2, 3 and 4 bar), temperatures (10, 20, 30 and 40 oC), pH (2, 3, 4, 5 and 5.5), and flow rates (1, 2, 3 and 4 L/hr), were prepared and subjected treated by NF systems in the laboratory. Suitable NF membrane was chosen after testing a number of NF membranes (University of Technology-Baghdad), in terms of production and removal. NF system was capable of removing more than (85%, 78%, and 66% for Ni(II
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, AA Noaimi, MS Younis, BS Al-Sultani, Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 2015 - Cited by 8
Abstract Objective: The underlying molecular basis of ischemic heart diseases (IHDs) has not yet been studied among Iraqi people. This study determined the frequency and types of some cardiovascular genetic risk factors among Iraqi patients with IHDs. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study recruiting 56 patients with acute IHD during a 2-month period excluding patients >50 years and patients with documented hyperlipidemia. Their ages ranged between 18 and 50 years; males were 54 and females were only 2. Peripheral blood samples were aspirated from all patients for troponin I and DNA testing. Molecular analysis to detect 12 common cardiovascular genetic risk factors using CVD StripAssay® (ViennaLab Diagnostics GmbH, Austria) was performed
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. Amplification or over-expression of the ERBB2 (HER/neu) gene occurs in approximately 15-30% of breast cancer cases and it is strongly associated with an increased disease recurrence and a poor prognosis. Determination of HER2/neu status is crucial in the treatment plan as that positive cases will respond to trastuzumab therapy. It has been used to test for HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry as a first step and then to study only the equivocal positive cases (score 2+) by in situ hybridization technique. The aim of our study is to compare between immunohistochemistry and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in assessment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu)
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: The rapidly growing knowledge regarding factors controlling tumour growth, with the new modalities of therapy acting on the biological activity of the tumours draw the attention of most cancer researches nowadays and represent a major focus for clinical oncology practice. For the detection of HER2/neu protein overexpression and gene amplification, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in-situ hybridisation (ISH) is the recommended techniques, respectively, with high concordance between the two techniques. The current United Kingdom recommendations for HER2/neu testing are either for a two-tier system using IHC with reflex ISH testing in equivocal positive cases, or a one-tier ISH strategy. AIM: To compare the results of HER2/neu gene s
... Show MoreAnalyze the relationship between genetic variations in the MTHFR gene at SNPs (rs1801131 and rs1801133) and the therapy outcomes for Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study was conducted on a cohort of 95 RA Iraqi patients. Based on their treatment response, the cohort was divided into two groups: the responder (47 patients) and the nonresponder (48 patients), identified after at least three months of methotrexate (MTX) treatment. A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) technique was employed to analyze the MTHFR variations, specifically at rs1801133 and rs1801131. Overall, rs1801131 followed both codominant and dominate models, in which in
Transition metal complexes of Co(II) and Ni(II) with azo dye 3,5-dimethyl-2-(4-nitrophenylazo)-phenol derived from 4-nitoaniline and3,5-dimethylphenol were synthesized. Characterization of these compounds has been done on the basis of elemental analysis,electronic data, FT-IR,UV-Vis and 1 HNMR, as well as magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements. The nature of thecomplexes formed were studies following the mole ratio and continuous variation methods, Beer ' s law obeyed over a concentrationrange (1x10 -4 - 3x10 -4 M). High molar absorbtivity of the complex solutions were observed. From the analytical data, thestoichiomerty of the complexes has been found to be 1:2 (Metal:ligand). On the basis of physicochemical data tetrahedral
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