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
Experimental work was carried out to investigate the effect of fire flame (high temperature) on specimens of one way slabs using Self Compacted Concrete (SCC). By using furnace manufactured for this purpose, twenty one reinforced concrete slab specimens were exposed to direct fire flame. All of specimens have the same dimensions. The slab specimens were cooled in two types, gradually by left them in the air and suddenly by using water. After that the specimens were tested under two point loads, to study, the effect of
different: temperature levels (300ºC, 500ºC and 700ºC), and cooling rate (gradually and sudden cooling conditions) on the concrete compressive strength, modulus of rupture, flexural strength and the behavior of reinf
This study aims to identify the level of quality of Islamic banking services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also investigates the importance of the various dimensions of the quality of banking services. The sample of the study included 69 clients of Al Rajhi Bank and Al-Bilad Bank. The study concluded that the overall level quality of services that Islamic banking offer is high. However, their relative importance varies from one dimension to another. The security, confidence and physical aspects are very high which this is a good point. On the other hand, the application aspects do not get the same importance. These aspects include the customer's wishes, helping them to improve the services offered to them,
... Show MoreThe research aims at clarifying the relationship between innovative marketing skills and broad recommendation as a vital and important issue for organizations in general and service organizations in particular to demonstrate how innovative marketing skills contribute to broad adoption and to determine the relationship between interdependence and the impact of innovative marketing skills on the broad recommendation. Some questions are posed by the research problem. Is there a clear awareness among individuals in the company about the concept of marketing marketing skills and how do innovative marketing skills affect the broad recommendation of the surveyed company? How innovative marketing skills relate to the broad recommendation
... Show MoreHigh smoke emissions, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter typically produced by diesel engines. Diminishing the exhausted emissions without doing any significant changes in their mechanical configuration is a challenging subject. Thus, adding hydrogen to the traditional fuel would be the best practical choice to ameliorate diesel engines performance and reduce emissions. The air hydrogen mixer is an essential part of converting the diesel engine to work under dual fuel mode (hydrogen-diesel) without any engine modification. In this study, the Air-hydrogen mixer is developed to get a homogenous mixture for hydrogen with air and a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio according to the speed of the engine. The mixer depends on the balance between th
... Show MoreThis paper is concerned with finding solutions to free-boundary inverse coefficient problems. Mathematically, we handle a one-dimensional non-homogeneous heat equation subject to initial and boundary conditions as well as non-localized integral observations of zeroth and first-order heat momentum. The direct problem is solved for the temperature distribution and the non-localized integral measurements using the Crank–Nicolson finite difference method. The inverse problem is solved by simultaneously finding the temperature distribution, the time-dependent free-boundary function indicating the location of the moving interface, and the time-wise thermal diffusivity or advection velocities. We reformulate the inverse problem as a non-
... Show MoreSimultaneous determination of Furosemide, Carbamazepine, Diazepam, and Carvedilol in bulk and pharmaceutical formulation using the partial least squares regression (PLS-1 and PLS-2) is described in this study. The two methods were successfully applied to estimate the four drugs in their quaternary mixture using UV spectral data of 84synthetic mixtures in the range of 200-350nm with the intervals Δλ=0.5nm. The linear concentration range were 1-20 μg.mL-1 for all, with correlation coefficient (R2) and root mean squares error for the calibration (RMSE) for FURO, CARB, DIAZ, and CARV were 0.9996, 0.9998, 0.9997, 0.9997, and 0.1128, 0.1292, 0.1868,0.1562 respectively for PLS-1, and for PLS-2 were 0.9995, 0.9999, 0.9997, 0.9998, and 0.1127, 0.
... Show MoreThis study aimed to analyze functional thinking style and its contribution to learn the accuracy of block and smash serve in volleyball among university students. The sample was composed of 120 students of the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences of the University of Baghdad (academic year 2021/2022). The statistical analyses were carried out with the statistical software SPSS and correlation analyses were conducted. It was found that functional thinking style significantly contributed to learn the accuracy of block and smash serve in volleyball among university students. Therefore, it is necessary to intensify efforts to increase the level of functional thinking among university students, by adopting acad
... Show MoreThis cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study evaluated the knowledge, attitude and practice towards breast cancer and breast self-examination [BSE] among 387 [302 females and 85 males] educated Iraqis affiliated to 2 Iraqi universities. The participants were categorized into 3 occupations: student [71.3%], teaching staff [10.3%] and administrative staff [18.3%]. About half of the participants had a low knowledge score [< 50%]; only 14.3% were graded as [Good] and above. Almost 75% of the participants believed that the best way to control breast cancer was through early detection and other possible preventive measures. Most participants [90.9%] had heard of BSE, the main source of informatio
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