Background: Rituximab is a chimeric IgG1 kappa immunoglobulin that has been genetically modified to incorporate human constant region sequences together with murine light- and heavy-chain variable region sequences. People use it to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain malignancies. Objective: The study aimed to assess the potential association between the serum levels of Factor I, CD59, interleukins (IL)-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ and the response to Rituximab treatment in Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the rheumatology center at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Ninety adult patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and are receiving Rituximab intravenous infusions were included. The enrolled patients were divided into a responder group (45 patients) and a non-responder group (45 patients). The response to Rituximab was assessed according to the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Results: The serum levels of Factor I and CD59 were significantly higher in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. In addition, the serum IL-6 and IFN-γ levels were significantly elevated in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. The estimated marker serum levels showed a strong, significant correlation with the 6-month change in DAS28. Conclusions: In Rituximab nonresponder RA patients, serum levels of Factor I, CD59, Factor H, IL-6, and IFN-γ are higher, and they have good potential to be used in the assessment of the response to Rituximab therapy.
Background: Aortic valve stenosis results from minor to severe degrees of aortic valve maldevelopment. This stenosis causes mild to severe obstruction of the left ventricular outflow .
Objectives : to study the immediate and intermediate results of percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty in patients with congenital valvular aortic stenosis .
Type of the study: A prospective study.
Methods: The study was done on thirty five patients with congenital valvular aortic stenosis who had percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty in Ibn Al- Bitar Center for Cardiac Surgery from May 2009 to February 2011.
Results
... Show MoreThe invasion and spread of cancer cells are two of the most notable characteristics of malignant tumors. Recent studies suggest that the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been linked to this significant occurrence. It is linked to the absence of the epithelial brow and the presence of mesenchymal facial hair. The aims of the present study were to explore the immunohistochemical staining of vimentin and E-cadherin ex vivo as EMT markers and assess their potential as predictive biomarkers for transitional cell cancer (TCC). In this study, 55 paraffin-embedded biopsies from TCC patients and 10 autopsies that appeared to be normal were included. Immunohistochemistry was used to produce patterns of vimentin and E-cadherin expression. W
... Show MoreRisks are confronting the foundations of buildings and structures when exposed to earthquakes which leads to high displacements that may cause the failure of the structures. This research elaborates numerically the effect of the earthquake on the vertical and lateral displacement of footing resting on the soil. The thickness of the footing and depth of soil layer below the footing was taken as (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m) and (10, 20 and 40m), respectively. The stiffness ratio of soil to footing was also elaborated at 0.68, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.7. The results showed an increase in the verticle displacement of footing as the duration of the earthquake increases. The increase of soil layer thickness below the footing leads to a reduction in the vertical
... Show MoreFive levels of Zn-EDTA fertilizer and foliar application of boron were used to study the local rice response through studying of some vegetative and reproductive growth characters, by conducting two field experiments at Kanipanka Agricultural Research Station during the summer season of 2004 by using RCBD with three replications. Significant differences were found in studied characters, there were increase in the number of days from seeding to 50% flowering (94.330-96.233) days, from 50% flowering to physiological maturity (37.50-38.28) days, plant height (82.50-91.423) cm and LAI (5.441-7.525). Reproductive characters such as number of grains panicle-1 (74.11-85.88), number of panicles m-2 (321.00-426.083), biological yield (8166.166-11082
... Show MoreThis study was conducted in a lath house, Dept of Hort. and Landscape, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, Univ. During the 2021 growing season, Baghdad will investigate the influence of organic and Biological fertilizers on three Citrus rootstocks' growth and leaf mineral content. The first factor is the addition of liquid organic fertilizers Vit-Org (O) at three levels without addition (O0), soil addition at 10 ml.L-1 (O10) and soil addition at 20 ml.L-1 (O20). The second factor is the addition of nitrogen-fixing bacteria without addition (N1), add 30 ml.Transplant-1 of Azotobacter chroococcum (N2) and add 30 ml.Transplant-1 of Azospirillum brasilemse (N3). The third factor is three citrus rootstocks: sour orange (R1), R
... Show MoreAn optical spectroscopic study is reported in this article to study the correlation between the supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the star formation rate (SFR) for a sample of Seyfert galaxies type (I and II). The study focused on 45 galaxy of Seyfert 1, in addition to 45 galaxy of Seyfert 2, where these samples have been selected form different survey of Salon Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The redshift (z) of these objects were between (0.02 – 0.26). The results of Seyfert 1 galaxies shows that there good correlation between the SMBH and the SFR depending on statistical analysis parameter named Spearman’s Rank Correlation in a factor of (ρ=0.609), as well as the Seyfert 2 galaxies results show a good correlation between the SMBH
... Show MoreAn optical spectroscopic study is reported in this article to study the correlation between the supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the star formation rate (SFR) for a sample of Seyfert galaxies type (I and II). The study focused on 45 galaxy of Seyfert 1, in addition to 45 galaxy of Seyfert 2, where these samples have been selected form different survey of Salon Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The redshift (z) of these objects were between (0.02 – 0.26). The results of Seyfert 1 galaxies shows that there good correlation between the SMBH and the SFR depending on statistical analysis parameter named Spearman’s Rank Correlation in a factor of (ρ=0.609), as well as the Seyfert 2 galaxies results show a good correlation between the SMBH and
... Show MoreHelicobacter pylori (HP) is the etiopathogenic agent of gastric and duodenal disorders ranging from gastritis to malignancy. It is also associated with many extraintestinal diseases, including cardiovascular disease and its associated risk factors. To evaluate the link between HP infection and some cardiovascular risk factors by studying the effects of HP infection on body mass index, blood pressure, and serum lipid profile among patients having gastritis with and without HP infection. A crosssectional study included 1214 patients who had gastritis diagnosed by gastroscopy examination. Those patients were in the age range of 30-65 years and they were divided according to their gender into 725 females and 489 males depending on the 1
... Show MoreAbortion is a condition that occurs due to one of the pathological injuries, often one of the members of the TORCH is the real cause. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of toxoplasmosis, HSV-2 infections with abortion, and also, the identification of immunogenetics marker (interleukin-10) that may be associated with abortion. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG, IgM, Herpes simplex virus-2 IgM, human soluble leukocyte antigen class I–G and interleukin10 were estimated by ELISA technique, while the expression of IL-10 gene was investigated by using the real-time PCR. The results showed that among aborted women the rate of anti-Toxoplasma and HSV-2 IgM antibodies occurred within the age groups (21–30) years and (31–40) years 32(100.0%) a
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