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.
In order to study the dynamic response of historical masonry structures, a scaled down brick masonry model constructed in civil engineering department at Baghdad University to simulate a part of a real case study, which is Alkifil historic minaret. Most of the previous researches about masonry structures try to understand the behavior of the masonry under seismic loading by experimental and numerical methods. In this paper, the masonry units (bricks) simulated in scale (S= 1/6) with the exact shape of the prototype bricks. Cementitious tile adhesive was selected to be the mortar for the modeling. The height of the model designed to be 1.5 m with a 0.5 m diameter. Detailed construction steps were presented in this paper. Experts buil
... Show MoreN-type Tin dioxide thin films with thickness (350 nm) prepared by thermal evaporation method. The thin film SnO2 was doped with Ag by the rate (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03). Atomic Force Microscopic (AFM) was adopted to determine the grain size and roughness of the film surface. The electrical properties were determined by mean of Hall Measurement system and mobility was calculated. SnO2: Ag/P–Si photodetectors demonstration the highest described visible responsivity of (0.287 A/W) with the Ag ratio of (0.03). I–V characteristics with different power density were measured. The best sensitive value of the spectral response, specific detectivity and quantum efficiency at wavelength (422 nm).
An optical system including quantum dot cylindrical Fresnel lens (CFL) has been designed by using Zemax optical designing program. Quantum dot cylindrical Fresnel lens has a relatively small thickness compared to conventional lenses and high absorbance. It contains grooves in the form of parallel lines, and each groove represents an individual lens that works to change the path of light falling on it to a single focal line. (CFL) is characterized by its small focal length despite its large area and small thickness, due to the nature of its design that gives this feature, which is applied in many optical systems (imaging and non- imaging system). In this paper, the visual properties of the (CFL) were studied as it is one of the impor
... Show MoreThe leading causes of death, particularly among the elderly, are cardiovascular illnesses, which are frequently linked to altered lifestyle patterns. Numerous academic studies on health and disease have stressed the role of micronutrients like zinc. Furthermore, both healthy and unwell patients are increasingly consuming dietary supplements that contain micronutrients for wellbeing. Cardiovascular disease can be brought on by trace element deficiencies, particularly zinc insufficiency. This study's goal is to analyze current theories regarding the benefits of zinc supplementation for people with cardiovascular problems. We used reliable websites like Google Scholar, PubMed, and Research Gate to find the most recent papers. Preprints
... Show MoreThe world is confronted with the twin crisis of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation caused by fossil fuel usage. Biodiesel produced from renewable feedstocks such as Jatropha seed oil or animal fats by transesterification offers a solution. Although biodiesel has been produced from various vegetable oils such as Jatropha seed oil, the reaction kinetics studies are very few in literature, hence the need for this study. Jatropha curcas seed oil was extracted and analyzed to determine its free fatty acid and fatty acid composition. The oil was transesterified with methanol at a molar ratio of methanol to oil 8:1, using 1% sodium hydroxide catalyst, at different temperature
... Show MoreNew technologies have risen into popularity causing the Liquid membrane techniques to evolve over other separation techniques due to its high selectivity and recovery, increased fluxes, and reduced investment and operating cost. This work focuses on extracting Methylene Blue (MB), a cationic dye using a simple BLM separation technique from its aqueous phase. It combines extraction and stripping in a single unit operation. The feed phase was an aqueous solution of MB, the solvent chosen was soybean oil for the liquid/organic membrane phase, and tri-octyl amine acted as a carrier. The strip phase was a hydrochloric acid solution for this study. A two-phase equilibrium study was done to choose the correct solvent, carrier,
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Cochlear implant has become a routine procedure for management of severe sensorineural hearing loss. Cochlear implant extrusion is one of the most devastating complication of this procedure. A double layer closure of pericranial flap and scalp rotational flap has being showed to decrease the rate of late implant extrusion.OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of the pericranial flap as second layer coverage after cochlear implant extrusion.PATIENTS AND METHODS:Eight patients with cochlear implant extrusion in Al-Shaheed Gazi Al-Hariri hospital were operated on by using two layer closure ; the pericranial flap as salvage layer used to cover the cochlear implant and scalp rotational flap as a routine coverage,
... Show MoreThis paper aims to evaluate the reliability analysis for steel beam which represented by the probability of Failure and reliability index. Monte Carlo Simulation Method (MCSM) and First Order Reliability Method (FORM) will be used to achieve this issue. These methods need two samples for each behavior that want to study; the first sample for resistance (carrying capacity R), and second for load effect (Q) which are parameters for a limit state function. Monte Carlo method has been adopted to generate these samples dependent on the randomness and uncertainties in variables. The variables that consider are beam cross-section dimensions, material property, beam length, yield stress, and applied loads. Matlab software has be
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