Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were given rituximab induction therapy and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) maintenance therapy. RTX was indicated for refractory and relapsing SLE. Several investigations done before and after RTX treatment and in the last follow up (done one year after starting Rituximab). Those included protein in urine, serum creatinine, double stranded DNA, C3, C4, and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). Proteinuria decreased significantly after RTX treatment and in the last measurement (P=0.01 and P=0.001, respectively). Serum creatinine significantly decreased only in the last measurement (P=0.02). Double stranded DNA decreased remarkably after treatment (P=0.01) with a further decrease in the last measurement (P=0.006). C3 and C4 increased after treatment but the increase was significant only for C3 (P=0.002) and this increase continues till the last measurement (P=0.0006). Active urine sediments found in fifteen patients and disappeared after RTX treatment. Rituximab can be promising in treating lupus nephritis when used along with traditional immunosuppressants. It can reduce disease activity and improve renal function in such patients.
The study aims to identify the educational research obstacles as perceived by the faculty members at the universities of south in the west bank. As for study population, it included all (60) faculty-member in the colleges of education (bait lahem, alahliyah, al-khalil, and al-Quds almaftoha). To collect study data, the researcher used a questionnaire that consisted of (43) item; it has categorized into seven-domains: academic working conditions, academic management, resources and information, faculty members, publication, planning, and funding educational research. The findings revealed that Educational research obstacles were high with an average of (4, 39), no significant differences among sample averages and stander deviations on the
... Show MoreShapes have differed in terms of their temporality, tools, technical variations, aesthetic functions and dimensions. The beginnings started with manual primitive techniques that have played an a significant artistic role in the ancient civilizations, then developed with the technological development and the digital technologies that encompassed various programs and specialist means in the graphic design, so that its visual outputs in the textbook that is considered a communication means that has an effect and attracts the recipient. That is what made the researcher search and investigate this topic describing the research problem as follows: What are the shapes as alternatives to the words in the design of the textbook? The research obje
... Show MoreThis study focuses on producing wood-plastic composites using unsaturated polyester resin reinforced with Pistacia vera shell particles and wood industry waste powder. Composites with reinforcement ratios of 0%, 20%, 30%, and 40% were prepared and tested for thermal conductivity, impact strength, hardness, and compressive strength. The results revealed that thermal conductivity increases with reinforcement, while maintaining good thermal insulation, reaching a peak value of 0.633453 W/m·K. Hardness decreased with increased reinforcement, reaching a minimum nominal hardness value of 0.9479. Meanwhile, impact strength and compressive strength improved, with peak values of 14.103 k/m² and 57.3864568 MPa, respectively. The main aim is to manu
... Show MoreBackground: Human semen contains high concentrations of fructose, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in bound and ionic forms for Zn and Cu. The presence of abnormal levels of fructose and those trace elements may affect spermatogenesis with regard to production, maturation, motility and fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa.Objective: To evaluate the levels of fructose, Zn and Cu in seminal plasma in different groups of male infertility and to correlate their concentrations with various sperm parameters.Methods: The concentrations of fructose, Zn and Cu were measured in 114 semen samples from normozoospermic, oligozoospermic, astheno-zoospermic, and azoospermic men using the electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry for Zn and Cu determinatio
... Show Morethe traumatic memory of their ancestors. The novel navigates sites of trauma, memory, and blues music while resisting the bourgeoisie-capitalist relationships that permeated not only white society but also African American communities. Jones’s novel presents the plight of an African American woman, Ursa, caught between the memory of her enslaved foremothers and her life in an emancipated world. The physical and spiritual exploitation of African American women who bear witness to the history of slavery in Corregidora materializes black women’s individuality. This article is framed by trauma studies as well as the Marxists’ concepts of commodification, accumulation, and production. Ursa, one of the Corregidora women, represents
... Show MoreThe complexes of the 2-hydroxy-4-Nitro phenyl piperonalidene with metal ions Cr(III), Ni(II), Pt(IV) and Zn(II) were prepared in ethanolic solution. These complexes were characterized by spectroscopic methods, conductivity, metal analyses and magnetic moment measurements. The nature of the complexes formed in ethanolic solution was study following the molar ratio method. From the spectral studies, monomer structures proposed for the nickel (II) and Zinc (II) complexes while dimeric structures for the chromium (III) and platinum (IV) were proposed. Octahedral geometry was suggested for all prepared complexes except zinc (II) has tetrahedral geometry, Structural geometries of these compounds were also suggested in gas phase by using
... Show MoreThis study includes synthesis of some nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds linked to amino acid esters or heterocyclic amines that may have a potential activity as antimicrobial and/or cytotoxic. Quinolines are an important group of organic compounds that possess useful biological activity as antibacterial, antifungal and antitumor .8-Hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) and numerous of its derivatives exhibit potent activities against fungi and bacteria which make them good candidates for the treatment of many parasitic and microbial infection diseases.
These pharmacological properties of quinolones aroused our interest in synthesizing several new compounds featuring heterocyclic rings of the quinoline derivatives linke
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