Anemia of chronic disease (ACD) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are the two most important types of anemia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Functional iron deficiency in ACD can be attributed to overexpression of the main iron regulatory hormone hepcidin leading to diversion of iron from the circulation into storage sites resulting in iron-restricted erythropoiesis. The aim is to investigate the role of circulating hepcidin and to uncover the frequency of IDA in RA. The study included 51 patients with RA. Complete blood counts, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, ferritin, and hepcidin- 25 were assessed. ACD was found in 37.3% of patients, IDA in 11.8%, and combined (ACD/IDA) in 17.6%. Serum hepcidin was higher in ACD than in con

This research was conduct to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of exotoxin A (ETA) produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa on mice in comparison with (phosphate buffer saline (PBS) as a negative control. The effect of the toxin was measured by employing the cytogenetic analysis which included (the mitotic index (MI), chromosomal aberrations (CAs), micronucleus (MN) and sperm abnormalities) parameters. In order to specify the cytotoxic effect of the toxin, three doses of ETA (125, 250 and 500 ng/ml) were used. Results showed that ETA was found to cause a significant decrease in mitotic index (MI) percentage, while significant increase in micronucleus (MN), chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and sperm abnormalities parameters in compression with control wa

A procedure, depending on the derivatization and determination of aniline was depicted andvalidated in this study. 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) was used as the derivatizing agent for thedetermination of aniline. An optimization study was performed for the derivatization reaction, i.e.,the diazonium coupling reaction, the optimum parameters were as follows: 22 mM of hydrochloricacid, 54mM of sodium hydroxide, and 1.8mM of sodium nitrate. The optimization study of themethod of cloud point extraction (CPE) revealed that the extraction solvent was 0.5 ml of Triton X-100, the optimum temperature was 90 °C, and the incubation time was 25 min. The linearity,correlation coefficients, molar absorptivities, and limits of detection were improved using t

Nowadays nanoparticles are used in many fields of life all over the world, and there are numerous ways to obtain them: chemical, physical and biological processes. In recent times, the biological method for the synthesis of nanoparticles associated with using plant extract is widely spread. Optimal conditions for synthesis of silver nanoparticles using aqueous seeds extract of Myristica fragrance were highlighted in this research, such as type of plant extract, weight of extracted plant material, volume ratio of plant extract to AgNO3 and temperature of reaction. The study proved that the optimal status for AgNPs synthesis by using 10 g of M. fragrance seeds powder were added to 100 mL boiled distilled water, then homogenized and f

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become one of the most common chronic liver diseases worldwide, which characterized by steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. The aim of this designed study is to evaluate the ability of guggulsterone to prevent high fat diet induced steatohepatitis in mice. Five groups of male mice were selected and treated as the following: group I, mice had free access to standard commercial diet and considered as control group, group II, mice were fed a specially formulated high-fat diet for 12 weeks to induce non-alcoholic liver disease, while groups III, IV and V the mice were administered high fat diet containing guggulsterone at 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm concentration respectively for 12 weeks. Maintaini

High performance self-consolidating concrete HP-SCC is one of the most complex types of concrete which have the capacity to consolidated under its own weight, have excellent homogeneity and high durability. This study aims to focus on the possibility of using industrial by-products like Silica fumes SF in the preparation of HP-SCC enhanced with discrete steel fibers (DSF) and monofilament polypropylene fibers (PPF). From experimental results, it was found that using DSF with volume fraction of 0.50 %; a highly improvements were gained in the mechanical properties of HP-SCC. The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and elastic modulus improved about 65.7 %, 70.5 %, 41.7 % and 80.3 % at 28 days age, respectively

Ebastine (EBS) is a poorly water-soluble antihistaminic drug; it belongs to the class II group according to the biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS). The aim of the present work was to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and micromeritic properties of the drug, by formulating it as spherical crystal agglomerates by Quasi Emulsion Solvent Diffusion (QESD) method.

Spherical crystal agglomerates (SCAs) were prepared in presence of three solvents dichloromethane (DCM), water and chloroform as a good solvent, poor solvent and bridging solvent respectively.  Agglomeration of EBS involved the use of some hydrophilic polymers like polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG 4000), polyvinyl pyrrolidine K30 (PVP K30), D-?-tocopheryl

The effect of saline magnetized water irrigation on seed germination and seedling growth of wheat cultivar Iraq were studied. Irrigation water was supplemented with different levels of Sodium chloride 6, 12 or 18 mmhos/ cm in addition control treatment, and passed through a proper magnetic felid with 1000, 1250, 1500 or 2000 gaus in addition control treatment. The results showed significantly stimulated shoot development and led to the increase of germination, seedling emergence, area leaf, length of shoot and root and fresh and dry weight compared to the controls. Results also showed significant interaction between saline water and magnetized water. So, using magnetic treatment of saline water could be a promising technique