Anemia of chronic disease (ACD) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are the two most important types of anemia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Functional iron deficiency in ACD can be attributed to overexpression of the main iron regulatory hormone hepcidin leading to diversion of iron from the circulation into storage sites resulting in iron-restricted erythropoiesis. The aim is to investigate the role of circulating hepcidin and to uncover the frequency of IDA in RA. The study included 51 patients with RA. Complete blood counts, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, ferritin, and hepcidin- 25 were assessed. ACD was found in 37.3% of patients, IDA in 11.8%, and combined (ACD/IDA) in 17.6%. Serum hepcidin was higher in ACD than in control and the other groups (P ≤ 0.001). It was strongly and positively correlated with ferritin (P < 0.001), while hemoglobin, serum iron, and total iron binding capacity were negatively correlated with hepcidin (P = 0.016, 0.022 and <0.001, respectively). High serum hepcidin was significantly associated with ACD in RA. IDA alone or combined with ACD was encountered in about a third of patients.
Activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) markedly attenuates development of atherosclerosis in animal models. However, the underlying mechanism is not well elucidated. Here, we show that the FXR agonist, obeticholic acid (OCA), increases fecal cholesterol excretion and macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) dependent on activation of hepatic FXR. OCA does not increase biliary cholesterol secretion, but inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption. OCA markedly inhibits hepatic cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (
Gender and culture are among the factors that influence the process of understanding and interpreting different types of communication, especially images. The current study, which is a part of a master’s thesis, aims at investigating the role of gender and culture in interpreting and understanding the caricatures that deal with women’s issues in Arab societies. To this end, the researchers adopted Barthes’ (1957) concepts of denotation and connotation in his theory of mythologies in addition to Langacker’s (1987) theory of (Domains). The research concludes that the female subjects have better cognitive abilities in investing the signs within the selected caricatures. The other factor the study reached to is that the respondents
... Show MoreBackground: Multi- drug resistant (MDR) Staphylococcus aureus infections have become a major public health concern in both hospital and community settings.Objective: to investigate the antibacterial activity of T. Foenum- groecum essential oil against skin infection with S. aureus and to study probable synergistic activity in combination with Clindamycin.Type of the study: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: Antibacterial activity of T. Foenum- groecum essential oil extract (1.2gm/100 µl) was investigated in multi- drug resistance (MDR) Staphylococcus aureus specimen isolated from patients with skin infection in Baghdad. T. Foenum- groecum use externally for cellulites and skin inflammation due to the presence of diosgenin .fast liq
... Show MoreIron oxide(Fe3O4) nanoparticles of different sizes and shapes were synthesized by solve-hydrothermal reaction assisted by microwave irradiation using ferrous ammonium sulfate as a metal precursor, oleic acid as dispersing agent, ethanol as reducing agent and NaOH as precipitating agent at pH=12. The synthesized Fe3O4 nano particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR and thermal analysis TG-DTG. Sizes and shapes of Fe3O4 nanoparticles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
The reducing of erosion and the solubility of irrigation canals soils which constructed on gypsum soil is important in civil and water resources engineering. The main problem of gypsum soils is the presence of gypsum which represents one of most complex engineering problems, especially when accompanied by the moving of water which represent dynamic load along the canal. There are several solutions to this problem, in this research “Poly urethane” is used to give the gypsum soil sufficient hardness to reduce the solubility and erosion, after compacting the soil in the canal, percentages of Poly urethane was used to making cover to the soil by mixing percent of soil with Poly urethane, and the ratio was as follows: (5 and 10) % an
... Show MoreIn the present work, pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique was applied to a pellet of Chromium Oxide (99.999% pure) with 2.5 cm diameter and 3 mm thickness at a pressure of 5 Tons using a Hydraulic piston. The films were deposited using Nd: YAG laser λ= (4664) nm at 600 mJ and 400 number of shot on a glass substrate, The thickness of the film was (107 nm). Structural and morphological analysis showed that the films started to crystallize at annealing temperature greater than 400 oC. Absorbance and transmittance spectra were recorded in the wavelength range (300-
4400) nm before and after annealing. The effects of annealing temperature on absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of d
In this work, the spectra for plasma glow produced by pulse
Nd:YAG laser (λ=532 and 1064nm) on Ag:Al alloy with same molar
ratio samples in distilled water were analyzed by studying the atomic
lines compared with aluminum and silver strong standard lines. The
effect of laser energies of the range 300 to 800 mJ on spectral lines,
produced by laser ablation, were investigated using optical
spectroscopy. The electron temperature was found to be increased
from 1.698 to 1.899 eV, while the electron density decreased from
2.247×1015 to 5.08×1014 cm-3 with increasing laser energy from 300
to 800 mJ with wavelength of 1064 nm. The values of electron
temperature using second harmonic frequency are greater than of<
Ondansetron hydrochloride (ONH) is a very bitter, potent antiemetic drug used for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of chemotherapy or radiotherapy or postoperative induced emesis. The objective of this study is to formulate and evaluate of taste masked fast dissolving tablet (FDTs) of ONH to increase patient compliance.
ONH taste masked granules were prepared by solid dispersion technique using Eudragit E100 polymer as an inert carrier. Solvent evaporation and fusion melting methods were used for such preparation.
Completely taste masking with zero release of drug in phosphate buffer pH 6.8was obtained from granules prepared by solvent evaporation method using drug: polymer ratio of 1:2, from which four formulas pas
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