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 this work; Silicon dioxide (SiO2) were fabricated by pulsed
laser ablation (PLA). The electron temperature was calculated by
reading the data of I-V curve of Langmuir probe which was
employed as a diagnostic technique for measuring plasma properties.
Pulsed Nd:YA Glaser was used for measuring the electron
temperature of SiO2 plasma plume under vacuum environment with
varying both pressure and axial distance from the target surface. The
electron temperature has been measured experimentally and the
effects of each of pressure and Langmuir probe distance from the
target were studied. An inverse relationship between electron
temperature and both pressure and axial distance was observed.
Artificial roughness applied to a Solar Air Heater (SAH) absorber plate is a popular technique for increasing its total thermal efficiency (ηt−th). In this paper, the influence of geometrical parameters of V-down ribs attached below the corrugated absorbing plate of a SAH on the ηt−th was examined. The impacts of key roughness parameters, including relative pitch p/e (6–12), relative height e/D (0.019–0.043), angles of attack α (30–75°), and Re (1000–20,000), were examined under real weather conditions. The SAH ηt−th roughened by V-down ribs was predicted using an in-house developed conjugate heat-transfer numerical model. The maximum SAH ηt−th was shown to be 78.8% as predicted under the steady-state condition
... Show MoreIn engineering, the ground in seismically active places may be subjected to static and seismic stresses. To avoid bearing capacity collapse, increasing the system's dynamic rigidity, and/or reducing dynamic fluctuations, it may be required to employ deep foundations instead of shallow ones. The axial aptitude and pipe pile distribution of load under static conditions have been well reported, but more study is needed to understand the dynamic axial response. Therefore, this research discusses the outputs of the 3D finite element models on the soil-pile behavior under different acceleration intensities and soil states by using MIDAS GTS NX. The pipe pile was represented as a simple elastic, and a modified Mohr-Coulomb mode
... Show MoreThe aim of advancements in technologies is to increase scientific development and get the overall human satisfaction and comfortability. One of the active research area in recent years that addresses the above mentioned issues, is the integration of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology into network-based systems. Even though, RFID is considered as a promising technology, it has some bleeding points. This paper identifies seven intertwined deficiencies, namely: remote setting, scalability, power saving, remote and concurrent tracking, reusability, automation, and continuity in work. This paper proposes the construction of a general purpose infrastructure for RFID-based applications (IRFID) to tackle these deficiencies. Finally
... Show MoreConstruction projects are complicated in nature and require many considerations in contractor selection. One of the complicated interactions is that between performance with the project size, and contractor financial status, and size of projects contracted. At the prequalification stage, the financial requirements restrict the contractors to meet minimum limits in financial criteria such as net worth, working capital and annual turnover, etc. In construction projects, however, there are cases when contractors meet these requirements but show low performance in practice. The model used in the study predicts the performance by training of a neural network. The data used in the study are 72 of the most recent roadw
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to evaluating the antibacterial activity of Laurus nobilis leaves extract in hospital environment isolates. Maceration and Soxhlet apparatus were used to prepare aqueous and methanolic extracts. The total phenolic content and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were conducted to determine the active compounds in the extracts. The results showed that the methanolic and aqueous extracts contain four flavonoids derivatives (kaempferol, luteolin, quercetin and Rutin) were identified on the basis of matching retention time with the standards. The total phenolic contents were 56.81 and 81.56 mg/g in 50 mg/ml, in aqueous and methanolic extracts respectively. The antibacterial activity of Laurus nobilis leaves ext
... Show MoreSome new 2,5-disubsituted-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives with azo group were synthesized by known reactions sequence . The structure of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by physical and spectral means .
The structure and composition of the stellar population in the surface brightness galaxy Ic 467 is studied using BVR CCD photometry. The observations were obtained on the 1.88m optical telescope of Kottamia Astronomical Observatory, KAO, Egypt. A two-dimensional decomposition of the galaxy bulge and disk components is carried out. A powerful star forming region is observed near the galactic center. Based on the positions of the various components of the galaxy in two color diagrams and the surface brightness of the eastern arms in V filter is brighter than the western arm. From the observations, the surface brightness profiles, Ellipticity profiles, position angle profiles and color indices profiles are described and studied.
This paper aims to validate a proposed finite element model to be adopted in predicting displacement and soil stresses of a piled-raft foundation. The proposed model adopts the solid element to simulate the raft, piles, and soil mass. An explicit integration scheme has been used to simulate nonlinear static aspects of the piled-raft foundation and to avoid the computational difficulties associated with the implicit finite element analysis.
The validation process is based on comparing the results of the proposed finite element model with those of a scaled-down experimental work achieved by other researchers. Centrifuge apparatus has been used in the experimental work to generate the required stresses to simulate t
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