Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease restricted to the large intestine, characterized by superficial ulceration. It is a progressive and chronic disease requiring long-term treatment. Although its etiology remains unknown, it is suggested that environmental factors influence genetically susceptible individuals, leading to the onset of the disease. (C-X-C) ligand 9 is a chemokine that belongs to the CXC chemokine family, it plays a role in the differentiation of immune cells such as cytotoxic lymphocytes, natural killer T cells, and macrophages. Its interaction with its corresponding receptor CXCR3 which is expressed by a variety of cells such as effector T cells, CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, and macrophage, leads to stimulation of the production of IFN-γ and TNF-α and in turn, stimulates the production of Th1 chemokines which results in promoting the inflammation. Objectives: To assess the significance of serum chemokine (C-X-C) ligand 9 as a potential marker for identifying ulcerative colitis in adults with inflammatory bowel disease. Patients and Methods: This is a case-control study that included 50 patients diagnosed with UC, aged between 18 and 75 years, compared to 50 healthy controls, aged between 18 and 60 years. The study was conducted between November 2022 and March 2023, at the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Teaching Hospital at the Medical City Complex in Baghdad. The serum samples were analyzed using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique. Results: The mean ± SD in pg/ml of serum CXCL9 in patient group was 26.9 ± 9.05 and in control group was 6.4 ± 2.37 (p< 0.0001) which indicates a highly significant difference. Conclusion: CXCL 9 may be employed as a biomarker for identifying ulcerative colitis and it can be used as a tool for measuring disease activity, in addition to the possibility of being a potential therapeutic target.
Nanofiltration (NF) ceramic membrane have found increasing applications particularly in wastewater and water treatment. In order to estimate and optimize the performance of NF membranes, the membrane should be characterized correctly in terms of their basic parameters such as effective pore radius (rp) and equivalent effective thickness as well as effective surface charge ( ), the effective charge density ( ) and Donnan potential ( ). The impact of electrokinetic (zeta) potential on the membrane surface charge density, effective membrane charge density and Donnan potential at two different concentrations of the reference solutions 0.001, 0.01 M sodium chloride at various pH values from 3 to 9, and effective po
... Show MoreAn analytical model in the form of a hyperbolic function has been suggested for the axial potential distribution of an electrostatic einzel lens. With the aid of this hyperbolic model the relative optical parameters have been computed and investigated in detail as a function of the electrodes voltage ratio for various trajectories of an accelerated charged-particles beam. The electrodes voltage ratio covered a wide range where the lens may be operated at accelerating and decelerating modes. The results have shown that the proposed hyperbolic field has the advantages of producing low aberrations under various magnification conditions and operational modes. The electrodes profile and their three-dimensional diagram have been determined whi
... Show MoreRecent progress in the understanding of psoriasis has shown that the regulation of local and systemic cytokines plays an important role in its pathogenesis. Different studies evaluated the association of serum levels of some proinflammatory cytokines invivo and their correlation with severity of psoriasis. Eighty cases of psoriatic patients had been studied. Patients were divided into mild psoriasis group (30) and severe psoriasis group (50) according to severity, and (30) apparently healthy individuals ware used as acontrol group. Sera samples of all groups were collected from all individuals for the estimation levels of interleukins (IL-6 and IL-8). All mean values sera levels (IL-6 32.004 pg/ml and 17.579 pg/ml for
... Show MoreThe reaction of 2-amino-benzothiazole with bis [O,O-2,3,O,O – 5,6 – (chloro(carboxylic) methiylidene) ] – L – ascorbic acid (L-AsCl2) gave new product 3-(Benzo[d]Thaizole-2-Yl) – 9-Oxo-6,7,7a,9-Tertrahydro-2H-2,10:4,7-Diepoxyfuro [3,2-f][1,5,3] Dioxazonine – 2,4 (3H) – Dicarboxylic Acid, Hydro-chloride (L-as-am)), which has been insulated and identified by (C, H, N) elemental microanalysis (Ft-IR),(U.v–vis), mass spectroscopy and H-NMR techniques. The (L-as am) ligand complexes were obtained by the reaction of (L-as-am) with [M(II) = Co,Ni,Cu, and Zn] metal ions. The synthesized complexes are characterized by Uv–Visible (Ft –IR), mass spectroscopy molar ratio, molar conductivity, and Magnetic susceptibility techniques. (
... Show MoreEpithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. To date, an effective screening tool for ovarian cancer has not been identified Several clinical and biological factors including serum cancer antigen 125 (CA- 125) have been assessed for prognostic and predictive relevance CA-125 is an epithelial marker derived from coelomic epithelium. It is elevated in 90% of advanced ovarian cancers and in 50% of early ovarian cancers while 20% of ovarian cancers have low or no expression of CA- 125 CA-125 concentrations were measured by Mini Vidas test (VIDAS CA125 II / BIOMERIEUX / France). The median CA-125 levels were significantly higher in the sera of ovarian cancer patients than in those with benign tumors an
... Show MoreShumblan (SH) is one of the most undesirable aquatic plants widespread in the irrigation channels and water bodies. This work focuses on boosting the biogas potential of shumblan by co-digesting it with other types of wastes without employing any chemical or thermal pretreatments as done in previous studies. A maximum biogas recovery of 378 ml/g VS was reached using shumblan with cow manure as inoculum in a ratio of 1:1. The methane content of the biogas was 55%. Based on volatile solid (VS) and C/N ratios, biogas productions of 518, 434, and 580 ml/g VS were obtained when the shumblan was co-digested with food wastes (SH:F), paper wastes (SH:P), and green wastes (SH:G) respectively. No significant changes of methane contents were observ
... Show MoreAll major organs may be impacted by the connective disease systemic lupus erythematosus, a separate risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Adhesion molecules like intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecules (VCAM) can detect endothelial damage and dysfunction, which appear to play a crucial role. This study investigated whether people with SLE had elevated subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis risk factors. Traditional CAD risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia cannot entirely explain this elevation. It is thought that immunological dysfunction also increases CAD risk in SLE patients. The study aimed to assess early endothelial changes in SLE Iraqi female patients w
... Show MoreObjectives: Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) is WNT/b-catenin pathway antagonist which plays a detrimental role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). This research aimed to assess serum DKK-1 levels in diabetic patients who have and have not developed DR and, compare them with the control subjects finding out whether we can use it as an indicator for DR early diagnosis and to find out which one of the widely used two groups of antidiabetic treatments had the greater effect on this biomarker and hence on the progression of DR. Methods: The study participants were divided into two subgroups: First, 70 patients (36 male, 34 female) with type 2 diabetes mellitus, among them 35 patients diagnosed with DR and 35 with no evidence of DR, and s
... Show MoreAn effort is made to study the effect of composite nanocoating using aluminum-9%wt silicon alloys reinforced with different percentage (0.5,1,2,4)wt.% of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using plasma spraying. The effect of this composite on corrosion behavior for AA6061-T6 by extrapolation Tafel test in sea water 3.5wt% NaCl was invested. Many specimens where prepared from AA6061-T6 by the dimension (15x15x3)mm as this first set up and other steps include coating process, X-ray diffraction and SEM examination .The results show the CNTs increase the corrosion rate of the nanocomposite coatings with increasing the weight percentage of CNTs within the Al-Si matrix. Al-9wt%Si coating layer itself has less corrosion rate if compared with both n
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