Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized by chronic inflammationthat affects joints and cartilage. Bone complications such asRA-relatedosteoporosis are one of the most extra-articular manifestations. Many inflammatory mediators are released during RA disease pathophysiology; these mediators stimulate osteoclast genesis of bone by direct effects on RANKL and OPG. The study aimedto measure RANKL, OPG in RA patients treated with Etanercept only and other groups treated with Methotrexate onlyat baseline and after three months to evaluate bone state. An observational case-control prospective study was done on 30 RA patients who received MTX, 30 RA patients who received ETN, and 30 healthy,age-matched control groups. The level of RANKL and OPG was measured at baseline and after three months of therapy by immunoenzymatically assay (ELISA). The results were tabulated and statistically analyzed usingthe statistical package for social science. The result demonstrated that RANKL level had a positive correlation with age and disease duration in contrast to OPG level showed a negative correlation with age and duration of disease. In the patients group treated with MTX at baseline, the RANKL level was significantly higher (181.336±65.583) than post-therapy (166.097±69.229), while the OPG level at baseline significantly lower (594.398±133.238) than post therapy (614.499±150.879). In ETN treated patients, the level of RANKL in baseline was significantly higher than (231.247±73.134) RANKL level post-therapy (200.363±76.807), while OPG level in baseline waslower (463.263±96.392) than post therapy (503.608±107.692). The study demonstrated in baseline RANKL/OPG ratio significant higher (0.4340±0.234) than post therapy (0.3690±0.222). All RA patients had or were at high risk for osteoporosis.Both Etanarcept and methotrexate produce insignificant differences on OPG and RANKL levels, in the same time this biomarkers are not good indicators for bone state.
The control of prostheses and their complexities is one of the greatest challenges limiting wide amputees’ use of upper limb prostheses. The main challenges include the difficulty of extracting signals for controlling the prostheses, limited number of degrees of freedom (DoF), and cost-prohibitive for complex controlling systems. In this study, a real-time hybrid control system, based on electromyography (EMG) and voice commands (VC) is designed to render the prosthesis more dexterous with the ability to accomplish amputee’s daily activities proficiently. The voice and EMG systems were combined in three proposed hybrid strategies, each strategy had different number of movements depending on the combination protocol between voic
... Show More The purpose of this work is to study the classification and construction of (k,3)-arcs in the projective plane PG(2,7). We found that there are two (5,3)-arcs, four (6,3)-arcs, six (7,3)arcs, six (8,3)-arcs, seven (9,3)-arcs, six (10,3)-arcs and six (11,3)-arcs. All of these arcs are incomplete. The number of distinct (12,3)-arcs are six, two of them are complete. There are four distinct (13,3)-arcs, two of them are complete and one (14,3)-arc which is incomplete. There exists one complete (15,3)-arc.
A time series analysis can help to observe the behavior of the system and specify the system faults. In addition, it also helps to explain the various energy flows in the system and further aid in reducing the thermodynamic losses. The intelligent supervisory LabVIEW software can monitor the incoming data from the system by using Arduino microcontroller and calculates the important parameters. Energy, exergy, and anergy analysis present in this paper to investigate the system performance as well as its components. To accomplish this, a 4-ton vertical split air conditioner based on vapor compression refrigeration cycle charged with refrigerant R-22 was modified for experimental analysis. The results showed that during 540
... Show MoreIntroduction: Diabetic foot infections are one of the most severe complications of diabetes. This study was aimed to determine the common bacterial isolates of diabetic foot infections and the in vitro antibiotic susceptibility then treatment.
Methods: A swab was taken from the foot ulcer, and the aerobic bacteria were isolated and identified by cultural, microscopic and biochemical test, then by api-20E system. After that their antibiotic susceptibility pattern was determined. Then local and systemic treatment was used to treat the diabetic foot patients.
Results: Bacterial isolates belonging to twelve species were obtained from diabetic foot patients. Gram (-) bacteria were the predominant pathogens in the diabetic foot infection
Various of 2,5- disubstituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole (Schiff base, ?- lactam and azo) were synthesized from 2,5-di (4,4?-amino-1,3,4-oxadiazole which usequently synth-esized from mixture of 4- amino benzoic acid and hydrazine arch of polyphosphorus acid. The synthesized compounds were cherecterized by using some spectral data (UV, FT-IR , and 1H-NMR)
Abstract
A surface fitting model is developed based on calorimeter data for two famous brands of household compressors. Correlation equations of ten coefficient polynomials were found as a function of refrigerant saturating and evaporating temperatures in range of (-35℃ to -10℃) using Matlab software for cooling capacity, power consumption, and refrigerant mass flow rate.
Additional correlations equations for these variables as a quick choice selection for a proper compressor use at ASHRAE standard that cover a range of swept volume range (2.24-11.15) cm3.
The result indicated that these surface fitting models are accurate with in ± 15% for 72 compressors model of cooling cap
... Show MorePMMA (Poly methyl methacrylate) is considered one of the most commonly used materials in denture base fabrication due to its ideal properties. Although, a major problem with this resin is the frequent fractures due to heavy chewing forces which lead to early crack and fracture in clinical use. The addition of nanoparticles as filler performed in this study to enhance its selected mechanical properties. The Nano-additive effect investigated in normal circumstances and under a different temperature during water exposure. First, tests applied on the prepared samples at room temperature and then after exposure to water bath at (20, 40, 60) C° respectively. SEM, PSD, EDX were utilized for samples evaluation in this study. Flexural
... Show MoreA thermal evaporation technique was used to prepare ZnO thin films. The samples were prepared with good quality onto a glass substrate and using Zn metal. The thickness varied from (100 to 300) ±10 nm. The structure and optical properties of the ZnO thin films were studied. The results of XRD spectra confirm that the thin films grown by this technique have hexagonal wurtzite, and also aproved that ZnO films have a polycrystalline structure. UV-Vis measurement, optical transmittance spectra, showed high transmission about 90% within visible and infrared range. The energy gap is found to be between 3.26 and 3.14e.V for 100 to 300 nm thickness respectivly. Atomic Force Microscope AFM (topographic image ) shows the grain size incre
... Show MoreIn the current work, Punica granatum L. peel, Artemisia herba-alba Asso., Matricaria chamomilla L., and Camellia sinensis extracts were used to prepare manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanoparticles utilizing a green method. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, and Filed emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis were used to evaluate the produced MnO2 NPs. FE-SEM pictures demonstrated how agglomerated nanoparticles formed. According to FE-SEM calculations, the particle size ranged from 18.7-91.5 nm. FTIR spectra show that pure Mn-O is formed, while EDX results show that Mn and O are present. The ability to suppress biofilm growth in the produced MnO
Zinc Oxide transparent thin films (ZnO) with different thickness from (220 to 420)nm
±15nm were prepared by thermal evaporation technique onto glass substrates at 200 with
the deposition rate of (10 2) nm sec
-1
, X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the proper phase
formation of the material. The investigation of (XRD) indicates that the (ZnO) film is
polycrystalline type of Hexagonal and the preferred orientation along (002) plane. The Optical
properties of ZnO were determined through the optical transmission method using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer with wavelength (300 – 1100) nm. The optical band gap values of
ZnO thin films were slightly increased from (2.9 - 3.1) eV as the film thickn