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.
The study consisted in the development and use of a practical method to detect and
monitor, analyze and produce maps of changes in land use and land cover in the district of
Mahmudiya in Baghdad during the period 1990-2007 using the applications of remote sensing
techniques and with the assisstant of geographic information systems (GIS),as a valuable
contribution to land degradation studies.
This study is based maiuly on the processing on two subsets of landsat5 TM images picked up
in August 1990 and 2007 respectively in order to facilitate comparision and were thengeometrically and radiometrcally calibrated ,to used for digital classification purposes using
maximum liklihoods classification or six spectral bands of
This study is concerned measuri ng the concentration of some
ions l ike calci um, sodium, potassium, chlor, lithium, carbonate and bicarbonate in drinking and river water in AI-Muthana and AI-Basrah
cities_
These ions usually are found in normal water. When we take di!Ierent samples from different regions on the E uph rates river in Al Muthana and A1-Basrah cities we fou nd that the d rinking water in Al Basrah contains a high prccent from those ions. The low preccnt from those ions found in Arab river as compared with Euphrates river. This study
... Show MoreAbstract:
the current research aims at analyzing the efficiency of the private university teaching that recently expanded after 2003 ,;besides , the commitment of the private colleges ,definitely Al-Maamun and Al-Mansour colleges with strategy of the ministry of higher education and scientific research. This could be done through many indications that measure the efficiency of the private university teaching , including ( the indication of the efficiency of using human resources and efficiency in using the materialistic indications. But the human efficiency in these colleges , including the sample of the research ( Maamun
... Show MoreBackground: Cherry extract has a wide range of biological activity. In the present investigation, two oral doses 0.04&0.08 mg/kg/day of cherry stick (ethanol extract) in albino male mice resulted in a significant decrease in concentration of serum total cholesterol concentration, triglyceride and total protein, albumin and globulin.
Objective: we investigated the impact of biological activities of cherry stick extract on serum cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, albumin and globulin in white albino male mice.
Design: This study include three groups of white albino male mice. The first group (G1) was a control group comprised of 5 animals. The second group (G2) consisted of 5 animals treated with 1
Field trial was conducted with the aim of utilizing extract of allelopathic crop to reduce the use of synthetic herbicides in wheat fields. Sorghum extract at 12 L /ha, sunflower extract at 12 L /ha, combination of sorghum and sunflower extracts at 12 L /ha and chevalier at 25, 50 and 100% of recommended dose were applied alone or in combination with each other. Weed free and weedy check treatments were included for comparison. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that the recommended dose of chevalier treatment recorded lowest means of weed density 15.7, 23.7, 25.3 and 27.9 weeds m-2and weeds dry weight 13.4, 16.4, 23.3 and 29.2 g m-
... Show MoreObjectives: To study the prevalence of rs1799964 (-1031 T/C) and rs361525 (- 238 G/A) SNPs and their effect on the disease activity, severity, and cytokines production in newly diagnosed Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Patients and Methods: sixty-three patients were diagnosed by a specialist physician while attending the rheumatology unit and twenty control participated. The inflammatory markers were measured and PCR amplification and sequencing were performed to demonstrate TNF-α SNPs. Results: Regarding (-1031 C/T) SNP, the TT genotype and allele C were significantly present in the controls, and the CT genotype was distributed significantly in the patients. The TT genotype was mostly distributed in the mild-moder
... Show MoreObjective. Infection with Coxsackie virus. This virus that damages pancreatic cells, has long been linked to the onset of insulin-dependent diabetic mellitus (IDDM). Pro-inflammatory cytokines can be produced as a result of this illness. Tumor necrosis factor-a is one of these pro-inflammatory cytokines. Materials and Methods. Blood sample were collected from 180 Iraqi participants. Ninety of them is type 1 diabetic patients and other 90 is healthy control .both groups were tested for the incidence of Coxsackie virus B IgG. So the patients groups is divided to two groups according to sero positivity of CVB-IgG .all 180 patients tested to measure of level of TNF-α. Results. The Results showed increasing in levels of TNF-α in CBV po
... Show MoreThis paper aims to define and study new separation axioms based on the b-open sets in topological ordered spaces, namely strong - -ordered spaces ( ). These new separation axioms are lying between strong -ordered spaces and - - spaces ( ). The implications of these new separation axioms among themselves and other existing types are studied, giving several examples and counterexamples. Also, several properties of these spaces are investigated; for example, we show that the property of strong - -ordered spaces ( ) is an inherited property under open subspaces.
The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in China, in December 2019 and since then the digestive tract involvement of COVID-19 has been progressively described. In this review, I summed recent studies, which have addressed the pathophysiology of COVID-19-induced gastrointestinal symptoms, their prevalence, and bowel pathological and radiological findings of infected patients. The effects of gut microbiota on SARS-CoV-2 and the challenges of nutritional therapy of the infected patients are depicted. Moreover, I provide a concise summary of the recommendations on the management of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and performing endoscopy in the COVID era. Finally, the COVID pancreatic re
... Show MoreThe article describes the basic principles of modeling a dictionary article in the “Dictionary of the Language of Russian Folklore Lexicon epics” (M. A. Bobunova, A. T. Khrolenko). Among such principles are the principle of linguocentrism (representation of universal cognitions in strict observance of the traditions of lexicographic science), the principle of anthropocentrism (language learning as a means of human consciousness / subconsciousness), the principle of expansionism (attracting material from various knowledge bases), the principle of explanatory ("explanatory moment"), and fractal principle (synergistic potential of the presented material: nonlinearity and self-similarity; hierarchical organizati
... Show More