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.
Background: Trauma is one of the most common
clinical problems that confront the maxillofacial
surgeon and radiologist alike. Middle third facial
fractures are diagnosed primarily on the bases of
clinical examination and plain radiographs than can
result in much preoperative speculation.
Objective: To assess the advantages of spiral
computerized tomography over conventional
radiography in the pre-surgical evaluation of middle
third facial fractures.
Methods: Thirty patients with thirty-eight facial
fractures were studied, all patients were examined
clinically, by plain radiography and then by spiral CT.
Results: Of the 38 middle-third fractures, 16
(42.1%) were zygomatic fractures, 8 (21.1%) were
A pure posteriorly posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysm represents a surgical challenge. This is mainly when there is a need for good exposure of the aneurysmal neck, sac, PCoA, and anterior choroidal arteries. Ruptured pure posteriorly directed PCoA aneurysm imposes significantly extra challenge as the surgeon undergoes dissection through a tight brain. Even with measures commonly used to attain brain relaxation like the lumbar drain and cisternal fenestration. Here, we describe a technique for posterior temporal pole mobilization (TPM) as an integrated part of microsurgical clipping of ruptured pure posteriorly directed PCoA aneurysms. This technique is implicated in twenty-three successive cases of ruptured PCoA aneurys
... Show MoreSimple, rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric method was proposed for the analysis of metoclopramide hydrochloride (MPH) in pure form as well as in pharmaceutical tablets. The method is based on the diazotization reaction of MPH with sodium nitrite in hydrochloric acid medium to form diazonium salt, which is coupled with 1-naphthol in sodium hydroxide medium to form azo dye, showing absorption maxima at 550 nm. Beer’s law is obeyed in the concentration range of 0.4 – 18 µg mL-1 of MPH with detection limit 0.5448 µg mL-1. The molar absorptivity and Sandell’s sensitivity are 3.4969 × 104 L mol-1 cm-1 and 0.0101 µg cm-2, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the determination of MPH in pharmaceutical tablets with
... Show MoreA paraffin wax and copper foam matrix were used as a thermal energy storage material in the double passes air solar chimney (SC) collector to get ventilation effect through daytime and after sunset. Air SC collector was installed in the south wall of an insulated test room and tested with different working angles (30o, 45o and 60o). Different SC types were used; single pass, double passes flat plate collector and double pass thermal energy storage box collector (TESB). A computational model based on the finite volume method for transient tw dimensional domains was carried out to describe the heat transfer and storage in the thermal energy storage material of collector. Also, equivalent specific heat metho
... Show MoreEvaluation of the Antibacterial Efficacy of Electrolyzed Oxidizing Water as an Irrigant against Enterococcus faecalis (An In vitro Study), Noor A Khait*, Muna Saleem Kalaf
Roller compacted concrete (RCC) is a special type of concrete with zero or even negative slump consistency. In this work, it had aimed to produce an RCC mix suitable for roads paving with minimum cost and better engineering properties so, different RCC mixes had prepared i.e. (M1, M2, M3, and M4) using specified percentages of micro natural silica sand powder (SSP) as partial replacement of (0%, 5%, 10%, and 20%) by weight of sulfate resistant Portland cement. Additionally, M-sand, crushed stone, filler, and water had been used. The results had obtained after 28 days of water curing. The control mix (M1) had satisfied the required
It is shown that pure and 3% boron doped a-Si0.1Ge0.9:H and a-Si0.1Ge0.9:N thin films
could be prepared by flash evaporation processes. The hydrogenation and nitrogenation
are very successful in situ after depositing the films. The FT-IR analysis gave all the
known absorbing bonds of hydrogen and nitrogen with Si and Ge.
Our data showed a considerable effect of annealing temperature on the structural and
optical properties of the prepared films. The optical energy gap (Eopt.) of a-Si0.1Ge0.9
samples showed to have significant increase with annealing temperature (Ta) also the
refractive index and the real part of dielectric constant increases with Ta, however the
extinction coefficient and imaginary part of dielect
The research deals with the interchange of the sign transformed from the universal to the local in the theatrical show through the direction processing in the production of a communicative artistic discourse and message, thus making the process of reading the speech and recognizing it by taking into account the cultural differences, customs and local rituals of each country, region, or area. The problem of the research was focused on answering the following question: What are the requirements for the sign in terms of its transformation between the universality and locality in the read-out?
The importance of research is to determine the requiremen
... Show MoreRice is a major staple food for more than two thirds of the world population. Pathogenesis-related proteins-10 (PR10) have a range of 154 to 163 amino acid with molecular weight ~ 17 kDa. They are acidic and generally intracellular and cytosolic proteins accumulate in plants in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, a PR10 gene and its corresponding protein were characterized in O. sativa, O. barthii, O. glaberrima, O. glumipatula, O. meridionalis, O. nivara, O. rufipogon and O. punctata. The results revealed a narrow range of variation at both DNA and protein levels in all examined species except O. glumipatula. The latter showed a relatively
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