Background: Several infectious lung diseases often develop in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially during immunosuppressive medication, including disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The present study aimed to determine the role of respiratory tract bacterial infection in RA activity. Methods: Blood and sputum samples were collected from 31 patients with RA and 12 healthy subjects as control. The bacterial isolates were isolated and identified in collected sputum by biochemical tests and Vitec 2 system. Results: In the present study, thirty-one patients with RA were compared with 12 healthy subjects. Eight patients with RA were not infected with pathogenic bacteria (RA-NIPB) (25.8%). Twenty-three RA patients were infected with pathogenic bacteria (RA-IPB) (74.19%). From 23 RA-IPB, 10 RA patients were infected with Staphylococcus aureus, 6 RA patients were infected with Klebsiella pneumonia, 4 RA patients were infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae, and 3 RA patients were infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. No pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the sputum of a healthy subjects. There was no significant difference between RA-NIPB and RA-IPB in terms of the level of disease activity score DAS28. Conclusion: The current study showed that patients with RA have a higher incidence of being infected with pathogenic bacteria than the healthy control group. No significant effect of bacterial species infection on the level of DAS28. The present study is the pioneer study that showed no effect of bacterial respiratory infections and different RA treatments on RA disease activity.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of mouth rinses (Biofresh and ZAK) on the surface micro hardness
of two light cure restorative material (Tetric ceram ivoclar-vivadent) and (3M Z 250) dental
composite.
Methodology: The microhardness values of (sixty) composite specimens were measured at the top
surfaces after 24 hours of immersion in different solutions (Biofresh, Zak mouth wash and distilled
water as control). Comparison done using descriptive statistics (mean, SD, SEM, minimum and
maximum values) and inferential statistics (ANOVA and LSD) test.
Results: The biofresh mouth rinse which has high alcohol containing has less effect on
microhardness of tetric ceram than the zak &distiled water , while the effect
Low- and medium-carbon structural steel components face random vibration and dynamic loads (like earthquakes) in many applications. Thus a modification to improve their mechanical properties, essentially damping properties, is required. The present study focuses on improving and developing these properties, significantly dampening properties, without losing the other mechanical properties. The specimens used in the present study are structural steel ribbed bar ISO 6935 subjected to heating temperatures of (850, 950, and 1050) ˚C, and cooling schemes of annealing, normalizing, sand, and quenching was selected. The damping properties of the specimens were measured experimentally with the area under the curve for the loadi
... Show MoreAbstract: This study aims to investigate the effects of solvents of various polarities on the electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra of RhB and Rh6G. The singlet‐state excited dipole moments (me) and ground state dipole moments (mg) were estimated from the equations of Bakshiev -Kawski and Chamma‐ Viallet using the variation of Stokes shift along with the solvent’s dielectric constant (e) and refractive indexes (n). The observed singlet‐state excited dipole moments were found to be larger than the ground‐state ones. Moreover, the obtained fluorescence quantum yield values were influenced by the environment of the fluorescing molecule. Consequently, the concentration of the dye solution, excited singlet state absorption and
... Show MoreDue to economic reasons or need for environmental conservatism or also preserve the natural resources; there has been an increasing shift towards the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials in the pavement construction industry. Therefore, use the Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) has been enormously increased in pavement construction and has been become common practice in many countries. Nevertheless, this is a relatively new concept in Iraq, and has to be remarked that is not used RAP in the production of HMA and this valuable material is mostly degraded. For this purpose, the reclaimed materials were collected from deteriorated pavement segments. The components of asphalt mixtures consist of: two asphalt penetration grades (40-5
... Show MoreBackground: Apicoectomy and retrograde filling is indicated when conventional endodontic treatment is impossible or failed to achieve apical seal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ER: YAG laser on apical microleakage. Materials and Methods: Sixty extracted single-rooted teeth were used in this study. The roots were divided into six groups. Group 1: apicoectomy by fissure bur, and apical cavities prepared by round bur, then cavities were filled with MTA. Group 2: the roots preparations and fillings were the same as group 1, then the apical areas were treated by Er:YAG Laser. Group 3: apicoectomy by fissure bur, and apical cavities prepared by ultrasound retrotip and cavities were filled with MTA. Group 4: the roots prepara
... Show MoreThe study aims to investigate the relationship between the gender diversity of board director, the accounting conservatism and firm value in Iraqi firms. The sample was represented by 30 Iraqi firms listed on the Iraqi market over the period 2017. The research was based on the main hypothesis that gender diversity has a positive relationship with conservatism and firm value, that conservatism as an intermediate variable will enhance the positive relationship between gender diversity and firm value. The study reached results that support the research hypotheses. The appointment of females to the board helps improve the provision of conservative accounting information and avoids overstate when reporting earnings. Based on these res
... Show MorePVA, Starch/PVA, and Starch/PVA/sugar samples of different
concentrations (10, 20, 30 and 40 % wt/wt) were prepared by casting
method. DSC analysis was carried; the results showed only one glass
transition temperature (Tg) for the samples involved, which suggest
that starch/PVA and starch/PVA/sugar blends are miscible. The
miscibility is attributed to the hydrogen bonds between PVA and
starch. This is in a good agreement with (FTIR) results. Tg and Tm
decrease with starch and sugar content compared with that for
(PVA). Systematic decrease in ultimate strength, due to starch and
sugar ratio increase, is attributed to (PVA), which has more hydroxyl
groups that made its ultimate strength higher than that for