Inflammation of the tonsils could be described as acute tonsillitis, mainly due to infection. Recurrent tonsillitis could be defined as 3-7 episodes during the first 3 years of age. Vitamin D, which is a neuro-hormone with pleiotropic biological activities may modulate the immune response by alleviation, and stimulation of Th1 and Th2 cell proliferation, respectively, that influence the stimulation, synthesis, and secretion of both pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines. In this study we aimed to shed light on the levels of vitamin D in children with different episodes of tonsillitis in association with levels of interleukins (TNFα, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10). Blood samples were collected from 48 participants in 3 groups: control, acute tonsillitis (1-2 episodes/year), chronic tonsillitis (more than 7 episodes/year), serum was separated and the levels of Vitamin D, TNFα, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 were estimated using ELISA technique. Vitamin D decreased significantly as the episodes of tonsillitis increased, with level of 16.38± 2.41ng/ml in acute and, 14.13± 2.15 ng/ml in chronic tonsillitis as compared to control (30.91± 2.31 ng/ml), while pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNFα and IL-2) significantly increased (46.88± 14.05 and 44.55± 9.24, 1267.25± 111.85 and 1191.72± 121.52 ng/ml, respectively) as compared to control (9.45 and 138.48 ng/ml respectively). Anti-inflammatory (IL-4, IL-10) cytokines in control group were (243.08± 28.72 and 24.27± 1.83 ng/ml, respectively), which increased non-significantly in acute and chronic tonsillitis (302.76± 38.93, 290.12± 44.69 and 28.16± 2.01, 26.29± 1.99 ng/ml, respectively). Significant direct correlation was observed between the levels of vitamin D and anti-inflammatory cytokines in chronic tonsillitis (P<0.05). In conclusion, deficiency of vitamin D may affect the number of episodes of tonsillitis in children by modulation of the secretion of some cytokines.
Portulacaria afra is a small succulent tree, previously belonging to the Portulacaceae family, but with further studies, the plant transferred to the Didieracea family. P. afra was used as an ornamental, vegetable, and ethnomedicinal plant. Uses of the plant by rural South Africans to treat chronic skin conditions and rashes, alleviate exhaustion, and aid in treating TB and diarrhea have been documented in folklore. According to pharmaceutical research, plant extracts off er a wide range of remedial outcomes, such as antidiabetic, antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-infl ammatory. The study aims to determine some bioactive constituents responsible for pharmacological activities and traditional usefulness. Th
... Show MoreAims: To assess the success rate and implant stability changes of narrow dental implants (NDIs) during the osseous healing period. Materials and methods: This prospective observational clinical study included 21 patients with narrow alveolar ridge of restricted mesiodistal interdental span who received NDIs. The alveolar ridge width was determined by the ridge mapping technique. Implant stability was measured using Periotest® M immediately after implant insertion then after 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks postoperatively. The outcome variables were success rate and implant stability changes during the healing period. The statistical analysis included one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey\'s multiple comparisons test, values < 0.05 w
... Show MoreA high settlement may take place in shallow footing when resting on liquefiable soil if subjected to earthquake loading. In this study, a series of shaking table tests were carried out for shallow footing resting on sand soil. The input motion is three earthquake loadings (0.05g, 0.1g, and 0.2g). The study includes a reviewing of theoretical equations (available in literatures), which estimating settlement of footings due to earthquake loading, calibration, and verification of these equations with data from the shaking table test for improved soil by grouting and unimproved soil. It is worthy to note that the grouting materials considered in this study are the Bentonite and CKD slurries. A modification to the seismic set
... Show MorePseudomonas aeruginosa, a ubiquitous environmental organism, is a difficult-to-treat opportunistic pathogen due to its broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance and its ability to form biofilms. In this study, we investigate the link between resistance to a clinically important antibiotic, imipenem, and biofilm formation. First, we observed that the laboratory strain P. aeruginosa PAO1 carrying a mutation in the oprD gene, which confers resistance to imipenem, showed a modest reduction in biofilm formation.We also observed an inverse relationship between imipenem resistance and biofilm formation for imipenem-resistant strains selected in vitro, as well as for clinical isolates.We identified two clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa from the sputum
... Show MoreThis work was conducted to study the extraction of pelletierine sulphate from Punica granatum L. roots by liquid membrane techniques. Pelletierine sulphate is used widely in medicine. The general behavior of extraction process indicates that pelletierine conversion increased with increasing the number of stages and the discs rotation speed but high rotation speed was not favored because of the increased risk of droplet formation during the operation. The pH of feed and acceptor solution was also important. The results exhibit that the highest pelletierine conversion was obtained when using two stages,(10 rpm) discs speed of stainless steel discs,(pH= 9.5) of feed solution and (pH= 2) of acceptor solution in n-decane. Assuming the existence
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to present a weak form of -light functions by using -open set which is -light function, and to offer new concepts of disconnected spaces and totally disconnected spaces. The relation between them have been studied. Also, a new form of -totally disconnected and inversely -totally disconnected function have been defined, some examples and facts was submitted.
Address the intellectual controversy nature of the gap of knowledge and the strategic performance gap. The researcher start off from this intellectual controversy to seek to test the nature of the relationship and impact between them across a sample of (61) academics in the colleges of business and economics at the universities in Baghdad ,as the more specialized in the fields of knowledge and the strategic performance, The researcher is attain to the existence of relationship and impact of knowledge gap in strategic performance gap, the research included four axes first went to the methodology and second to theoretical frame and the third to view and analyze the results and test hypotheses while the fourth was devoted to the con
... Show MoreThe reliability of optical sources is strongly dependent on the degradation and device characteristics are critically dependent on temperature. The degradation behaviours and reliability test results for the laser diode device (Sony-DL3148-025) will be presented .These devices are usually highly reliable. The degradation behaviour was exhibited in several aging tests, and device lifetimes were then estimated. The temperature dependence of 0.63?m lasers was studied. An aging test with constant light power operation of 5mW was carried out at 10, 25, 50 and 70°C for 100hours. Lifetimes of the optical sources have greatly improved, and these optical sources can be applied to various types of transmission systems. Within this degradation range,
... Show MoreA particular solution of the two and three dimensional unsteady state thermal or mass diffusion equation is obtained by introducing a combination of variables of the form,
η = (x+y) / √ct , and η = (x+y+z) / √ct, for two and three dimensional equations
respectively. And the corresponding solutions are,
θ (t,x,y) = θ0 erfc (x+y)/√8ct and θ( t,x,y,z) =θ0 erfc (x+y+z/√12ct)
Soils located above the groundwater table are generally unsaturated and possess negative pore-water pressures. A soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) that relates the water content of a soil to matric suction is an important relationship for the unsaturated soil mechanics. The SWCC essentially shows the ability of an unsaturated soil to retain water under various matric suctions. The filter paper method is a soil suction measurement technique. Soil suction is one of the most important parameters describing the moisture condition of unsaturated soils. The measurement of soil suction is crucial for applying the theories of the engineering behavior of unsaturated soils.In this paper, three soil samples were collected from three sites within
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