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.
Abstract
Should be the goal of Government controls, including environmental controls and safety laws to protect citizens from the harmful effects of negative secreted by human's additions and changes in the environment. and perhaps the protection aspects of the protection of citizens from the adverse effects of communications towers, including those produced by towers of health effects. The people the right to choose the nature of the physical environment, which should not be imposed on them by others. Communications towers are one of the main problems that have been
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to find out the effects of the strategy of productive thinking upon the student’s achievement for the subject of research methodology in the College of Islamic Sciences. Achieving this objective, the researchers set the null hypotheses: (1) No difference is noticed to be statistically significant at the level of significance (0.05) among the student’s mean scores in the experimental group who were taught by the strategy of productive thinking, and the student’s mean scores in the control group who studied by the traditional method in the achievement test. (2) At level of sig. (0.05), there is no statistically significant difference in the mean of scores of the pre-tests and post ones in the achievement test of
... Show MoreThis dissertation studies the application of equivalence theory developed by Mona Baker in translating Persian to Arabic. Among various translation methodologies, Mona Baker’s bottom-up equivalency approach is unique in several ways. Baker’s translation approach is a multistep process. It starts with studying the smallest linguistic unit, “the word”, and then evolves above the level of words leading to the translation of the entire text. Equivalence at the word level, i.e., word for word method, is the core point of Baker’s approach.
This study evaluates the use of Baker’s approach in translation from Persian to Arabic, mainly because finding the correct equivalence is a major challenge in this translation. Additionall
... Show MoreMany managers in geometrical and technical organizations prefer to deal with quantitative values to choose between the available options and choose the best alternative to avoid randomization and bias in decision making. One of them Baghdad Water Department, which seeks to develop the quality of its product (drinking water) and achieve its objectives under increasing growing population and the demand for water, Some of TQM tools, especially the statistical, have this ability because there is chance to use historical data and experiment of employees in Application . Two statistical tools were applied: the nominal group technique, matrix data analysis technique as well as the brainstorming tool to search for the best o
... Show MoreObjective: To assess the functional outcome, time to union, shoulder pain, blood loss, operative time, iatrogenic radial nerve injury, hospitalization, and infection. Methodology: It is a prospective randomized study on 30 patients with mid-shaft humerus fracture according to AO classification (1.2A1, 2, 3 and 1,2B) with functioning radial nerve. They were randomly dividing into two groups. Group A were treated by a closed antegrade interlocking nail, and group B treated by open reduction and locked compression plate fixation. The follow-up was up to 6 months, including time to union, shoulder pain, intraoperative blood loss, operative time and iatrogenic radial nerve injury. Functional outcome was assessed by quick DASH score. Resu
... Show MoreChemical pollution is a very important issue that people suffer from and it often affects the nature of health of society and the future of the health of future generations. Consequently, it must be considered in order to discover suitable models and find descriptions to predict the performance of it in the forthcoming years. Chemical pollution data in Iraq take a great scope and manifold sources and kinds, which brands it as Big Data that need to be studied using novel statistical methods. The research object on using Proposed Nonparametric Procedure NP Method to develop an (OCMT) test procedure to estimate parameters of linear regression model with large size of data (Big Data) which comprises many indicators associated with chemi
... Show MoreBackground: Studying and investigating the transverse strength(Ts), impact strength(Is), hardness (Hr) and surface roughness(Ra) of conventional and modified autopolymerizing acrylic resin with different weight percentages of biopolymer kraftlignin, after curing in different water temperatures; 40°C and 80°C. Material and Methods: Standard acrylic specimens were fabricated according to ADA specification No.12 for transverse strength, ISO 179 was used for impact testing, Shore D for hardness and profilometerfor surface roughness. The material lignin first dispersed in the monomer, then the powder PMMA is immediately added. Ligninadded in different weight percentages. Then cured using pressure pot (Ivomet) in two temperatures;40°C a
... Show MoreFatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) produced from biomass offers several advantages such as renewability and sustainability. The typical production process of FAME is accompanied by various impurities such as alcohol, soap, glycerol, and the spent catalyst. Therefore, the most challenging part of the FAME production is the purification process. In this work, a novel application of bulk liquid membrane (BLM) developed from conventional solvent extraction methods was investigated for the removal of glycerol from FAME. The extraction and stripping processes are combined into a single system, allowing for simultaneous solvent recovery whereby low-cost quaternary ammonium salt-glycerol-based deep eutectic solvent (DES) is used as the membrane phase.
... Show MoreNew series of 4,4'-((2-(Aryl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole1,3(2H)-diyl)bis(methylene))Diphenol(3a-g) was successfully synthesized from cyclization of the reduction product of bis Schiff bases (2) with aryl aldehydes bearing phenolic hydroxyl in the presence of acetic acid. The structure of these compounds was identified from FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and EIMs. The Antioxidant capability was screened by DPPH and FRAP assays. Both assays showed antioxidant capability more than BHT as well. Compounds 3b and 3c showed antioxidant capacity slightly less than ascorbic acid. The docking study for theses compound was carried out as III DNA polymerase inhibitor. The results of docking demonstrated that the increase in hinderances around phenolic hydroxyl for t
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