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Background: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) or the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been linked to cases of mild to severe respiratory illnesses. Infections with COVID-19 constitute a worldwide pandemic, according to the World Health Organization ("WHO"). Objective: This study aimed to investigate at the relationship between a biochemical factors and COVID-19 infection in Anbar City, Iraq. All of the patients have already been given a COVID-19 diagnosis and show signs and symptoms of it. Method: A study at a Fallujah teaching hospital confirmed a diagnosis of COVID-19 in 45 patients and 50 healthy individuals . Laboratory evaluations included white blood cell count (W.B Cells), hemoglobin (Hb), Platlate count, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR), adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, LDH/ADA ratio, aspartate transaminase (AST) activity, alanine transaminase (ALT) activity, D-dimer, vitamin D, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Results: COVID-19 patients exhibit increased white blood cell count, concentration, ESR, ADA levels, and serum LDH levels, while maintaining unaffected platelet count, ALT, AST, and d-Dimer levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Measles is an extremely contagious disease characterized by generalized maculopapular rash, fever, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis. It is caused by the measles virus. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the anti-measles immunoglobulin (Ig) M positivity rate among children with clinical suspicion of having measles. Subjects and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out in Diyala Province, Iraq, from November/2020 to October/2021. A total of 425 blood samples were collected from children (≤14 years of age): 90 from patients who were clinically suspected as having measles (18 were vaccinated with measles vaccine and 72 were not); 270 from measles-vaccinated children, including those children who received all recommended vaccines in the Iraqi Expanded Program of Immunization (IEPI); and 65 from nonvaccinated children, including those children who received none of the vaccines in the IEPI. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits for the detection of anti-measles IgM were used. Results: The results found that 14 (15.6%) of clinically suspected children were positive for anti-measles IgM antibody versus 76 (84.4%) who were negative. Whereas, only one (1.5%) of the unvaccinated children was positive, and all vaccinated children were negative. Thus, clinically suspected patients had a significantly higher positivity rate compared to other study groups (P = 0.0001). Similarly, the mean ± standard deviation of anti-measles IgM concentration was significantly higher compared to other study groups (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: About one-sixth of patients clinically comparable to measles in Diyala Province actually had measles, most of them were unvaccinated, and the anti-measles IgM ELISA technique was a good marker for exploring measles cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To summarize the most highly esteemed, peer-reviewed, infectious diseases (ID) pharmacotherapy articles published in 2020. Summary. Members of the Houston Infectious Diseases Network (HIDN) nominated articles that were deemed to have noteworthy contributions to ID pharmacotherapy in 2020, including those on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). To select the most significant articles of 2020, a survey was created and distributed to members of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) to vote on their top 10 articles of general ID and COVID-19 pharmacotherapy and one noteworthy HIV/AIDS publication. A total of 40 articles were nominated by HIDN: 35 articles pertaining to general ID/COVID-19 pharmacotherapy and 5 articles with HIV/AIDS involvement. Of the 247 SIDP members who responded to the survey, 205 and 42 members voted for general ID/COVID-19 pharmacotherapy articles and HIV/AIDS related articles, respectively. The top publications are summarized. Conclusion. In a taxing year of a global pandemic, the abundant and rapid distribution of ID literature has made it challenging for clinicians to stay informed of significant publications across the ID spectrum. This review summarizes significant ID-related publications in 2020 with the goal of aiding clinicians in staying up to date on the most relevant publications in ID pharmacotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of multidrug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae has become a significant problem worldwide and also being a major threat to patients with burns infections. The therapeutic action of antimicrobial peptides derived from humans or animals or synthetic peptides attracted attention as alternatives for antibiotics in order to treat the resistant strains especially with strains isolated from burn patients. The current study investigated the role of antimicrobial peptide Indolicidin as an antibacterial agent with multidrug K. pneumonia isolates from burns. The collection of study samples has taken place at the period between November 2020 and completed at end of March 2021, it has included 250 clinical specimens as burn swabs from inpatients with burn infections admitted in four hospitals in Baghdad. The results of selective media, biochemical tests, and Vitek2 system identified 40 isolates (16%) as K. pneumoniae from all collected bacterial cultures. The results of the antimicrobial susceptibility test by using the disc diffusion method for the isolates under study showed that K. pneumoniae clinical isolates were moderate resistant to the majority of the antibiotics tested. The majority of K. pneumoniae isolates were high resistant to Erythromycin (100%) and Ceftazidime (85%), also, it was obvious resistance to Ceftriaxone, Cefepime and Cefotaxime, while the lowest percentage of resistance was for Impenem (25%) and Meropenem (38%). The results of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of indolicidine against (10) K. pneumoniae isolates which multidrug resistant and formed the strong biofilm, revealed that range of concentrations of indolicidin was (0.7-100 µg/ml) and it was obvious that there is a significant effect of indolicdin on the growth of K. pneumoniae at very low concentrations. In this study, we believe that the development of these antimicrobial peptides may become a new generation of urgently needed antimicrobials that can overcome bacterial resistance mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to determine the activity of several purine metabolic enzymes in the sera of pregnant women. These enzymes show potential as indicators to follow the progress of pregnancy. The samples of this study were collected from 75 healthy pregnant women. The age range of the sample study was 17-43 years and 25 samples were used as control (non-pregnant women in the normal physiological state). Purine metabolic enzyme activity was compared among the three groups with each other and with control. Results appeared high significantly with p ≤ 0.05 in group III compared with group I of adenosine deaminase and the control group. Pregnant women showed increase significantly level of 5-nucleotidase (5-NT) and alkaline phosphatase (AlP) enzyme activity, particularly in the groups III of 5-NT and AlP compared with group I of 5-NT and AlP, the control group was found to possess equal 5-NT and AlP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was done to evaluatethe effects of anti-diabetic drugs (metformin and metformin plus insulin ) onapoptosis factors including : serum tumour necrosis factorsoluble Receptor 1(TNF-R1) Concentrationsand TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2), Serum Small Mothers against Decapentaplegic family member1 (Smad1) as anew marker of diabetic nephropathy (DN), Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), Glycated HaemoglobinA1c (HbA1c%),insulinconcentration, insulin resistance (IR), urea and creatinine in type 2 diabetic patients. The study involved 51subjectssuffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus divided into 3 groups. The first group involves 17 patients and treated with metformin(as monotherapy),the second group involves of 17treated witha combination therapy ( metformin plus insulin), whereas the third group involves 17 healthy subjects as control group. Age,duration of disease and body mass index (BMI) have been determined. The results showed that the concentration of TNF-R1, Smad1 and Hb A1c% was higher in metformin monotherapy group when compared with metformin plus insulin therapy group and control group, while the concentration of TRAIL- R2, Insulin and IR was higher in metformin plus insulin therapy group than that in control group. Study conclude that using of metformin plus insulin as a combination therapyin T2DM patients can reduce (TNF-R1, Smad1 and HbA1c% ), thereby reducing the risk of developing complications related to kidney disease (Diabetic nephropathy), but did not reduce the level of TRAIL-R2 and IR in type 2 diabetic patients. So we recommend usingof metformin plus insulin as a combination therapy more than using of metformin as a monotherapy in the treatment of T2DM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the the influence of anti-diabetic drugs (sulfonylureas) in type two diabetic patients and the risk of developing diabetes complications related to kidney disease (Diabetic Nephropathy ) compared to healthy subjects by measuring influence of some apoptosis factors ( serum Tumor necrosis factor soluble Receptor-1(TNF-R1) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor-2 (TRAIL-R2)) concentrations, Serum Small mothers against decapentaplegic (Smad1 ) as anew marker of diabetic nephropathy (DN),Superoxide dismutase concentration (SOD),Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c%), Fasting plasma glucose (FPG),insulin concentration, insulin resistance (IR),urea and creatinine .A samples of convenience composed of 17 type 2 diabetic patients with sulfonylureas monotherapy and 17 normal subjects above the age of 40 years were recruited . Age,duration of disease and body mass index (BMI) was created. The mean levels of Smad1 and TRAIL- R2 in diabetics with sulfonylureas treatment, they were significantly higher compared to control subjects, while the means of SOD have low level in diabetic subjects, and the mean levels of TNF-R1 and IR were non-significant in diabetic with Sulfonylureas treatment compared to control subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To provide a summarization of the most significant infectious diseases (ID) pharmacotherapy articles published in peer-reviewed literature in 2023. Summary: Members of the Houston Infectious Diseases Network (HIDN) nominated notable articles providing significant contributions to ID pharmacotherapy in 2023. Article nominations included those pertaining to general ID and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pharmacotherapy. Out of the 31 articles nominated by HIDN members, 22 pertained to general ID pharmacotherapy, and 9 pertained to HIV/AIDS pharmacotherapy. To aid selection of the most notable articles of 2023, a survey was created and distributed to members of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP). Of the 153 SIDP members who participated in the survey, there were 118 recorded votes for the top 10 general ID pharmacotherapy articles and 55 votes were recorded for the top HIV/AIDS article. The most notable publications are summarized. Conclusion: Advances in antimicrobial stewardship and infectious disease states continue to occur. Sustained growth in the publication of ID-related articles over the past year contributed to this review’s aim to aid clinicians in remaining current on potentially practice-changing ID pharmacotherapy publications from 2023. This review provides a summary of recently published ID literature, including emphasis on antimicrobial stewardship, appropriate treatment durations, new antimicrobials, and drug-resistant organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]