Rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis use analogous effector destructive procedures, in that the inflammatory cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines that drive chronic bone erosion in RA and chronic periodontal destruction in Periodontitis are alike. Periodontitis (PD) has appeared as a hazard factor in a number of health situations as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To determine the effect of anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha biological treatment (methotrexate and Enbrel or infliximab) on periodontal status of patients having rheumatoid arthritis with periodontitis in comparison to those having periodontitis without rheumatoid arthritis and control healthy subjects and to determine the serum levels of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) in these groups. Periodontal parameters used in this study were plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP) and clinical attachment level (CAL). Serum levels of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) was estimated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The Blood samples were gathered from 75 patients (25 patients had rheumatoid arthritis with periodontitis, 30 patients with periodontitis only and 20 evidently healthy volunteers). The current data revealed that the median value of plaque and gingival indices were higher in the periodontitis group than in rheumatoid arthritis with periodontitis group while CAL was slightly higher in rheumatoid arthritis with periodontitis group than periodontitis group. The percentage of BOP sites were higher in periodontitis group than rheumatoid arthritis with periodontitis. The serum level of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide was found to be higher in the periodontitis group (601.846) followed by rheumatoid arthritis with periodontitis, which had the lowest median (163.99), while the median value of ACCP in control group was (218.617), and the result was statistically non-significant difference between the study groups p> 0.05. There was no correlation between anticyclic citrullinated peptide and clinical periodontal parameters in each group except in gingival index, bleeding on probing of the periodontitis group as there was significant correlation. Patients with RA receiving biological treatment had lower anti_cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody and lower periodontal indices when compared with the other patient that not taking biological therapy. Thus, suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines might have a beneficial effect in reducing inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis disease and in minimizing the periodontal destruction of chronic periodontitis.
The demand for single photon sources in quantum key distribution (QKD) systems has necessitated the use of weak coherent pulses (WCPs) characterized by a Poissonian distribution. Ensuring security against eavesdropping attacks requires keeping the mean photon number (µ) small and known to legitimate partners. However, accurately determining µ poses challenges due to discrepancies between theoretical calculations and practical implementation. This paper introduces two experiments. The first experiment involves theoretical calculations of µ using several filters to generate the WCPs. The second experiment utilizes a variable attenuator to generate the WCPs, and the value of µ was estimated from the photons detected by the BB
... Show MoreA solar updraft tower power plant (solar tower) is a solar thermal power plant that utilizes a combination of solar
air collector and central updraft tube to generate an induced convective flow which drives pressure staged turbines to generate electricity.
This paper presents practical results of a prototype of a solar chimney with thermal mass, where the glass surface is replaced by transparence plastic cover. The study focused on chimney's basements kind effect on collected air temperatures. Three basements were used: concrete, black concrete and black pebbles basements. The study was conducted in Baghdad from August to November 2009.
The results show that the best chimney efficiency attaine
... Show MoreWireless Body Area Sensor Networks (WBASNs) have garnered significant attention due to the implementation of self-automaton and modern technologies. Within the healthcare WBASN, certain sensed data hold greater significance than others in light of their critical aspect. Such vital data must be given within a specified time frame. Data loss and delay could not be tolerated in such types of systems. Intelligent algorithms are distinguished by their superior ability to interact with various data systems. Machine learning methods can analyze the gathered data and uncover previously unknown patterns and information. These approaches can also diagnose and notify critical conditions in patients under monitoring. This study implements two s
... Show MoreEvaluating the behavior of a ring foundation resting on multi-layered soil is one of the important issues facing civil engineers. Many researchers have studied the behavior of ring foundation rests on multi-layered soil with vertical loads acting on the foundation. In real life ring foundation can be subjected to both vertical and horizontal loads at the same time due to wind or the presence of soil. In this research, the behavior of ring footing subjected to inclined load has been studied using PLAXIS software. Furthermore, the effect of multi-layered soil has been simulated in the model. The results showed that both vertical and horizontal stresses are mainly affected when the inclination angle of the load exceeded 45 degrees with a reduc
... Show MoreExistence of these soils, sometimes with high gypsum content, caused difficult problems to the buildings and strategic projects due to dissolution and leaching of gypsum by the action of waterflow through soil mass. In this research, a new technique is adopted to investigate the performance of replacement and geosynthetic reinforcement materials to improve the gypseous soil behavior through experimential set up manufactured loaclally specially for this work. A series of tests were carried out using steel container (600*600*500) mm. A square footing (100*100) mm was placed at the center of the top surface of the bed soil. The results showed that the most effective thickness for the dune sand layer with geotextile at the interface, within
... Show MoreThis study investigates the impact of varying glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) stirrup spacing on the performance of doubly GFRP-reinforced concrete beams. The research focuses on assessing the behavior of GFRP-reinforced concrete beams, including load-carrying capacity, cracking, and deformability. It explores the feasibility and effectiveness of GFRP bars as an alternative to traditional steel reinforcement in concrete structures. Six concrete beams with a cross-section of 300 mm (wide) × 250 mm (deep), simply supported on a 2100 mm span, were tested. The beams underwent four-point bending with two concentrated loads applied symmetrically at one-third of the span length, resulting in a shear span (a)-to-depth (h) ratio of 2.
... Show MoreA new Schiff base [I] was prepared by refluxing Amoxicillin trihydrate and 4-Hydroxy- 3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde in aqueous methanol solution using glacial acetic acid as a catalyst. The new 1,3-oxazepine derivative [II] was obtained by Diels- Alder reaction of Schiff base [I] with phthalic anhydride in dry benzene. The reaction of Schiff base [I] with thioglycolic acid in dry benzene led to the formation of thiazolidin-4-one derivative [III]. While the imidazolidin-4-one [IV] derivative was produced by reacting the mentioned Schiff base [I] with glycine and triethylamine in ethanol for 9 hrs. Tetrazole derivative [V] was synthesized by refluxing Schiff base [I] with sodium azide in dimethylformamid DMF. The structure of synthesized compound
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