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 Al Mishraq site has been the subject of many scientific studies for the period before and
after the fire in 2003. Five visits to the site were conducted twice in 2003 for general fact-finding, twice
in 2004, and once in 2005 for detailed sampling and monitoring. Desk-based research and laboratory analysis of soil and water samples results indicate that surface water and groundwater pollution from Al Mishraq site was significant at the time of its operation. The primary pollution source was the superheated water injection process, while the principal receptor is the River Tigris. Now that the plant is idle, this source is absent. Following the June 2003 sulphur fire, initial investigations indicate that short damage to
vegeta
New 1,2,4-triazole derivatives of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MB) are reported. Ethyl (benzimidazole-2-yl thio) acetate (1) has been prepared by condensing 2-mercaptobenzimidazole with ethylchloroacetate. The ester (1) on reacting with hydrazine hydrate gave the corresponding acetohydrazide(2)which was reacted separately with phenylisocyanate and phenylisothiocyanate, followed by ring closure in an alkaline medium giving 3-[(benzimidazole-2-yl thio) methyl]-4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole-5-ol and 3-[(benzimidazole-2-yl thio) methyl]-4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole-5-thiol respectively (6,7). Reaction of acetohydrazide (2) with CS2 and ethanol/KOH, gave dithiocarbazate salt (8). Cyclization of (8) with hydrazine hydrate gave 3-[(benzimi
... Show MoreL1 adaptive controller has proven to provide fast adaptation with guaranteed transients in a large variety of systems. It is commonly used for controlling systems with uncertain time-varying unknown parameters. The effectiveness of L1 adaptive controller for position control of single axis has been examined and compared with Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC). The Linear servo motor is one of the main constituting elements of the x-y table which is mostly used in automation application. It is characterized by time-varying friction and disturbance.
The tracking and steady state performances of both controllers have been assessed fo
... Show MoreThe CdS quantum dots were prepared by chemical reaction
of cadmium oleylamine (Cd –oleylamine complex) with the
sulfite-oleylamine (S-oleylamine) with 1:6 mole ratios. The
optical properties structure and spectroscopy of the product
quantum dot were studied. The results show the dependence of the
optical properties on the crystal dimension and the formation of
the trap states in the energy band gap.
To verify the influence of magnetic flux on the characteristics of SAE 10W-30 gasoline engine oil when the engine oil is exposed to different magnetic fluxes 0, 6, 9, and 13 Volt. The following oil characteristics were measured: viscosity at 40 and 100 °C, and total acid number (TAN) mg KOH/g. The research was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications for each treatment under the 5% probability level to compare the means of the treatments. The results of the experiment showed that there were significant differences in the studied properties when the engine oil was exposed to the above magnetic fluxes and, inversely, especially the magnetic flux of 13 Volt,
Titanium alloy surface properties have an essential role in the interaction of dental implants with bone, and alteration of the surface of the implant could improve osseointegration. This study was designed to investigate the effect of different heat treatment temperatures on titanium alloy surface properties for dental implants. The effect of different temperatures of heat treatment (750°C, 850°C, 950°C and 1050°C) were investigated on the surface topography, surface chemistry, titanium oxide layer thickness, blood contact angle, & blood drop diameter of titanium alloy. The disks were prepared from titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and the samples were divided into five groups depending on the different temperatures of heat treatment. The hea
... Show MoreBasrah is the richest town and the economic capital of Iraq. It suffers from lack of drinking water. This project is a dream to supply drinking water to Basrah citizens within WHO standards. Water should pass sedimentation and filtration stages before interring reverse osmosis unit. The design is carried out using lewaplus2 software. Several parameters should be selected in the design step membrane type, number of stages, number per element in each stage, and the recovery percentage. An optimization is carried out using Minitab ver. 18 for the acceptable limit of TDS and minimum cost and it was found that the optimum conditions were 52% for first stage, the numbers of vessels are 20 for both the first and second stage. In addition,
... Show MoreThis paper aims to study the damage generated due to creep-fatigue interaction behaviors in solid polyamide 6,6 and its composites that include 1%wt of carbon nanotubes or 30% wt short carbon fiber prepared by an injection technique. The investigation also includes studying the influence of applied temperatures higher than the glass transition temperatures on mechanical properties. The obtained results showed that the addition of reinforcement materials increased all the mechanical properties, while the increase in test temperature reduced all mechanical properties, especially for polyamide 6,6. The creep-fatigue interaction resistance also improved due to the addition of reinforcement materials by inc
... Show MoreThe main objective of this research is to design and select a composite plate to be used in fabricating wing skins of light unman air vehicle (UAV). The mechanical properties, weight and cost are the basis criteria of this selection. The fiber volume fraction, fillers and type of fiber with three levels for each were considered to optimize the composite plate selection. Finite element method was used to investigate the stress distribution on the wing at cruise flight condition in addition to estimate the maximum stress. An experiments plan has been designed to get the data on the basis of Taguchi technique. The most effective parameters at the process to be find out by employing L9
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