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.
Epilepsy is one of the most common diseases of the nervous system around the world, affecting all age groups and causing seizures leading to loss of control for a period of time. This study presents a seizure detection algorithm that uses Discrete Cosine Transformation (DCT) type II to transform the signal into frequency-domain and extracts energy features from 16 sub-bands. Also, an automatic channel selection method is proposed to select the best subset among 23 channels based on the maximum variance. Data are segmented into frames of one Second length without overlapping between successive frames. K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) model is used to detect those frames either to ictal (seizure) or interictal (non-
... Show MoreTwelve cigarette tobacco samples of various brands and origins were gathered from local markets of Iraq. . The CRn was determined utilizing CR-39 track detectors which were exposed to the various brands of cigarettes tobacco for 45 days. The results demonstrated that the highest value of 222Rn concentration was )157 Bq/m3( in Macbeth cigarette sample of Brazilian origin and the lowest value of CRn was (76.3 Bq/m3 (in Sumer cigarette sample of Iraqi origin,with an average value of (106.53±22.3 Bq/m3). The outcomes have demonstrated that cigarettes of a Brazilian origin contain higher CRn tha
... Show MoreToday, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Drones are a valuable source of data on inspection, surveillance, mapping and 3D modelling matters. Drones can be considered as the new alternative of classic manned aerial photography due to their low cost and high spatial resolution. In this study, drones were used to study archaeological sites. The archaeological Nineveh site, which is a very famous site located in heart of the city of Mosul, in northern Iraq, was chosen. This site was the largest capital of the Assyrian Empire 3000 years ago. The site contains an external wall that includes many gates, most of which were destroyed when Daesh occupied the city in 2014. The local population of the city of Mosul has also large
... Show MoreA new, accurate, precise and economic two spectrophotometric methods for determination of Paracetamol (Par), Ibuprofen (Ibu), and Caffeine (Caf) were suggested. Those methods were the first and second ratio derivative spectrum using a double devisor. Par, Ibu, and Caf showed many useful peaks for their quantified determination. The validity of all analysis modes for determination of the three compounds, peak to baseline, peak area and peak to peak were according to ICH. The linearity of two methods was between 5 µg/ml as a lower concentration and 50 µg/ml as the highest concentration for three compounds. Recovery percentage was around 100% and relative standard deviation was less than 2.6%. The methods were applied successfully in the
... Show MoreThe biological diversity of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) has widely been reported to be associated with pathological progress in severe nosocomial and community-acquired infections. 250 clinical specimens included sputum, urine and swabs from wound and burns samples were collected from Al-Batool Teaching Hospital (38.4%), Baqubah Teaching Hospital (61.6%) and private laboratories in Baqubah and Diyala, Iraq. Positive rates of nosocomial acquired infection were sputum 98%, urine 96%, and swabs from wound and burns 94%, while positive rates of community acquired infection were sputum 60%, urine 60%, and swabs wound and burns 30%. Positive rates of nosocomial and community acquired infections were 96% and 48%, res
... Show MoreThe members of the family of Eentrobacteriaceae harbour a gene cluster called polyketide synthase (pks) island. This cluster is responsible for the synthesis of the genotoxin colibactin that might have an important role in the induction of double-strand DNA breaks, leading to promote human colorectal cancer (CRC). Eleven out of the eighty eight isolates (12.5%) were pks+, distributed as 7 (8%) isolates of E. coli, 2 (2.25%) of K. pneumoniae and 2 (2.25%) of E. aerogenes. The cytotoxic effects of selected pks+ isolates (E. coli and E. aerogenes) on HeLa cells were represented by decreasing cell numbers and enlarged cell nuclei in comparison to the untreated cells. Cyt
... Show MorePolyimide/polyaniline nanofiber composites were prepared by in situ polymerization with various weight percentages of polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), proved the successful preparation of PANI nanofiber composite films. In addition, thermal stability of PI/PANI nanofiber composites was superior relative to PI, having 10 % gravimetric loss in the range of 623 °C to 671 °C and glass transition temperature of 289 °C to 297 °C. Furthermore, the values of the loss tangent tanδ and AC conductivity σAC of the nanocomposite films were notably higher than those of pure polyimide. The addition of 5 wt.% to 15 wt.% PANI