Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune illness, which is consider by three main features: Sclerotic changes in the skin and internal organs, Vasculopathy of small blood vessels, Particular autoantibodies (1). The most important autoantibodies appeared significantly in SSc patients are anti-topoisomerase I autoantibody (Scl-70), anti-centromere autoantibody (ACA), and anti-RNA polymerase III autoantibody (RNAP3) (2). Anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) are infrequent in rheumatic conditions and in healthy persons but occur commonly in limited systemic sclerosis (CREST syndrome), and rarely appeared in the diffuse form of systemic sclerosis (3). Anti-Ro/SSA and antiLa/SSB, antibodies directed against Ro/La ribonucleoprot

A two-year study (harvest years 2019 and 2020) was conducted to investigate the effect of a commercially available biofertilizer, in combination with variable nitrogen (N) rate, on bread baking quality and agronomic traits in hard winter wheat grown in conventional (CONV) and organic (ORG) farming systems in Kentucky, USA. The hard red winter wheat cultivar ‘Vision 45’ was used with three N rates (44, 89.6 and 134.5 kg/ha as Low, Med and High, respectively) and three biofertilizer spray regimes (no spray, one spray and two sprays). All traits measured were significantly affected by the agricultural production system (CONV or ORG) and N rate, although trends in their interactions were inconsistent between years. In Y2, yield was

Celiac disease (CD) is an inflammatory small intestinal disorder that can lead to severe villous atrophy, and malabsorption . Since the measurement of α-amylase activity is the most widely used biochemical test for the diagnosis of pancreatic and non pancreatic disease , therefore serum α-amylase were studied in the present study in an attempt to evaluate the usefulness of this enzyme in the diagnosis of celiac disease and its relationship with anti gliadin IgA and IgG and serum glucose . Thirty one patients with celiac disease were studied and compared with twenty four healthy individuals . Significant elevation of α-amylase activity , glucose and anti gliadin IgA and IgG were observed in the sera of patients with celiac diseas

     Pregnancy and delivery are physiological conditions that are marked by abrupt alterations to hormones, immunological and molecular characters. The current study aimed to evaluate oxytocin (OT), prolactin (PRL), cortisol and insulin growth factor-2 (IGF-2) levels as physiological biomarkers; programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1),interleukin-6 (IL-6) as immunological biomarkers, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs53576 and rs2254298) of oxytocin receptor gene OXTR as molecular factors in samples of Iraqi women undergoing caesarean section (CS) and normal delivery (ND). Blood samples were collected from 96 pregnant women at term with ages ranging between 16-43 years. Regarding

Antibiotic resistance is the capability of the strains to resist or protect themselves from the effects of an antibiotic. Such a resistance towards the current antimicrobials leads to the search of novel antimicrobials. Nanotechnology has been promising in different field of science and among it is the use of nanoparticles as antibacterial agents. The gastrointestinal tract seems to be the primary reservoir of uropathogenic E.coli (UPEC) in humans. UPEC strains harbour the urinary tract and cause urinary tract infection. They cause serious ailments in terms of humans. They develop resistance and increase their virulence by forming biofilms. They also show a remarkable locomotory movement with the aid of autoinducer controlled ge

Dual-species biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus generate difficult-to-treat illnesses. Nutrition stress in biofilms affects physiology, microbial metabolism, and species interactions, impacting bacteria growth and survival. Furthermore, the function of alginate, which is encoded by the algD gene, in the production of biofilms has been established. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of starvation on algD gene expression in single-species biofilm of P. aeruginosa and dual-species biofilms of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus from hospital sewage. A total of six P. aeruginosa and six S. aureus isolates were obtained from the microbiology laboratory at the Department of Biology, College of Science, Universit

Some major pollutants of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) those discharged as water produced (WP) from the AlAhdab oil field (AOF) in the ponds close to it may leak to the water resources around and eventually reaches the marshes which will affect its ecosystem. Thus, this work aims to track the availability of PAH in the water resources and the Main Outfall Drain (MOD) nearby. The determination of PAH was evaluated using “High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)”. The mean concentration of sixteen PAH in the produced water within the field was relatively high (0.01 to 10.89 g/ml) with standard deviations of (0.10.9). While, PAH outside the field were gradually diminishes down to (0.01-0.039) x10-2 g/ml which exceeds th

Abstract

Most universities in the world are largely committed to creating credible and transparent admission standards that provide justice in admission and have the ability to predict students' performance in their chosen programs. Hence, this study aimed to reveal the predictive ability of the acceptance criteria for the level of performance of master's students in the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University. Quantitative data were collected from (115) students' admission documents for those accepted in the postgraduate programs for the academic year 2019-2020, and GPA data was collected from students’ transcripts for the fall semester of 2019. Qualitative data were also collected from the interviews

The study aims to investigate the effect of Al2O3 and Al additions to Nickel-base superalloys as a coating layer on oxidation resistance, and structural behavior of nickel superalloys such as IN 738 LC. Nickel-base superalloys are popular as base materials for hot components in industrial gas turbines such as blades due to their superior mechanical performance and high-temperature oxidation resistance, but the combustion gases' existence generates hot oxidation at high temperatures for long durations of time, resulting in corrosion of turbine blades which lead to massive economic losses. Turbine blades used in Iraqi electrical gas power stations require costly maintenance using traditional processes regularly. These blades are made