It was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 females) were enrolled in the study. They were under therapy, which was a single weekly subcutaneous dose of 25 mg of etanercept (Enbrel) for a period of 3-5 years. The results of gene expression (2-??Ct) revealed an increased expression of IL4 mRNA (Mean ± SEM: 8.247 ± 2.442), especially female patients compared to male patients (11.545 ± 3.928 vs. 3.537 ± 1.530; p = 0.03). The expression was also subjected to variations that were related to clinical and laboratory findings. With respect to IL4 gene SNP, allele and genotype frequencies showed no significant differences between RA patients and controls. In addition, the SNP genotypes had no effect on IL4 gene expression. In conclusion, an up-regulation of IL4 gene expression was observed in RA patients, and it was more pronounced in female than male patients by approximately four folds, while no association between the IL4 SNP alleles or genotypes and RA was observed.
The present work is qualitative descriptive. It aims to examine the idiosyncratic schema when deciphering the selected violence-based panel from Nasser Ibrahim’s caricatures. The researchers accordingly adopted part of Sharifian’s (2011) Cultural Schema model, particularly that part that is concerned with the examining the micro/idiosyncratic level of understanding. The study has revealed that the participants have not only differed among themselves regarding the way a figure is being denotatively conceptualized, they also highlighted different exact conceptualizations for the same figure, such as: using various adjectives that reflect various levels of intensity, emphasizing the behavioral aspect or the appearance of the figure, ado
... Show MoreBackground: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived mitral annular displacement (MAD) utilizes the speckle tracking technique to measure strain vectors, which provides accurate estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).Objectives: To validate the accuracy of mitral annular displacement (MAD), assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE), as a surrogate for determination of left ventricular systolic function in comparison to 2-Dimensions Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases.Methods : This cross-sectional study included patients who referred to outpatient department of Ibn Albitar Center for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad, Iraq, between October 2012 and April 2013. STE continuously tracked annular
... Show MoreAbstract:
Objective: The study’s aim to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional program about healthy lifestyle on patients’ attitudes after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
Methodology: Quasi-experimental design/ has been utilized for the current study starting from December 2018 to March 2020 to achieve the objectives of the study. Non-probability (purposive) sample of 60 patients was divided into intervention and control groups. Data were analyzed by the application of descriptive and inferential statistical methods.
Results: findings reported that before intervention both study and control groups demonstrated low total mean of score relat
... Show MoreThe characters of facades' form of the Iraqi building after 2003 have been changed, it has been described by many names. The problem of the research is that what are the features of the characters of the form in the façades of the buildings in Baghdad city after 2003? Are the façade of the individual houses or the commercial buildings is the heaviest in the visual weight? The research aims to answer those questions by choosing the vernacular architecture as a measurement tool. It is the informal image of the architecture, which is built by people informally and spontaneously, without official control and legislation to be organized. This is smellier to what has happened in Baghdad, after 2003 according to previous stud
... Show MoreThe present research aims to identify and define the basic dimensions of the information management strategy and the administrative creativity in the Faculty of Management and Economics / the University of Kirkuk, as well as the role played by the dimensions of the information technology management strategy in achieving the administrative innovation in the college and the research problem was formulated in several questions. The research problem was formulated in several questions centered on the correlation between the research variables, and the research was based on a major hypothesis and five sub-hypotheses emerged from which it was subjected to several tests to ensure its validity. The researcher used the descriptive-analyti
... Show MoreIn a world of limited space, the owners are always surrounded by others next to them, and, consequently, there is hardly any activity which the owner may exercise on his land which would not affect the other owners. If he builds a building, that building may block the sun's rays or the air from the buildings next to it and owned by other people. And if he runs a business, the lands adjacent to that business may be overburdened with the accompanying noise or traffic. If oil is prospected in a land, the neighboring lands may be deprived of oil or their owners may be exposed to toxic fumes. Hence the importance of researching the intention of harming others, as it is one of the most important forms of abuse in the use of the right (especially
... Show MoreThe occurrences of invasive candidiasis has increased over the previous few decades. Although Candida albicans considers as one of the most common species of organisms, that cause acquired fungal infections. Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen and inherent in as a lifelong, the yeast is present in healthy individuals as a commensal, and can reside harmlessly in human body. However, in immuno-compromised individuals, the fungus can invade tissues, producing superficial infections and, in severe cases, life-threatening systemic infections. This review wills emphasis on virulence factor of C. albicans including (adhesion, invasion, candida proteinase, and phenotypic switching and biofilm formation. I
... Show MoreFiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) has long been recognized as a technology that provides future proof bandwidth [1], but has generally been too expensive to implement on a wide scale. However, reductions in the cost of electro-optic components and improvements in the handling of fiber optics now make FTTH a cost effective solution in many situations. The transition to FTTH in the access network is also a benefit for both consumers and service providers because it opens up the near limitless capacity of the core long-haul network to the local user. In this paper individual passive optical components, transceivers, and fibers has been put together to form a complete FTTH network. Then the implementation of the under construction Baghdad/Al
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