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.
Recent phosphorus (P) pollution in the United States, mainly in Maine, has raised some severe concerns over the use of P fertilizer application rates in agriculture. Phosphorus is the second most limiting nutrient after nitrogen and has damaging impacts on crop yield if found to be deficient. Therefore, farmers tend to apply more P than is required to satisfy any P loss after its application at planting. Several important questions were raised in this study to improve P efficiency and reduce its pollution. The objective of this study was to find potential reasons for P pollution in water bodies despite a decrease in potato acreage. Historically, the potato was found to be responsible for P water contamination due to its high P sensitivity a
... Show MoreThe Iraqi economy has suffered for a long period of inflation because of the Iraq war and the resolutions and the sanctions that were imposed on Iraq, this phenomenon overshadowed at various aspects of the economy including the tax revenue that the State seeks to optimize the total income for the budget, the research covers the years 1990-2010, these years have been divided according to the country's economic variables.
The research adopted on econometrics analysis that is based on the information and data available on topics and has been using statistical methods to test functions are formulated.
Research concluded that rates of inflation and GDP impact is limited to direct taxation and indirect in current prices a
... Show MoreIn this study, gamma-ray spectrometry with an HPGe detector was used to measure the specific activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in soil samples collected from IT1 oil reservoirs in Kirkuk city, northeast Iraq. The “spectral line Gp” gamma analysis software package was used to analyze the spectral data. 226Ra specific activity varies from 9 0.34 Bq.kg-1 to 17 0.47 Bq.kg-1. 232Th specific activity varies from 6.2 0.08 Bq.kg-1 to 18 0.2 Bq.kg-1. 40K specific activity varies from 25 0.19 Bq.kg-1 to 118 0.41 Bq.kg-1. The radiological hazard due to the radiation emitted from natural r
... Show MoreBackground: Beta thalassemia major is an inherited disorder that may affect general and oral health.The purpose of this study was toassess the severity of dental caries in relation to oral cleanliness, mutans streptococciamong a group of boys with beta thalassemia majorin comparison with a control group. Materials and Methods: The study involved 30 boys with BTM aged 10-12 years compared to 30 healthy boys with the same age group. d1-4mfs and D1-4 MFS indices were applied (Muhlemann, 1976), the viable counts of mutans streptococci in stimulated saliva were also determined. Results: The entire thalassemic group was caries-active. For both dentitions, a higher dmfs/DMFS values were recorded for study compared to control group, difference was
... Show MoreThis study is attempt to improve thermal isolation through measuring thermal conductivity composite of on polyester resin with fillers of (TiO2, ZnO, Acrylonitril, wood flour Coconut (Wf). The grain size of the fillers is 200 µm. The number of samples is (16) in addition to the virgin sample; these samples are prepared by cast molding method for polyester with filler volume fractions (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). Shore hardness tests were used to measure the hardness and Lee disk method for thermal conductivity. The experimental results showed that the (20% ZnO) sample has the maximum value of thermal conductivity where (20% w.f) has minimum thermal conductivity .on the other hand (15% ZnO) sample give the maximum value of hardness where (20% w
... Show MoreForeign trade receives a good deal of economists' attention for its active contribution to economic growth, and imports of goods and services that could not be produced locally constitute an important share of the local economy. Agricultural imports constitute an important share of the total imports due to their role in fulfilling the needs of local markets; however, the agricultural sector in Iraq contributes no more than a limited share of the country's need, which has encouraged the import of a variety of fruits, vegetables and strategic crops and different types of red and white meat. For the sake of identifying the factors affecting the demand on agricultural imports in Iraq, the following factors has been analyzed: th
... Show MoreBackground: The Initial (primary) stability is one of the factors that play an important role in the success of the dental implants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the initial stability of dental implant with horizontal plate by using five analytical tests: insertion torque, removal torque, resonance frequency analysis, push-in test and pull-out test. Materials and methods: Two different lengths of dental implants (5mm and 10mm) were tested in this study; each dental implant was 4mm in diameter with a square threads shape of 1mm pitch and 0.5mm depth. The crestal area was 4.2mm diameter contained a right angle margin circumferential ring while the apical area was tapered with two self-tapping grooves. In this study, the initial s
... Show More