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.
People with diabetes can develop different foot problems. In the blood stream glucose reacts with hemoglobin to make a glycosylated hemoglobin molecule called hemoglobin A1c or HbA1c, the more glucose in the blood the more hemoglobin A1c will be present in the blood. The HbAlc test is currently one of the best ways to check diabetes to be under control. The aim of study is to compare between the blood investigations which includes the fasting blood sugar and HbAlC (glycosylated hemoglobin), and to evaluate the benefit of HbAlc (measurement for diabetic patients with foot ulcer, to be a good indicator for controlling blood glucose). Sixty patients with type2 diabetes mellitus from the outpatient clinic of Baghdad Teachin
... Show MoreForest fires continue to rise during the dry season and they are difficult to stop. In this case, high temperatures in the dry season can cause an increase in drought index that could potentially burn the forest every time. Thus, the government should conduct surveillance throughout the dry season. Continuous surveillance without the focus on a particular time becomes ineffective and inefficient because of preventive measures carried out without the knowledge of potential fire risk. Based on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), formulation of Drought Factor is used just for calculating the drought today based on current weather conditions, and yesterday's drought index. However, to find out the factors of drought a day after, the data
... Show MoreBackground: Although various imaging modalities are available for evaluating suspicious breast lesions, ultrasound-based Shear-Wave Elastography (SWE) is an advanced, non-invasive technique complementary to grayscale sonography. This technique evaluates the elasticity of a specific tissue by applying sonic pressure to that tissue.
Objective: The aim is to assess the role of SWE in evaluating solid breast masses in correlation to histopathological study results.
Subjects and Methods: This prospective study was done in a tertiary care teaching hospital from September 2019 to August 2020. A study population of 50 women aged 18 years or above with an
... Show MoreThis paper presents ABAQUS simulations of fully encased composite columns, aiming to examine the behavior of a composite column system under different load conditions, namely concentric, eccentric with 25 mm eccentricity, and flexural loading. The numerical results are validated with the experimental results obtained for columns subjected to static loads. A new loading condition with a 50 mm eccentricity is simulated to obtain additional data points for constructing the interaction diagram of load-moment curves, in an attempt to investigate the load-moment behavior for a reference column with a steel I-section and a column with a GFRP I-section. The result comparison shows that the experimental data align closely with the simulation
... Show MoreDisabled people are among the most important groups that need attention, care, and financial and moral care. They cannot fulfill the requirement of life normally without care from a person to meet their special needs. The disability is either mental or physical. The Iraqi government has paid attention to this category by adopting a law for this category, represented by Law No. (38) for the year (2013), which keeps their rights and duties in Iraqi society by establishing institution of persons with disabilities and special needs of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to create a modern society politically, socially, culturally or economically. In view of the importance of this group in society, the media reinforces the communit
... Show MoreThe purpose of the study is to identify the need to improve health services in Iraq by determining the efficiency of service in health care centres and working on exploiting limited resources through choosing the most efficient technological art represented by using precast concrete technology to fill the shortfall in the establishment health centres for primary care and to explain the impact of this on saving resources, time, and increasing production efficiency. To achieve this, the quantitative analysis adopted as a methodology in the study by determining the size of the deficit in the infrastructure of health centres for primary care according to the standard of a he
... Show MoreMany pathophysiological processes can affect the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs in people with diabetes. The present study was deigned to evaluate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the pharmacokinetic parameters of metronidazole administered as single oral dose. Twelve healthy volunteers and twelve diabetic patients were enrolled in the present study. On day 1, a single oral dose of metronidazole 500 mg was administered orally to all participants at 9:00 am after a 10-hour fasting. Over the following 48 hours, blood samples were taken at frequent intervals and serum metronidazole concentrations were measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography method for assessment of pharmacokinetics of metronidazole. The data
... Show MoreMany pathophysiological processes can affect the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs in people with diabetes. The present study was deigned to evaluate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the pharmacokinetic parameters of metronidazole administered as single oral dose. Twelve healthy volunteers and twelve diabetic patients were enrolled in the present study. On day 1, a single oral dose of metronidazole 500 mg was administered orally to all participants at 9:00 am after a 10-hour fasting. Over the following 48 hours, blood samples were taken at frequent intervals and serum metronidazole concentrations were measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography method for assessment of pharmacokinetics of metronid
... Show MoreItem Difficulty and Item Discrimination Coefficient for School and College Ability Tests (SCAT) Advanced Form in Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) and the Correlation among Them Mohammad moqasqas Haifa T. Albokai Assistant Professor of Measurement and Evaluation Associate Professor of Measurement and Evaluation College of Education, Taibah University The aim of this study was to study the item difficulty and item discrimination of the SCAT (advance form) with CTT, and IRT, and to study the correlation among them. To do this, the researchers used the data of their previous study, which conducted in (2011). It consisted of (3943) subject. Then, they used two-statistical programs (TAP, Bilog-MG-3) to obtain the item
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