The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Vaccine: Is it a better choice for the treatment of viral warts?

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine with topical salicylic acid (SA) in the treatment of viral warts. Methods: This non-randomised controlled trial was conducted at the Al-Sader Teaching Hospital, Basrah, Iraq, from January 2016 to April 2017. A total of 201 patients with viral warts were injected with an intradermal purified protein derivative. Subsequently, those with negative tuberculin test results received an intradermal BCG vaccination, while those with positive results underwent conventional treatment with topical SA. Patients were assessed for any signs of improvement at one, two and three months. Results: Overall, 190 patients completed the trial; of these, 133 (70%) received the BCG vaccine and 57 (30%) were treated with topical SA. Complete response to treatment was observed in 9.8% and 5.3% of patients in the BCG and SA groups, respectively (P <0.001). Cure rates were significantly higher for patients with genital (22.2% versus 7.7%; P = 0.002) and common warts (8.5% versus 0%; P = 0.001) treated with the BCG vaccine; however, the reverse was true for flat warts (12.9% versus 25%; P = 0.041). A binary logistic regression analysis indicated that BCG therapy was the only significant independent predictor of positive treatment response (odds ratio: 7.56, 95% confidence interval: 3.72–15.36; P <0.001). Conclusion: The BCG vaccine was more effective than topical SA for treating viral warts, with the best response noted in the treatment of genital warts, followed by flat warts. However, plantar warts demonstrated least response to this treatment.Keywords: Human Papilloma Viruses; Warts; Immunotherapy; BCG Vaccine; Salicylic Acid; Clinical Trial; Treatment Effectiveness

Proximate Composition of Fresh Water Prawn Marobrachium Nipponenses and Crab Potamon sp. from al-Hawizah Marshes, South of Iraq

The seasonal changes were studied in the chemical composition in muscle of caridean prawn Macrobrachium nipponenses and crab Potamon sp. from al-Hawizah marshes– south Iraq for the period from June 2016 to May 2017. that was found to be varied among the two different size groups examined. The results showed that there were clear seasonal differences in the chemical composition of both crustaceans, with the highest rate of protein 20.02% in species M. nipponenses in the spring, while the highest rate of fat for the same species 3.52% in winter, while the highest rate For the second species of protein 19.28% in the spring, while the highest rate of fat ratio in this species 2.64% in the autumn, and showed the moisture and ash ratios of the two species mentioned clear seasonal differences.In general, the protein content in muscle male and female of two crustaceans was higher in small size groups than in large size groups. The protein content in two sexes and size groups of two species were high. Keywords: Macrobrachium nipponense, proximate chemical, Protein, Fats, Carbohydrates. DOI: 10.7176/CMR/11-1-0

Cystatin C, a marker for successful aging and glomerular filtration rate, is not influenced by inflammation

Abstract Background. The plasma level of cystatin C is a better marker than plasma creatinine for successful aging. It has been assumed that the advantage of cystatin C is not only due to it being a better marker for glomerular filtration rate (GFR) than creatinine, but also because an inflammatory state of a patient induces a raised cystatin C level. However, the observations of an association between cystatin C level and inflammation stem from large cohort studies. The present work concerns the cystatin C levels and degree of inflammation in longitudinal studies of individual subjects without inflammation, who undergo elective surgery. Methods. Cystatin C, creatinine, and the inflammatory markers CRP, serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin and orosomucoid were measured in plasma samples from 35 patients the day before elective surgery and subsequently during seven consecutive days. Results. Twenty patients had CRP-levels below 1 mg/L before surgery and low levels of the additional inflammatory markers. Surgery caused marked inflammation with high peak values of CRP and SAA on the second day after the operation. The cystatin C level did not change significantly during the observation period and did not correlate significantly with the level of any of the four inflammatory markers. The creatinine level was significantly reduced on the first postoperative day but reached the preoperative level towards the end of the observation period. Conclusion. The inflammatory status of a patient does not influence the role of cystatin C as a marker of successful aging, nor of GFR

The Global Burden of Alveolar Echinococcosis

Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE), caused by the larval stage of the fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, is amongst the world's most dangerous zoonoses. Transmission to humans is by consumption of parasite eggs which are excreted in the faeces of the definitive hosts: foxes and, increasingly, dogs. Transmission can be through contact with the definitive host or indirectly through contamination of food or possibly water with parasite eggs. We made an intensive search of English, Russian, Chinese and other language databases. We targeted data which could give country specific incidence or prevalence of disease and searched for data from every country we believed to be endemic for AE. We also used data from other sources (often unpublished). From this information we were able to make an estimate of the annual global incidence of disease and disease burden using standard techniques for calculation of DALYs. Our studies suggest that AE results in a median of 18,235 cases globally with a burden of 666,433 DALYs per annum. This is the first estimate of the global burden of AE both in terms of global incidence and DALYs and demonstrates the burden of AE is comparable to several diseases in the neglected tropical disease cluster

Isolation And Characterisation Of Bacteriophages Infecting Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato

Bacterial species of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex are the main causative agents of Lyme disease. The disease is transmitted to humans by infected ticks. There are currently no vaccines available. Lyme disease can be effectively managed with antibiotics, such as Amoxicillin and Doxycycline, if it is diagnosed early. Phages (viruses that infect bacteria) may complement antibiotics to combat disease. Until now, no B. burgdorferi s.l. lytic phages have been identified, and only one temperate phage induced from B. burgdorferi CA-11.2A has been morphologically studied. The aim of this project is to isolate and characterise phages of B. burgdorferi s.l in order to investigate potential future therapeutic exploitation. Thus, ticks were targeted for B. burgdorferi s.l. and phage isolation. Subsequently, induction of prophages from several B. burgdorferi s.l. strains was carried out. The induced phages were characterized according to their morphological types, ‘potential’ virulent activities and genomes.B. burgdorferi s.l. carriage rate in ticks collected throughout UK was estimated to be 3.2% (6/187), as determined according to a published 16S rRNA PCR. However, using a novel PCR targeting the terminase gene developed in this thesis, the positive rate was 17% (31/187). This indicates that this method was more than five times more sensitive than the 16S rRNA-based PCR. Single colony isolation coupled with the whole genome sequencing demonstrated that the dominant B. burgdorferi s.l. genotypes in UK ticks were B. garinii, B. afzelii and B. burgdorferi B31. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis of B. burgdorferi s.l. cultures treated with Mitomycin C, Norfloxacin, and UV light revealed the presence of putative phages particles in twelve samples. Specifically, five myoviruses were induced from five B. burgdorferi s.l. cultures of B. afzelii ACA-1, B. garinii S18, B. burgdorferi S19, B. burgdorferi S21, and B. garinii S90. Six podoviruses were induced from six B. burgdorferi s.l. cultures of B. afzelii ACA-1, B. garinii 190P91, B. valaisiana NE218, B. burgdorferi UK, B. burgdorferi Vs185p9, and B. garinii S18 respectively. A further myovirus was morphologically identified in the B. burgdorferi B31 culture without any treatment,which represents a spontaneous phage release. In addition, some of the induced phage samples showed potential ‘anti- B. burgdorferi s.l.’ activity according to a fluorescence live/dead assay. Using of bioinformatic analysis such as PHAge Search Tool Enhanced Release (PHASTER) analysis revealed the presence of “incomplete” prophages in the studied strains. However, the presence of phage particles in the induced cultures indicates that these prophages may be complete and functional. Although progress was made to detect lytic B. burgdorferi s.l. phages, further research effort is needed to optimize the processes. B. burgdorferi s.l. phage purification was attempted in this project; the bottleneck lies in the low phage titer and a lack of ‘plaque assay’ detection method. This study opens a new door for further B. burgdorferi s.l. phage researches; and it presents evidence of B. burgdorferi s.l. phage presence and provides practical considerations for future ‘breakthrough’ in detecting B. burgdorferi s.l. phages which could be used in potential therapeutic applications to treat Lyme disease.</div

Sensorineural hearing loss in patients with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis in Basrah, Iraq

Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the effect of hemodialysis on the hearing threshold in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). Materials and Methods: Fifty-nine patients with CRF on regular hemodialysis were followed up for 1 year with a pure-tone audiometric examination every 6 months. Results: The mean age of the patients was 41.8 ± 9.2 years (range: 17–50 years). At the beginning of the study, 39 patients (66.1%) had sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). During the 12-month follow-up, 6 more patients developed SNHL giving a point prevalence rate of 76.3% at the end of the study. The hearing loss was more evident in the higher frequencies. Of the studied patients, 64.4% showed deterioration of the hearing threshold. The mean hearing threshold at the beginning of the study was 29.2 ± 21.1 dB versus 36.9 ± 17.3 dB at the end of the study (P < 0.001). No significant relation was found between age, sex, serum electrolytes, blood urea, and duration of CRF and hearing loss. Multivariate analysis showed that the duration of hemodialysis was the only significant independent predictor of SNHL. Conclusion: SNHL is common in patients with CRF on hemodialysis. It was mild to moderate in the majority of patients. Hearing impairment was most obvious at the high frequencies. Most of the patients showed further deterioration in the hearing threshold with the duration of dialysis

A High Thermal Conductivity of MgO-H₂O Nanofluid Prepared by Two-Step Technique

In this paper, the main goal is to study the impact of nanopowder volume concentration and ultrasonication treatment time on the stability and thermophysical properties of MgO-DW nanofluid at room temperature. The co-precipitation method was utilized to prepare pure MgO nanoparticles with an average particle size of 33 nm. The prepared MgO nanopowder was characterized by using XRD, SEM, and EDX analyses. Then, MgO-DW nanofluid was obtained with different volume concentrations (i.e., 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25 vol.%) and different ultrasonication time periods (i.e., 45, 90, 135, and 180 min) by using a novel two-step technique. With volume concentration and ultrasonication time of 0.15 vol.% and 180 min, respectively, good stability was achieved, according to the zeta potential analysis. With increasing volume concentration and ultrasonication time period of the nanofluid samples, the thermal conductivity measurements showed significant increases. As a result, the maximum enhancement was found to be 25.08% at a concentration ratio of 0.25 vol.% and agitation time of 180 min. Dynamic viscosity measurements revealed two contrasting trends with volume concentration and ultrasonication time. The lowest value of relative viscosity was gained by 0.05 vol.% MgO-DW nanofluid. The chemical and physical interactions between MgO nanoparticles and DW molecules play an important function in determining the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of MgO-DW nanofluid. These findings exhibit that MgO-DW nanofluid has the potential to be used as an advanced heat transfer fluid in cooling systems and heat exchangers