Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by chronic inflammation that essentially affects the small intestine and is caused by eating gluten-containing foods. This study sought to determine gene expression of NLRP3 Inflammasome in peripheral blood of Iraqi CD children using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay. Thirty children with CD (12 males and 18 females) were enrolled in the study and their age range was 3-15 years. The diagnosis of the disease was confirmed by serological examinations and intestinal endoscopy. A control sample of 20 age-matched healthy children was also included. The children were stratified for age, gender, body max index (BMI), histological findings, and marsh classification. Further, the sera were examined for IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibody, IgA anti-gliadin antibody, and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β). Based on Marsh classification, the results revealed that the majority of patients (70%) had partial villous atrophy (Marsh Ш 3A), while children with subtotal and total villous atrophy (Marsh III: 3B/3C) were presented with a lower frequency (30.0%). Neither Marsh I nor Marsh II has been observed among the patients studied. Serum levels of anti-tTG and anti-gliadin IgA antibodies were significantly higher in CD children than in control children (73.8 and 31.8 vs. 0.8 U//ml, respectively; p < 0.001). Conversely, IL-1β serum level was decreased in CD children but the difference was not significant (35.5vs. 53.4 pg/ml; p = 0.285). In the case of NLRP3 inflammasome, the Relative Fold Change method (2-∆∆Ct) was used to assess the gene expression. The results revealed that the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome was decreased by 0.594 fold in CD children. In conclusion, the NLRP3 inflammasome was down-regulated in the present sample of CD children, and it was accompanied by a decreased serum level of IL-1β.
An experiment was carried out to study the effect of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil texture on the distance of the wetting front, cumulative water infiltration (I), infiltration rate (IR), saturated water conductivity (Ks), and water holding capacity (WHC). Three levels ( 0, 10, 20, and 30 g OC kg-1 ) from organic carbon (OC) were mixed with different soil materials sandy, loam, and clay texture soils. Field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP) were estimated. Soil materials were placed in transparent plastic columns(12 cm soil column ), and water infiltration(I) was measured as a function of time, the distance of the wetting front and Ks. Results showed that advance we
Cadastral map environment is directed, more than ever before, towards Artificial Intelligence use to produce fast and accurate maps and keep up with the huge population growth. The traditional approach currently in production of maps is expensive and effort-intensive in addition to be considered as highly time-consuming process. UAV-based cadastral mapping imagery that use automatic techniques are newly being exploited to accelerate the process of production or updating. The state-of-the-art intelligent algorithms are capable to extract land boundaries from images better than conventional techniques. This paper presents an automatic workflow of cadastral map production based on land boundary and automatic f
... Show MoreWireless sensor networks (WSNs) represent one of the key technologies in internet of things (IoTs) networks. Since WSNs have finite energy sources, there is ongoing research work to develop new strategies for minimizing power consumption or enhancing traditional techniques. In this paper, a novel Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) algorithm is proposed for mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSNs) for energy saving. Performance evaluation of the clustering process with the GMM algorithm shows a remarkable energy saving in the network of up to 92%. In addition, a comparison with another clustering strategy that uses the K-means algorithm has been made, and the developed method has outperformed K-means with superior performance, saving ener
... Show MoreIn subterranean coal seam gas (CSG) reservoirs, massive amounts of small-sized coal fines are released during the production and development stages, especially during hydraulic fracturing stimulation. These coal fines inevitably cause mechanical pump failure and permeability damage due to aggregation and subsequent pore-throat blockage. This aggregation behavior is thus of key importance in CSG production and needs to be minimized. Consequently, such coal fines dispersions need to be stabilized, which can be achieved by the formulation of improved fracturing fluids. Here, we thus systematically investigated the effectiveness of two additives (ethanol, 0.5 wt % and SDBS, 0.001 and 0.01 wt %) on dispersion stability for a wide range of condit
... Show MoreIn situ gel can be defined as a polymer solution administered as a liquid and when exposed to some physiologic condition such as thepH, ionic, temperature modulation or solvent and UV induced gelation undergo to phase transition to a semisolid gel. Ketotifenfumarate belongs to the histamine H1 receptor antagonists, and Ketotifen fumarate is used in the treatment of allergic conditions likeconjunctivitis and rhinitis. This work aims to study the natural polymer effects (xanthan gum,gellan gum) on the properties of pH-trigger in situ ocular gel, then compared the drug-releasing rate of optimized formula with the market ketotifen eye drop. Eightformulations (F1-F8) were prepared using different concentrations of xanthan gum, gellan gum with ca
... Show MoreThe Euphrates River Basin in Iraq suffers from climate changes represented by the scarcity of precipitation and the increase in temperatures, which is directly reflected in the discharge rates and the increase in total dissolved solids, and consequently, the increase in the dissolved loads in the river. Four measurement stations (Haditha, Ramadi, Fallujah, and Al-Hindiya) in the upper reach of the Euphrates River were investigated. Available data were analyzed from 1970 to 2020 related to precipitation (mm) and temperatures (°C). The results showed a clear decrease in precipitation rates over the years, while a clear increase in air temperature rates was observed. The discharge rates decreased temporally and spatially downs
... Show MoreIraqi western desert is characterized by a widespread karst phenomenon and caves. Euphrates formation (Lower Miocene) includes enormous sinkholes and cavities within carbonate rocks that usually cause severe damages to any kind of engineering facilities built over it. 3D resistivity imaging techniques were used in detecting this kind of cavities in complicated lithology. The 3D view was fulfilled by collating seven 2D imaging lines. The 2D imaging survey was carried out by Dipole-dipole array with (n) factor and electrode spacing (a) of 6 and 2m respectively. The horizontal slices of the 3D models give a good subsurface picture. There are many caves in all directions (x, y, z). They reveal many small caves near the surface. Thes
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