The study enrolled 84 women age 15-41 years with a mean age of 25.07 ± 6.6, during the period from September 2011 till March 2012 from Basrah Hospitals, Iraq. The patients group comprised 46 women with first trimester miscarriage. The control group included 38 women with first trimester successful pregnancy with no history of miscarriage. Cytokines were measured by ELISA. There were significantly higher levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2 and IL-10 in the aborted women as compared to the controls. In relation to IL-4 and IL-6 non-significant difference was detected between women with miscarriage and control groups. Significant effect of age on serum IL-2 and IL-10 in women with first trimester miscarriage was recorded while no effect observed in the levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-4 and IL-6. Furthermore, significant higher level of all Th-1 cytokines for miscarriage group than control group for women aged 25-34 years was noticed. In contrast, non-significant differences were found between estimated level for miscarriage and control groups of all Th-1 cytokines for age group >34 years. This study supports the hypothesis of role of Th-1 produced cytokines in the pathogenesis of miscarriage.
Hydatid disease is an important zoonotic disease with a worldwide distribution. In the Middle East, as well as in some other parts of the world, it has always been a serious economic and public health problem. The disease is endemic and enzootic in Iraq. In Iraq, the disease is caused by Echinococcus granulosus but a multilocular hydatid cyst of E. multilocularis has been recovered from the liver of a woman in Erbil, North Iraq. This paper documents the second case of hydatid disease caused by E. multilocularis, this time reported in Basrah, Southern Iraq.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.