Background: Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL9) has an important role recruiting the T-lymphocytes and immune response after infection by inducing T-cells accumulation around the areas associated with infections. However, this role is poorly known in relation with Toxoplasma gondii infection and also in association with thyroid hormones, which the present study is focused on. Methods: Eighty-seven women were included in this study for the period between September 2021 and February 2022. Blood samples of uninfected healthy pregnant, in addition to aborted and pregnant women infected with toxoplasmosis, were collected. Sera were then obtained and stored at -10°C. Toxo-latex agglutination test was done, followed by detection of IgM and IgG antibodies, which were identified in sera of cases and controls using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunoassay. Finally, an ELISA test for CXCL9 and thyroid hormones tests were performed as well. Results: CXCL9 levels showed a non-significant increase in comparison with the control group. This increase was observed during the first 5 months of abortion and pregnancy. Thyroid hormones T3 and TSH were significantly higher in the aborted and pregnant women than the control group. Whereas T4 results revealed lower levels in the same group in comparison to the control group, specifically during the first 5 months of abortion and pregnancy for most of the groups. Conclusion: Determining CXCL9 chemokine levels in female patients infected with Toxoplasma gondii might play an important role in early diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis, especially during the first 5 months of abortion or pregnancy as well as thyroid hormones levels can be influenced or affected by the parasite infection, which can provide an indicator of thyroid dysfunction in general.
In this manuscript has investigated the synthesis of plasma-polymerized pyrrole (C4H5N) nano-particles prepared by the proposed atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma jet through the parametric studies, particularly gas flow rate (0.5, 1 and 1.5 L/min). The plasma jet which used operates with alternating voltage 7.5kv and frequency 28kHz. The plasma-flow characteristics were investigated based on optical emission spectroscopy (OES). UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to characterize the oxidization state for polypyrrole. The major absorption appears around 464.1, 449.7 and 435.3 nm at the three flow rate of argon gas. The chemical composition and structural properties of the
... Show MoreThe preparation of activated carbon (AC) from date stones by using microwave assisted K2CO3 activation was investigated in this paper. The influence of radiation time, radiation power, and impregnation ratio on the yield and methylene blue (MB) uptake of such carbon were studied. Based on Box-Wilson central composite design, two second order polynomial models were developed to correlate the process variables to the two responses. From the analysis of variance the significant variables on each response were identified. Optimum coditions of 8 min radiation time, 660 W radiation power and 1.5 g/g impregnation ratio gave 460.123 mg/g MB uptake and 19.99 % yield. The characteristics of the AC were examined by pore structure analysis, and scan
... Show MoreSeparation of uricase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was done using (70%) satu-ration ammonium sulphate, and purification of this enzyme was done by ion ex-change chromatography on DEAE- cellulose column and eluted with linear NaCl (0-1M). Partial purified uricase gave an activity of (4.9 u/ml), protein concentration of (0.56 mg/ml), specific activity of (8.75 unit/mg) with purification folds (8.4) and a yield of (48%). The maximum purified uricase activity was detected at 35ºc and pH 8.5 with (0.12 mM.uric acid). The results shown that red cabbage extract (RCE) contain flavonoides which contain phenolic compounds and anthocyanines which glycoslated with mono or dimolecules of saccharides, while test for alkaloids, ster-oids, saponins and
... Show MoreThis paper presents an improved technique on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm. The procedure is applied on Single Machine with Infinite Bus (SMIB) system with power system stabilizer (PSS) at three different loading regimes. The simulations are made by using MATLAB software. The results show that by using Improved Ant Colony Optimization (IACO) the system will give better performance with less number of iterations as it compared with a previous modification on ACO. In addition, the probability of selecting the arc depends on the best ant performance and the evaporation rate.
We investigated at the optical properties, structural makeup, and morphology of thin films of cadmium telluride (CdTe) with a thickness of 150 nm produced by thermal evaporation over glass. The X-ray diffraction study showed that the films had a crystalline composition, a cubic structure, and a preference for grain formation along the (111) crystallographic direction. The outcomes of the inquiry were used to determine these traits. With the use of thin films of CdTe that were doped with Ag at a concentration of 0.5%, the crystallization orientations of pure CdTe (23.58, 39.02, and 46.22) and CdTe:Ag were both determined by X-ray diffraction. orientations (23.72, 39.21, 46.40) For samples that were pure and those that were doped with
... Show MoreThe performance of composite prestressed concrete beam topped with reinforced concrete flange structures in fire depends upon several factors, including the change in properties of the two different materials due to fire exposure and temperature distribution within the composition of the composite members of the structure. The present experimental work included casting of 12 identical simply supported prestressed concrete beams grouped into 3 categories, depending on the strength of the top reinforced concrete deck slab (20, 30, and 40 MPa). They were connected together by using shear connector reinforcements. To simulate the real practical fire disasters, 3 composite prestressed concrete beams from each group were exposed to high t
... Show MoreThe permeable reactive barrier (PRB) is one of the promising innovative in situ groundwater remediation technologies, in removing of copper from a contaminated shallow aquifer. The 1:1- mixture of waste foundry sand (WFS) and Kerbala’s sand (KS) was used for PRB. The WFS was represented the reactivity material while KS used to increase the permeability of PRB only. However, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) analysis proved that the carboxylic and alkyl halides groups are responsible for the sorption of copper onto WFS. Batch tests have been performed to characterize the equilibrium sorption properties of the (WFS+KS) mix in copper- containing aqueous
solutions. The sorption data for Cu+2 ions, obtained by batch experiments, have be
In this study, a double frequency Q-switching Nd:YAG laser beam (1064 nm and λ= 532 nm, repetition rate 6 Hz and the pulse duration 10ns) have been used, to deposit TiO2 pure and nanocomposites thin films with noble metal (Ag) at various concentration ratios of (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt.%) on glass and p-Si wafer (111) substrates using Pulse Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. Many growth parameters have been considered to specify the optimum condition, namely substrate temperature (300˚C), oxygen pressure (2.8×10-4 mbar), laser energy (700) mJ and the number of laser shots was 400 pulses with thickness of about 170 nm. The surface morphology of the thin films has been studied by using atomic force microscopes (AFM). The Root Mean Sq
... Show MoreIn this study, nano TiO2 was prepared with titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) as a resource to titanium oxide. The catalyst was synthesized using phosphotungstic acid (PTA) and, stearyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (STAB) was used as the structure-directing material. Characterization of the product was done by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescent spectroscopy (XRF), nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, were used to characterize the calcined TiO2 nanoparticles by STAB and PWA. The TiO2 nanomaterials were prepared in three crystalline forms (amorphous, anatase, anatase-rutile). The results showed that the
... Show MoreLow bearing capacity of weak soil under shallow footings represents one of construction problems.
Kaolin with water content converges to liquid limit used to represent the weak soil under shallow
footing prototype. On the other hand, fly ash, which can be defined as undesirable industrial waste
material, was used to improve the bearing capacity of the soft soil considered in this research. The soft
soil was prepared in steel box (36×36×25) cm and shallow square footing prototype (6×6) cm were
used .Group of physical and chemical tests were conducted on kaolin and fly ash. The soft soil was
improved by a bed of compacted fly ash placed under the footing with dimensions equal to that of
footing but with different de