Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highest rate of anti-Toxoplasma IgG was in psoriasis patients before treatment, it was 45 (64.29%) compared with the control which was 33 (55.00%), while the highest sero-positive rate of T. gondii IgM in the control group was 14 (23.33%) compared with patients with psoriasis 10 (14.29%). The highest rate of toxoplasmosis was in the age group (21-30) years in psoriasis patients which was 14 (31.82%). In addition, the TNF- α levels in psoriatic patients before treatment were 180.2±2.2 µg/ml, and after treatment were 223.3±41.1 µg/ml compared with the healthy control group 90.5±1.9 µg/ml. These findings suggest that incidental rate of toxoplasmosis is higher in psoriasis patients. Thus, the incidental rate of toxoplasmosis could be considered as an indication to the high risk of psoriasis.
The effect of substitution of Ni on Cu in (Bi0.8Pb0.2)2(Sr0.9Ba0.1)2 Ca2Cu3-x Nix O10+? for (x=0,0.1….1,2,3) superconductor system and sintering time has been investigated .The samples were prepared by solid-state reaction methods. The results show that the optimum sintering temperature is equal to 850 ºC, and the sintering time is equal to 140 h. The highest transition temperature (Tc) obtained for (Bi0.8Pb0.2)2(Sr0.9Ba0.1)2 Ca2Cu3-x NixO10+? composition was 113 with x=0.8 Phase analyses of the samples by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed an orthorhombic structure with a high Tc phases (2223) as a dominant phase and low Tc phase (2212) in addition to some impurity phases.
The challenge to incorporate usability evaluation values and practices into agile development process is not only persisting but also systemic. Notable contributions of researchers have attempted to isolate and close the gaps between both fields, with the aim of developing usable software. Due to the current absence of a reference model that specifies where and how usability activities need to be considered in the agile development process. This paper proposes a model for identifying appropriate usability evaluation methods alongside the agile development process. By using this model, the development team can apply usability evaluations at the right time at the right place to get the necessary feedback from the end-user. Verificatio
... Show MoreThe Sequencing Batch Reactor system (SBR) is a major component of the municipal wastewater biological treatment system and water reclamation that provides high-quality water that could be reused in restricted plants that which require large quantities of water despite the lack of water. The research aims to investigate the performance of a pilot plant SBR unit under real operation conditions that was installed and operated in Al-Rustamiya Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), Baghdad, Iraq. Results showed that the BOD5/COD ratio of the raw wastewater was within the average value at 0.66 emphasizing the organic nature of the influent flow and hence the amenability to biological treatment. The results also ensured that the treatment pro
... Show MoreThe aerodynamic characteristics of the forward swept wing aircraft have been studied theoretically and an experimentally investigation for the wake field generated by this configuration have been carried out. Low order panel method with the Dirichlet boundary condition have been used to solve the case of the steady, inviscid and compressible flow. Two different panel method techniques have been employed: the source-doublet and the doublet method. The thickness for the various components was considered in the study. Prandtl-Glauert similarity rule has been used to account for the compressibility effects. Experimentally, a model was manufactured from wood with body length (290mm) and main wing span was (204mm). The primary objective of th
... Show MoreRadiotherapy is medical use of ionizing radiation, and commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control cell growth. The amount of radiation used in photon radiation therapy called dose (measured in grey unit), which depend on the type and stage of cancer being treated. In our work, we studied the dose distribution given to the tumor at different depths (zero-20 cm) treated with different field size (4×4- 23×23 cm). Results show that the deeper treated area has less dose rate at the same beam quality and quantity. Also it has been noted increasing in the field increasing in the depth dose at the same depth even if the radiation energy is constant. Increasing in radiation dose attributed to the scattere
... Show MoreLiquid – liquid equilibria data were measured at 293.15 K for the pseudo ternary system (sulfolane + alkanol) + octane + toluene. It is observed that the selectivity of pure sulfolane increases with cosolvent methanol but decreases with increasing the chain length of hydrocarbon in 1-alkanol. The nonrandom two liquid (NRTL) model, UNIQUAC model and UNIFAC model were used to correlate the experimental data and to predict the phase composition of the systems studied. The calculation based on NRTL model gave a good representation of the experimental tie-line data for all systems studied. The agreement between the correlated and the experimental results was very good
The preparation of activated carbon (AC) from date stones by using microwave assisted K2CO3 activation was investigated in this paper. The influence of radiation time, radiation power, and impregnation ratio on the yield and methylene blue (MB) uptake of such carbon were studied. Based on Box-Wilson central composite design, two second order polynomial models were developed to correlate the process variables to the two responses. From the analysis of variance the significant variables on each response were identified. Optimum coditions of 8 min radiation time, 660 W radiation power and 1.5 g/g impregnation ratio gave 460.123 mg/g MB uptake and 19.99 % yield. The characteristics of the AC were examined by pore structure analysis, and scan
... Show MoreAbstract Additive manufacturing has been recently emerged as an adaptable production process that can fundamentally affect traditional manufacturing in the future. Due to its manufacturing strategy, selective laser melting (SLM) is suitable for complicated configurations. Investigating the potential effects of scanning speed and laser power on the porosity, corrosion resistance and hardness of AISI 316L stainless steel produced by SLM is the goal of this work. When compared to rolled stainless steel, the improvement is noticeable. To examine the microstructure of the samples, the optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and EDX have been utilized. Hardness and tensile strength were us
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