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.
The Specific activity of extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) was measured in healthy persons and in patients with benign and malignant brain tumors. The results show decrease of the EC-SOD specific activity in sera of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors in comparison to that of control group.This study concentrated on studying the changes that occur in sera EC-SOD activity of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors, in comparison to that of normal individuals. The result also revealed that this isoenzyme is present in many different molecular weights forms (as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), some of these with no enzymatic activity. Conversion among these forms occurs in the malignant sera
The capacity factor is the main factor in assessing the efficiency of wind Turbine. This paper presents a procedure to find the optimal wind turbine for five different locations in Iraq based on finding the highest capacity factor of wind turbine for different locations. The wind data for twelve successive years (2009-2020) of five locations in Iraq are collected and analyzed. The longitudes and latitudes of the candidate sites are (44.3661o E, 33.3152o N), (47.7738o E, 30.5258o N), (45.8160o E, 32.5165o N), (44.33265o E, 32.0107o N) and (46.25691o E, 31.0510o N) for Baghdad, Basrah, Al-Kut, Al-Najaf, and Al-Nasiriyah respectively. The average wind velocity, standard deviation, Weibull shape and scale factors, and probability density functi
... Show MoreThe investigation of natural convection in an annular space between two concentric cylinders partially filled with metal foam is introduced numerically. The metal foam is inserted with a new suggested design that includes the distribution of metal foam in the annular space, not only in the redial direction, but also with the angular direction. Temperatures of inner and outer cylinders are maintained at constant value in which inner cylinder temperature is higher than the outer one. Naiver Stokes equation with Boussinesq approximation is used for fluid regime while Brinkman-Forchheimer Darcy model used for metal foam. In addition, the local thermal equilibrium condition in the energy e
Transition metal complexes of Y(III), La(III) and Rh(III) with azo dye 2,4-dimethyl-6- (4-nitro-phenylazo)-phenol derived from 4-nitroaniline and 2,4-dimethylphenol were synthesized. Characterization of these compounds has been done on the basis of elemental analysis, electronic data, FT-IR,UV-Vis and 1HNMR, as well as conductivity measurements. The nature of the complexes formed were studies following the mole ratio and continuous variation methods, Beer's law obeyed over a concentration range (1x10-4- 3x10-4). High molar absorbtivity of the complex solutions were observed. From the analytical data, the stoichiomerty of the complexes has been found to be 1:3 (Metal:ligand). On the basis of Physicochemical data octahedral geometries were as
... 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
... Show MoreAbstract Background: The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2) proto-oncogene is overexpressed or amplified in approximately 15%-25% of invasive breast cancers. Approximately 35% of HER2-amplified breast cancers have coamplification of the topoisomerase II-alpha (TOP2A) gene encoding an enzyme that is a major target of anthracyclines. Hence, the determination of genetic alteration (amplification or deletion) of both genes is considered as an important predictive factor that determines the response of breast cancer patients to treatment. The aims of this study are to determinate TOP2A status gene amplification in a set of Iraqi patients with breast cancer that have had an equivocal (2+) and positive HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry
... Show MoreBaghdad governorate has many areas of distinctive architectural and architectural character, which are heritage and valuable areas that we must preserve and take care of. But we see many manifestations of it, which have a negative impact on buildings, areas and roads, so that they distort the view and thus lead to visual pollution in general. The research examined the visual pollution from random advertising, which stretched buildings, walls, electricity poles and sidewalks. The study covered different areas of al-Karkh and al-Rassafa (Jadreya Bridge, Nation Square, Jordan Square, alkindy Street)Most of the distortions were the result of non-removable posters, Handwriting, election candidate adve
... Show More: Partial purification of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) from type 2 diabetic patients sera take place using some purification steps such as participation with ammonium sulphate (55-80%) and filtered through dialysis, then ion exchange chromatography by DEAE sepharose anion column, gel filtration chromatography by sephadex G-100 column. In ion exchange step, there are four peak are obtained, the highest enzyme activity obtained by (0.4 M Nacl) with purification fold (2.18), yield (44.3) of enzyme and specific activity (13.5) mg/ng, which obtained a single peak by gel filtration chromatography, the degree of purification (5.34) fold, yield of enzyme (20%) with specific activity (33.109mg/ng). The purified enzyme had an optimum tem
... Show MoreBackground and aim: Pomegranate is a medicinal herb that can promote healing of periodontal tissue through differentiation of mesenchymal cells both in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, this study is to investigate the effect of oral supplementation of Punicagranatum L. peel extract on bone defect in rabbit. Methods: Forty five male rabbits were divided into 3 groups; group 1; baseline group(5 rabbits) left without bone defect. Group 2; study group (20 rabbits) with bone defect model that received daily 1ml of oral supplementation of pomegranate peel extract (PoPx). Group 3; control group (20 rabbits) with bone defect model that received distilled water. Bone defect was done into facial plate of lower right central incisor. Blood biopsies by
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