Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were

Asset management involves efficient planning of economic and technical performance characteristics of infrastructure systems. Managing a sewer network requires various types of activities so the network can be able to achieve a certain level of performance. During the lifetime of the network various components will start to deteriorate leading to bad performance and can damage the infrastructure. The main objective of this research is to develop deterioration models to provide an assessment tool for determining the serviceability of the sewer networks in Baghdad city the Zeppelin line was selected as a case study, as well as to give top management authorities the appropriate decision making. Different modeling techniques

Background. Handball is a team sport that demands quick reflexes and precise motor skills, particularly in shooting. Players' ability to shoot accurately and swiftly while stationary makes upper limb reaction time crucial for success. Objectives. The research objective is to study the relationship between the motor time of the muscles of the arms and the index of accuracy of shooting from constancy in fourth-stage students in handball. Methods. The researchers used the descriptive method because it is one of the methods used in the research on a sample of students of the fourth stage of the college of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, where the sample consisted of 29 male students from the community of origin, 43 students. Results. Th

ABSTRACTBackground: In Medical ethics education, improving medical student’s attitudes toward respecting the right of patients is an essential task. The medical students’ attitude has been affected by social, educational and personality background factors.Objective: To investigate medical student’s attitudes regarding medical ethics courses.Method: The study was conducted in Al-Kindy College of Medicine on academic year (2013 -2014) for the period from January to September. A cross- sectional study design was adopted with a self- administered questionnaire form distributed to medical students in the 5th-6th under graduate grades. The questionnaire consisted of 31 items relevant to student’s opinion about attitudes concerning ethi

Background: Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitorsrestore nitric oxide (NO) signaling and may reducecirculating inflammatory markers, and improve metabolicparameters through a number of mechanisms. Dailyadministration of the PDE-5 inhibitor, tadalafil (TAD) mayattenuate inflammation; improve fasting plasma glucose andtriglyceride levels and body weight. This study aims toevaluate the efficacy of low dose PDE-5 inhibitor, tadalafil(TAD) in controlling dysglycemia and body weight in obesediabetic men.Methods: Forty obese men with type 2 diabetes aged 30-50years incorporated in this study, all with A1c of 7-8.5%,attending obesity unit in AL-Kindy college of medicine.Weight, height, BMI, FPG, A1c, cholesterol, TG, HDL andLDL measured for all

This paper presents a comparative study between different oil production enhancement scenarios in the Saadi tight oil reservoir located in the Halfaya Iraqi oil field. The reservoir exhibits poor petrophysical characteristics, including medium pore size, low permeability (reaching zero in some areas), and high porosity of up to 25%. Previous stimulation techniques such as acid fracturing and matrix acidizing have yielded low oil production in this reservoir. Therefore, the feasibility of hydraulic fracturing stimulation and/or horizontal well drilling scenarios was assessed to increase the production rate. While horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing can improve well performance, they come with high costs, often accounting for up t

A numerical investigation has been performed to study the effect of eccentricity on unsteady state, laminar aiding mixed convection in a horizontal concentric and eccentric cylindrical annulus. The outer cylinder was kept at a constant temperature
while the inner cylinder was heated with constant heat flux. The study involved numerical solution of transient momentum (Navier-Stokes) and energy equation using finite difference method (FDM), where the body fitted coordinate system (BFC) was
used to generate the grid mesh for computational plane. The governing equations were transformed to the vorticity-stream function formula as for momentum equations and to the temperature and stream function for energy equation.
A computer progra

Background: Stroke is an acute neurologic injury and represents the 2^nd leading cause of mortality worldwide, and also the most leading cause of acquired disability and morbidity in adults.

Objective: Effect and association between stroke and risk factors.

Type of the study: A retrospective study.

Methods: The study conducted on 312 patients in 2016, all data were collected from patients’ files from the emergency unit, which included basic demographic and disease characteristic, co morbid diseases, risk factors, final diagnosis.

Results: both previous stroke, ischemic heart disease was strong predictor of new