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.
Synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds containing four five-membered rings together was the main goal of this work. The new derivatives of [tetrakis (1,2,4-triazole /1,3,4-thiadiazole /1,3,4-oxadiazole][bis-(benzene-1,3,5-triyl)] dioxymethylene A7-A18 were synthesized by the reaction of [bis-(dimethyl 5-yl-isophthalate)] dioxymethylene compound A1 which was previously prepared from the reaction of 1,2-dibromomethan and dimethyl 5-hydroxyisophthalate, then treated with hydrazine hydrate to yield the corresponding acid hydrazide A2. In the next step, compound A2 was refluxed with 4-substituted isothiocyanate to give substituted thiosemicarbazides A3-A6. The treatment of the latter compounds in basic medium of 2M o
... Show MoreAugmented reality technology is a modern technique used in all fields, including: medicine, engineering and education, and has received attention from officials in the educational process at present; The focus of this research is on the degree of use of augmented reality among field experience students in the project's optimal investment program for teaching staff and their difficulties, applied to a sample of 75 students, through a questionnaire prepared by the researcher as a tool to determine the degree of use, as well as difficulties. The researcher addressed the subject through two main axes to determine the degree of use, as well as the difficulties preventing teachers and learners from using this technique. The results of the rese
... Show MoreIs the subject of the financial structure of the most important topics for which she received the interests of scientific research in the field of financial management , as it emerged several theories about choosing a financial structure appropriate for the facility and behavior change funding them , and in spite of that there is no agreement on a specific theory answer various questions in this regard , and a special issue of the financial structure optimization.
The objective of the research was to identify the most important theories of the structure of modern financial theory has been to focus on the capture of financial firms in two different stages of their life cycle , so-called growth and ma
... Show MoreAn experiment in the semester, the second semester of the academic year (2022-2023), and the data used was not processed (the second test for two independent, inaccurate samples, the Bermon correlation coefficient, and the Spearman correlation coefficient), and the following results were reached: There is a statistically significant difference at the level of ( 0) average, 05) between the third grade who studied the plan for asking cluster questions, and between the average of those who studied the special feature according to the traditional method of selecting achievement, and enjoyed completing the specialization, choosing the experimental group, because the strategy of asking cluster questions is one of the externalities that... Lear
... Show MoreVitamin D3 deficiency is regarded as a public health issue in Iraq, particularly during the winter. Sun exposure is the main source of vitamin D3, where the surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation plays an important role in human health. The amount of time that must be spent in the sun each day was determined for the amount of exposed skin, for all skin types, with and without sunscreen under clear sky conditions in the city of Baghdad (Long 44.375, Lat 33.375). UV index data was obtained by TEMIS satellite during the year 2021. From data analysis, we found that most days during the year were within the high level of ultraviolet radiation values in the city of Baghdad, and most of them were during the summer, where the person n
... Show MoreThis study aims to identify the degree of students of Princess Rahma University College owning e-learning skills related to MOODLE as they perceived in the of light Corona crisis. The researchers' questionnaire consisted of (37) items, distributed in three areas of e-learning skills related to the MOODLE on (147) students were chosen randomly. The results of the study showed that the degree of students 'possession of e-learning skills related to the MOODLE was significant. The results also revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the degree of students' possession of electronic learning skills related to the MOODLE due to sex in favor of females. Finally, there were no statistically significant differences in the
... Show MoreContracting companies play a prominent role today in economic activity, due to their contribution to the implementation of major construction projects which together constitute the infrastructure of society. Most construction projects also suffer from exceeding the time and cost specified and planned for the completion of the project, and this comes for several reasons, including the work environment, country conditions, The method of managing project costs and the techniques used in its implementation Accordingly, the concepts of lean construction came, which help in addressing the causes of waste, both in time and cost, in addition to the fact that project management needs techniques that are useful in controlling the control and manag
... Show MoreThe present work focuses on examining the strategy of cognitive trips and the Arabic language teachers’ training needs of such a strategy when teaching Arabic language courses in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom. To achieve the objective of the study, and check whether this strategy is used in lesson planning, lesson teaching, or lesson assessment, a descriptive approach and a questionnaire have been adopted. The researchers used a number of statistical tools, and chose a purposive sample, which consists of (58) Arabic language teachers from Saudi Arabia Kingdom. Results have shown that the training needs of Arabic language teachers for implemining the strategy of cognitive journeys while teaching Arabic language courses came in the following
... Show MoreBackground: Astrocytoma, is heterogeneous tumor of the nervous system and studies on the virulence of these tumors reveal that their behavior is led by small population of cells which are the brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs) that drive the continuous proliferation and self-renewal. From the many markers that annotate BTSCs, are the CD133, and NESTIN.
Objectives: Using CD133, to immunolabel BTSCs niches in paraffin sections of astrocytoma then, extraction of these cells, to calculate fold expression of NESTIN gene across the grades by real time PCR.
Materials and methods: Paraffin blocks of four grades of primary astrocytoma have been selected from three age groups from Iraq
... Show MoreIn this paper, compared eight methods for generating the initial value and the impact of these methods to estimate the parameter of a autoregressive model, as was the use of three of the most popular methods to estimate the model and the most commonly used by researchers MLL method, Barg method and the least squares method and that using the method of simulation model first order autoregressive through the design of a number of simulation experiments and the different sizes of the samples.