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: Left ventricular function and volumes have major diagnostic and prognostic importance in patients with various cardiac diseases, such as ischemic heart disease which is a life-threatening heart disease condition characterized by systolic dysfunction and a decrease in cardiac output.
According to left ventricular ejection fraction, the degree of ischemic heart disease was classified as mild, moderate, and severe. To determine cardiac function and hemodynamics, the echocardiography technique is used, which is a noninvasive diagnostic method.
Patients and Methods: The study included 216 patients between 25 and 75 years old; 121 males and 95 females; 265 normal individuals (age range: 25 to 75 years ol
... Show MoreThe reaction of LAs-Cl8 : [ (2,2- (1-(3,4-bis(carboxylicdichloromethoxy)-5-oxo-2,5- dihydrofuran-2-yl)ethane – 1,2-diyl)bis(2,2-dichloroacetic acid)]with sodium azide in ethanol with drops of distilled water has been investigated . The new product L-AZ :(3Z ,5Z,8Z)-2- azido-8-[azido(3Z,5Z)-2-azido-2,6-bis(azidocarbonyl)-8,9-dihydro-2H-1,7-dioxa-3,4,5- triazonine-9-yl]methyl]-9-[(1-azido-1-hydroxy)methyl]-2H-1,7-dioxa-3,4,5-triazonine – 2,6 – dicarbonylazide was isolated and characterized by elemental analysis (C.H.N) , 1H-NMR , Mass spectrum and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR) . The reaction of the L-AZ withM+n: [ ( VO(II) , Cr(III) ,Mn(II) , Co(II) , Ni(II) , Cu(II) , Zn(II) , Cd(II) and Hg(II)] has been i
... Show MoreIn this work, a functional nanocomposite consisting of multi walled carbon nanotubes combined with nanoparticles of silver and Pomegranate peel extract (MWCNTs- SNPs -NPGPE) was successfully synthesized using ultra sonic technique. The nanocomposite has been characterized using Transmission electron microscope (TEM), XRD, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) UV-Vis and FTIR. The obtained results reveal that the MWCNTs-SNPs-NPGPE nanocomposite exhibits form of nanotubes with rough surfaces and containing black spots, which are the silver nanoparticles. The dimensions of this tube are 161 nm in length and 60 nm in width with nanoparticles of silver not exceeding 20 nm. The XRD pattern of the prepared MWCNTs-SNPs-NPGPE nanocomposite s
... Show MoreThe study included selection six species of the fungi related to Pleurotus genus were evaluated for their ability to production of Pleurotin, one of them, Pleurotus ostreatus (P.11) was isolated and identified in the present study. Pleurotin was extracted with screening by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and quantification High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Cytotoxicity of Pleurotin extracted from P. ostreatus (P.11) grown in different sugar sources (galactose, mannitol, sucrose, dextrose and lactose) liquid media was test against three selected cancer cell lines, CaSki, MCF-7 and A549 addition to Human Non Cancer Fibroblast Cell Line (MRC-5). Pleurotin of P. ostreatus (P.11) grown in galactose induced the significant highest
... Show MoreThe limited availability of the two-circle diffractometer to collect intensity measurements down to the monoclinic system has been extended in a novel procedure to collect intensities for the triclinic system. The procedure involves the derivation of matrix elements from graphical representation of the reciprocal lattice. Offset of the origins of the upper layers from that of the zero-layer - characteristic of triclinic system - is determined and the 3 x 3 matrix elements are evaluated accordingly. Details of crystal alignment by X-rays for the triclinic system utilizing the intensities of equivalent reflections is described
Longitudinal data is becoming increasingly common, especially in the medical and economic fields, and various methods have been analyzed and developed to analyze this type of data.
In this research, the focus was on compiling and analyzing this data, as cluster analysis plays an important role in identifying and grouping co-expressed subfiles over time and employing them on the nonparametric smoothing cubic B-spline model, which is characterized by providing continuous first and second derivatives, resulting in a smoother curve with fewer abrupt changes in slope. It is also more flexible and can pick up on more complex patterns and fluctuations in the data.
The longitudinal balanced data profile was compiled into subgroup
... Show MoreThis research aims to solve the nonlinear model formulated in a system of differential equations with an initial value problem (IVP) represented in COVID-19 mathematical epidemiology model as an application using new approach: Approximate Shrunken are proposed to solve such model under investigation, which combines classic numerical method and numerical simulation techniques in an effective statistical form which is shrunken estimation formula. Two numerical simulation methods are used firstly to solve this model: Mean Monte Carlo Runge-Kutta and Mean Latin Hypercube Runge-Kutta Methods. Then two approximate simulation methods are proposed to solve the current study. The results of the proposed approximate shrunken methods and the numerical
... Show MoreIn recent years, predicting heart disease has become one of the most demanding tasks in medicine. In modern times, one person dies from heart disease every minute. Within the field of healthcare, data science is critical for analyzing large amounts of data. Because predicting heart disease is such a difficult task, it is necessary to automate the process in order to prevent the dangers connected with it and to assist health professionals in accurately and rapidly diagnosing heart disease. In this article, an efficient machine learning-based diagnosis system has been developed for the diagnosis of heart disease. The system is designed using machine learning classifiers such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), Nave Bayes (NB), and K-Ne
... Show MoreAn experimental study was conducted to determine the performance of a solar electric refrigeration system. The system contained flat photovoltaic solar panel which absorbs the solar energy and convert it to electrical energy, used to run the refrigeration cycle. Two refrigeration cycles with electrical solar panel were used over a period of 12 months, the first one with classical parts known in refrigeration cycle, while the second one introduced heat exchanger which improves the coefficient of performance by saving the consumed energy. The coefficient of performance of these refrigeration cycles with compressor efficiency 85% are 2.102 and 2.57 respectively. The overall efficiency of the two systems are 18.9% and 23.13%.
Fabrication and investigation of the properties of CdSe/ZnS core/shell for the luminescent solar concentrates (LSC) application is presented. An increase of the efficiency of a silicon solar cell was obtained by applying the LSC. The increase was a result of the optical properties of the semiconductor nanoparticles CdSe/ZnS core/shell that were deposited over the top surface of the silicon solar cell facing the illumination source (Halogen lamp). The gravity force was invested for the film deposition process.The optical properties of these nanoparticles were studied. The absorption spectra for the CdSe/ZnS core-shell were 270-600nm, i.e., located within the spectral response area of the examined solar cell. The energy gap values for CdSe
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