Chitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42 ng/ml, the TNF-a level which was 123.6 ng/ml, and the IL-1B level which was 204.365 pg/dl were significantly higher in patients compared to control 3.28 (1.58–4.99) ng/ml, 56.47 (9.38–77.01) ng/ml and 67.887 (15.493–122.689)pg/dl respectively. There was no correlation between serum YKL-40 and disease activity, while there were significant associations observed with TNF-α (r=0.5,p =0.0001) and IL-1β (r=0.41, p=0.001). YKL-40 indicating good levels of RA prediction at 2.47 ng/ml, sensitivity 87.9%, specificity 58.6%, accuracy 78.1%, PPV 80.9%, and NPV 70.8%. In conclusion, a higher level of serum YKL-40 is found in RA patients. The findings from our study suggest a strong association between YKL-40 and the proinflammatory biomarkers. As a result, these biomarkers together might play a role in RA pathogenesis, and YKL-40 may be used as a potential diagnostic biomarker for RA.
Background: Eucalyptus extracts and derivatives are natural substances with potent antimicrobial properties. This study investigated the in- vitro effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on the antifungal activity of alcoholic and aqueous Eucalyptus extracts against Candida albicans, a common oral pathogen. Materials and Method: Ten isolates of Candida albicans were isolated from dental students’ salivary samples. The alcoholic and aqueous extracts were prepared from fresh Eucalyptus leaves using maceration. The sensitivity of Candida albicans isolates to various concentrations of Eucalyptus extracts ranging from 50 to 250 (mg/mL) was evaluated via agar well diffusion method, while the agar streaking method was used to assess the minimum
... Show MoreThe study was planned to evaluate the effect of adding Guanidinoacetic acid in some characteristics of the sperm of the rams. This study was conducted in the animal field of the Animal Production Department / Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Sciences / University of Baghdad, for the period from 5/8/2018 to 28/2/2019. In this experiment, 3 rams were used at the age of 2-2.5 years and weighed 50-54 kg. The semen was collected early in the morning and once a week and the semen was pooled to remove the individual differences. The treatments were divided: GAA-free control group, treatment T1 (0.05 mg / 100 ml GAA), T2 treatment (0.1 mg / 100 ml GAA) and T3 treatment (0.2 mg / 100 ml GAA). The results of the study showed a significant decrease
... Show MoreThis research aims to test the causal relationship long-and short-run between the price of gold the global crude oil price and the exchange rate of the dollar and how you can take advantage of the nature of this relationship, particularly in the Arab oil states that achieve huge surpluses, including Iraq and how to keep on the purchasing power of these surpluses or reduce the levels of risk.
The problem is that the Arab oil countries, adversely affected, as a result of that relationship, due to the fact that its role confined to the sale of crude oil only. They do not have control in the dollar, then they are not able to take advantage of its impact on the price of gold the fact that gold is effective pr
... Show MoreThe introduction of the research on the science of training and the physiology of sports was addressed from important sciences, where the physical effort drew the attention of scientists since the past centuries when they studied how the body performs its functions when performing physical exertion and observe the changes that occur in it and write down and study especially the positive effects of the practice of daily sports The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of plank exercises on the lipid component and the metabolic rate (bmr) of the female students of the Higher Institute for Security and Management Development. As for the third chapter, the two researchers used the experimental method on a sample of the female s
... Show MoreExamination of the blood and the alimentary canal of moorhens in two sites around
Baghdad area in the middle of Iraq showed that 38% of the examined birds were infected with
one or more of the following parasites, Haemoproteus baghdadensis, H. gallinulae
(Protozoa), Cyclocoelum mutbile (Trematoda), Diorchis inflata, Ligula intestinalis (Cestoda),
Amidostomum fulicae and Porrcaecum sp. (Nematoda) .The stomach analysis revealed that
the bird is omnivorous in feeding including wid range of invertebrate animals with some plant
origin food items.
In this paper, the penetration of the stone column was investigated in order to get the minimum length of the stone column above which the increase in length has little advantage. The effect of using different materials in column are also studied. The material used is granular of different angle of internal friction (). The results of the investigation indicated that the effect of stone column remains constant when the ratio of the thickness of the soft clay layer to the stone column’s diameter is more than 15. The results also indicated that a pronounced effect is obtained when the angle of internal friction of the stone column material is increased.
This research studied the effect of magnetized water in concrete preparation and its effect on the presenting of cement in concrete mixtures also to find the ability of reducing the amount of cement in preparing one cubic meter, this is not exceed than 10% in one mixture , The experiments showed the preparation of standard cubes from the concrete which was used two kind of water magnetized water which was prepared by passing the tap water through the systems of different magnetic strength in terms of (6000,9000) Gauss and the ordinary water . The velocity of water through the magnetic field, which gives us the highest value for the compressive strength, was up to 1m/sec. to determine the best magnetic intensity, we examined The comp
... Show MoreA theoretical analysis of mixing in the secondary combustion chamber of ramjet is presented. Theoretical investigations were initiated to insight into the flow field of the mixing zone of the ramjet combustor and a computer program to calculate axisymmetric, reacting and inert flow was developed. The mathematical model of the mixing zone of ramjet comprises differential equations for: continuity, momentum, stagnation enthalpy, concentration, turbulence energy and its dissipation rate. The simultaneous solution of these equations by means of a finite-difference solution algorithm yields the values of the variable at all internal grid nodes.
The results showed that increasing air mass flow (0.32 to 0.64 kg/s) increases the development o
The paper presents the results of precise of the calculations of the diffusion of slow electrons in ionospheric gases, such as, (Argon – Hydrogen mixture, pure Nitrogen and Argon – Helium – Nitrogen) in the presence of a uniform electric field and temperature 300 Kelvin. Such calculations lead to the value Townsend's energy coefficient (KT) as a function of E/P (electric field strength/gas pressure), electric field (E), electric drift velocity (Vd), momentum transfer collision frequency ( ), energy exchange collision frequency ( ) and characteristic energy (D/?). The following physical quantities are deduced as function s E/P: mean free path of the electrons at unit pressure, mean energy lost by an electron per collision, mean velocit
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