KUFA MEDICAL JOURNAL

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a common public health issue around the world. Insulin resistance and glucose intolerance play important role in the etiology of polycystic ovarian syndrome and the serum mannose is incorporated in metabolism of glucose.Aim of study: Determination of the association between serum mannose level and polycystic ovarian syndrome.Patients and Methods: A case control study enrolled eighty eight women were divided as forty four women with polycystic ovarian syndrome and forty four women without polycystic ovarian syndrome presented to outpatient clinic at Fertility Center/Al Sader Medical City and outpatient clinic of Al- Zahraa Teaching Hospital in Najaf city-Iraq during the period from 1st of February till 31st of December, 2020. Results: The mean Serum Mannose level of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome 7.37 was significantly higher than mean serum mannose of controls 1.32 (p<0.001). Cutoff serum mannose level of 1.98 had acceptable validity results (90.9% sensitivity, 90.9% specificity, 94% PPV, 90.5% NPV and 90% accuracy). The means of serum level testosterone and luteinizing hormones were significantly higher among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, while mean follicular stimulating hormone level was significantly lower among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome.Conclusions: The serum mannose level is significantly increased in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome which may indicate its possible role in the pathophysiology of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Background: This study evaluated the anticancer effects of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) generated by reducing hydrated gold metal ions in the presence of aqueous pomegranate peel extract.Aim of study: To test the possibility that Au-NPs generated from the pomegranate aqueous extract could be employed as an anti-cancer therapy.Materials and methods: The study aimed to evaluate Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using a laser at a wavelength of 532 nm with green gold particles as a photosensitizer in in-vivo experiment. Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were produced by reducing hydrated gold metal ions in the presence of aqueous pomegranate peel extract. Using UV-visible spectroscopy, the absorption peak of the gold particles was found near 550-592 nm. All diffraction peaks for 2θ at = 37.8227º at 43.7014º, 63.8103º and 77.1540º correspond to the (111), (200), (220), and (311) levels, respectively by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, imaging confirmed Au-NP by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the nanoparticle size ranged between 19.96 ± 0.784 nm. Forty Mature Swiss females weighing 20–25 g and aged 6–8 weeks were used, the animals were placed in well-ventilated rooms.Results: The best exposure time to eradicate the tumor is with a duration of exposure of 30 minutes using the diode laser, as histological investigations indicated the development of anti-immunity with the same exposure period.

On a global scale, thalassemia is the most frequent genetic condition. The reason that has made thalassemia so widespread are unknown, but they are thought to be related to malaria's geographic distribution. Children with thalassemia have shorter red cell lives, fetal hemoglobin in their red cells longer than normal, and more susceptible red cells to oxidative stress. In humans, thalassemia major is a prevalent hemoglobinopathy. Because thalassemia patients require multiple blood transfusions which is a common transmission vector for hepatitis C virus (HCV), numerous studies have found varying prevalence of hepatitis C among thalassemia major patients. As a result, this study was carried out to discover anti-HCV in thalassemia patients in our location. The main aim of this study is to find out the factors that increase the chance of getting HCV infection in thalassemia patients via a clinical and serological investigation of those patients in Holy Najaf. This is a descriptive analytic study carried out at The Hematology Center in al–Zahraa Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Children in Holy Najaf from October 2019 to October 2020. A total number of 550 patients, 330 males and 220 females, who registered in thalassemic center were surveyed; among them, 48 thalassemic patients were found to have HCV infection when their medical records were analyzed. A detailed clinical account was made for every patient by using a proforma, taking into account information like name, age, sex, residency, age at starting blood transfusion, frequency of blood transfusion per month, splenectomized or not, blood group, HCV antibodies test, and liver function test. The total infected donors with HCV were 43 (0.17%) and 62 (0.30%) at 2019 and 2020 respectively. The study group comprised 48 thalassemic patients, 33 (68.75%) males and 15 (31.25%) females. The mean ± SD age was 18.4 ± 7.57months ranging from 2 to 35 years old. There was a direct association between age and seropositivity to anti-HCV as the latter was significantly associated with older ages (P ≤ 0.01). However, there was no association between gender and anti-HCV seropositivity as there were no significant differences (P= 0.653). Out of 48 patients, 26 (54.14%) live in urban while 22 (45.17%) live in rural areas. In regard to residency, however, there was no direct relationship (P ≤ 0.01) between the residency and the seropositivity to anti-HCV. Yet, there is a high significant relationship (P ≤ 0.01) between frequency of blood transfusion per month and seropositivity to anti-HCV. HCV seropositivity was significantly associated with the longer duration of the disease (P ≤ 0.01). Besides, patients of O+ blood group represented a higher (P ≤ 0.01) seropositivity to anti-HCV than in patients with other blood groups; meanwhile, patients with Rh- showed a lower degree of seropositivity to anti-HCV. In addition, the study showed a highly significant (P≤ 0.01) relationship between splenectomy and seropositivity to anti-HCV.

Atrioventricular septal defect is a spectrum of congenital heart defects that can be classified as either complete or partial with the complete form being the most common and usually present in the neonatal period with congestive heart failure. However, partial defects can remain asymptomatic and present later in adulthood with variable degrees of heart failure. The case under investigation is a middle aged female with a 2-year history of worsening dyspnea and recurrent chest infections due to undiagnosed partial atrioventricular septal defects. As a conclusion, it is important to establish a screening program to detect the asymptomatic cases early and prevent delay consequences.