Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and systemic autoimmune disease that is characterized by severe synovial inflammation, cartilage erosion, bone loss, and generalized vasculopathy. Although the immunologic mechanism of RA is still unclear, it is now thought to be a primarily Th17-driven disease. Along with other factors, IL-23 stimulates the expansion of Th17 cells from naive CD4+ T cells.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the circulating levels of interleukin (IL)-23 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and determine the correlation between plasma/serum IL-23 levels and disease activity. So, we performed a systematic review with meta-analysis comparing

    The study area comprises Injana Formation (Late Miocene), exposed on the hills nearby of Tharthar Lake and about 120 km north of Baghdad city. This study depends on sedimentologic and facies analysis to recognize paleoenvironment and recognize the kinds of vertebrate bone fossils during Late Miocene. Sedimentologic and facies analysis showed many sedimentary facies: facies (Se) of scoured erosional surface, facies of (Sp) cross- bedded sandstones, facies (Fs) of fine sandstone facies, facies of (Fc) claystone, and facies of (C) calcareous clay. Facies analysis referred to the sub environments which are: point bar, over bank and floodplain in addition to fining upward cycles of deposition, which refers to meandering flu

This research seeks through the adoption of two basic variables, where he considered the actuarial experience as an independent variable, while the process of accepting the risk and dimensions related to it is a dependent variable, the research was adopted to present the data achieved by the company during the life insurance business during the adoption of actuarial experience at the beginning of its work where Adoption of the historical method in the analysis of those data to prove the researcher's opinion, through the analysis of data (5 years) for the first period, which extends between (1975-1979), the period during which the company adopted the actuarial experience at the time, also taken data for the same dimensions related to the

This paper proposes a new approach to model and analyze erect posture, based on a spherical inverted pendulum which is used to mimic the body posture. The pendulum oscillates in two directions, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], from which the mathematical model was derived and two torque components in oscillation directions were introduced. They are estimated using stabilometric data acquired by a foot pressure mapping system. The model was quantitatively investigated using data from 19 participants, who were first were classified into three groups, according to the foot arch-index. Stabilometric data were then collected and fed into the model to estimate the torque’s components. The components were statistically proce

In Computer-based applications, there is a need for simple, low-cost devices for user authentication. Biometric authentication methods namely keystroke dynamics are being increasingly used to strengthen the commonly knowledge based method (example a password) effectively and cheaply for many types of applications. Due to the semi-independent nature of the typing behavior it is difficult to masquerade, making it useful as a biometric. In this paper, C4.5 approach is used to classify user as authenticated user or impostor by combining unigraph features (namely Dwell time (DT) and flight time (FT)) and digraph features (namely Up-Up Time (UUT) and Down-Down Time (DDT)). The results show that DT enhances the performance of digraph features by i

Abstract: Facial defects resulting from neoplasms, congenital, acquired malformations or trauma can be restored with facial prosthesis using different materials and retention methods to achieve life-like look and function. A nasal prosthesis can re-establish aesthetic form and anatomic contours for mid-facial defects, often more effectively than by surgical reconstruction as the nose is relatively immobile structure. For successful results, lot of factors such as harmony, texture, color matching and blending of tissue interface with the prosthesis are important. The aim of this study is to describe the non-surgical rehabilitation with nasal prosthesis for an Iraqi patient who received rhinectomy as a result of squamous cell carcinoma of the

The present work aims to study the efficiency of using aluminum refuse, which is available locally (after dissolving it in sodium hydroxide), with different coagulants like alum [Al2 (SO4)3.18H2O], Ferric chloride FeCl3 and polyaluminum chloride (PACl) to improve the quality of water. The results showed that using this coagulant in the flocculation process gave high results in the removal of turbidity as well as improving the quality of water by precipitating a great deal of ions causing hardness. From the experimental results of the Jar test, the optimum alum dosages are (25, 50 and 70 ppm), ferric chloride dosages are (15, 40 and 60 ppm) and polyaluminum chloride dosages were (10, 35 and 55 ppm) for initial water turbidity (100, 500 an