Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is inflammation of the sacroiliac joints and spine, associated with clinical symptoms such as pain and stiffness in the vertebral column, after which, in a considerable number of individuals, new bone growth occurs. Objective: The current research study attempted to find out whether the presence of SNPs in TNF receptor [TNFRSF1A (rs767455), TNFRSF1B (rs1061622)] encoding genes could influence patients' outcomes to etanercept in a specimen of Iraqi AS patients. Patients and methods: Sixty patients with established AS receiving only etanercept were selected to be enrolled in this research with a mean age of 40.75 ± 8.67 years, 51 patients of them were males and only 9 patients were females. Patients were classed as "responders" if just obtained a BASDAI 50 clinical response and as "non-responders" if they can't achieve a BASDAI 50 clinical elaboration after at least 6 months treatment. After PCR products amplification of purified blood DNA, TNF receptor (TNFRSF1A and TNFRSF1B) genes SNPs were established by Sanger sequencing. Results: The analysis of this study expressed that there was a significant incidence of TT genotype of rs1061622 (P = 0.022) in responder group, whereas the TG genotype of the same SNP was considerably present in the group that did not respond (P = 0.002). Finally, a non-significant difference existed in alleles and genotypes frequency between responder and non-responder groups of rs767455 SNP in TNFRSF1A gene. Conclusions: The wild TT genotype of rs1061622 predicts etanercept responsiveness in ankylosing spondylitis patients. The TG genotype of the same SNP increases the probability of non-responding
The fetal heart rate (FHR) signal processing based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN),Fuzzy Logic (FL) and frequency domain Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT) were analysis in order to perform automatic analysis using personal computers. Cardiotocography (CTG) is a primary biophysical method of fetal monitoring. The assessment of the printed CTG traces was based on the visual analysis of patterns that describing the variability of fetal heart rate signal. Fetal heart rate data of pregnant women with pregnancy between 38 and 40 weeks of gestation were studied. The first stage in the system was to convert the cardiotocograghy (CTG) tracing in to digital series so that the system can be analyzed ,while the second stage ,the FHR time series was t
... Show MoreLaser beam has been widely used to improve the mechanical properties of the metals. It used for cutting, drilling, hardening, welding……etc. The use of Laser beam has many features in accuracy and speeding in work, also in the treatment of metals locally, and in the places that is hard to reach by traditional ways. In this research a surface treatment was done to medium carbon steel (0.4%C) which is common kind of steel that is used in industry. Pulsing Neodymium -YAG Laser has been used and 1.06 micrometer wave length and 5 msec and the distance is about 30 centimeter between the exit area of the Laser beam from the system and the piece that treated . We are going to check the fatigue resistance for samples that is
... Show MoreThis study examined the effects of water scarcity on rural household economy in El Fashir Rural Council / North Darfur State- western Sudan. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used as to get a deeper understanding of the impact of water scarcity on the rural house economy in the study area. 174 households out of 2017 were selected from 45 villages which were distributed in eight village councils forming the study area. Statistical methods were used to manipulate the data of the study. The obtained results revealed that water scarcity negatively affected the rural household economy in the study area in many features. These include the followings: much family efforts and time were directed to fetch for water consequentl
... Show MoreThe adopted accelerated curing methods in the experimental work are 55ºC and 82ºC according to British standard methods. The concrete mix with the characteristics compressive strength of 35MPa is design according to the ACI 211.1, the mix proportion is (1:2.65:3.82) for cement, fine and coarse aggregate, respectively. The concrete reinforced with different volume fraction (0.25, 0.5 and 0.75)% of glass, carbon and polypropylene fibers. The experimental results showed that the accelerated curing method using 82ºC gives a compressive strength higher than 55ºC method for all concrete mixes. In addition, the fiber reinforced concrete with 0.75% gives the maximum compressive strength, flexural and splitting tensile strength for all types of
... Show MoreBackground: Endometriosis is defined as the presence or growth of ectopic endometrial tissue outside their usual site ( the uterus). It is a common condition in women. It may occur in the ovaries, fallopian tubes, vagina and rarely, endometriosis may occur in the abdomen and lungs. Endometriosis is common among women of reproductive age. It is either primary or secondary. The triad of diagnosis is a pain with menstruation, cesarean scar and a mass in the scar.
... Show MoreHistological study of the cerebellum in a bird white cheeked bulbul Pycnonotus lecucotis, the result of the study showed that the cerebellum took the parts of the hindbrain, the histological study of the cerebellum revealed the presence of deep folds on its surface. The cerebellum consists of two areas, the cerebellar cortex, which is called the gray matter, which consists of three layers: the outer layer (the molecular layer), the middle (Purkinje cells) and inner layer (the granular layer). The second area of the cerebellum is called the medullary and the white matter.
The predisposing factors and their effect on the increasing of vulvovaginal Candidiasis have been studied in this research. The result indicated that the highest of infection with vaginal Candidias was in the age of women with age of (21-30years) with vaginal itching and discharge, also the results revealed that the pregnancy was the main predisposing factor. The percentage of the infected pregnant Ladies was 33.7% followed by the women who used the IUCD and OCP 22.1%, those who used steroids 5.2% comparing with control women (without predisposing factors).The results also indicated that the most cases of infection were during the third trimester of pregnancy (where the rate of infedion) was 53.9%.-OCP- Oral Contraceptive Pills-IUCD- Intrr
... Show MorePermanent deformation (rutting) of asphalt mixtures is one of the major forms of distress. Aggregate gradation is one of the most important factors affecting the permanent deformation of asphalt mixtures. Other variables are also important to understand their effects on the mixture such as temperature, binder content and compaction level. For this purpose 6 different aggregate gradations have been chosen and each one of them has been manufactured / tested with different variables. The results showed that at relatively low temperature there is little effect of aggregate packing on the permanent deformation. However, as the temperature increases the effect of gradation becomes apparent, in that the better the packing the better the resistance
... Show MoreThis paper investigates the issue of surface-type effects on traffic noise in Baghdad. Since the raw materials for both flexible and rigid paving are available from local sources, the decision on selecting the type of paving which depends on the budget of the project and the road's importance and function. Knowing that for high traffic volumes and a high percentage of heavy vehicles, rigid pavement is more suitable compared to flexible pavement. In Baghdad, some highways consist of flexible pavement and others of combined pavement (flexible segments and rigid segments), so the study of the effect of surface type on traffic noise becomes an important matter. This study selected three highways: one with flexible pavement a
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