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.
The study was aimed to evaluate the marketing efficiency of dry Onion crop in Salah al-Deen, as estimate the impact of some quality and quantity factors in the efficiency of marketing process of crop using Tobit regression model. The average marketing efficiency of the research sample was 71.3686%. The marketing margins differed according to the marketing channel followed in marketing the crop. The qualitative and quantitative variables in the model are productivity, family size, distance from the market, educational level. The estimated model revealed that a variable productivity is the most important and influential in marketing efficiency, followed by the variable of the distance between the farm and the market, then the variable
... Show MoreEvaluation of the Antibacterial Efficacy of Electrolyzed Oxidizing Water as an Irrigant against Enterococcus faecalis (An In vitro Study), Noor A Khait*, Muna Saleem Kalaf
A pure posteriorly posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysm represents a surgical challenge. This is mainly when there is a need for good exposure of the aneurysmal neck, sac, PCoA, and anterior choroidal arteries. Ruptured pure posteriorly directed PCoA aneurysm imposes significantly extra challenge as the surgeon undergoes dissection through a tight brain. Even with measures commonly used to attain brain relaxation like the lumbar drain and cisternal fenestration. Here, we describe a technique for posterior temporal pole mobilization (TPM) as an integrated part of microsurgical clipping of ruptured pure posteriorly directed PCoA aneurysms. This technique is implicated in twenty-three successive cases of ruptured PCoA aneurys
... Show MoreThis study aimed at comparing the performance of vertical, horizontal and hybrid subsurface flow systems in secondary treatment for the effluent wastewater from the primary basins at Al-Rustumia wastewater treatment plant, Baghdad, Iraq. The treatments were monitored for six weeks while the testsduration were from 4 to 12 September 2018 under continuous wastewater feeding for chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS),ammonia-nitrogen(NH4-N) and phosphate (PO4-P) in comparison with FAO and USEPA standards for effluent discharge to evaluate the suitability of treated water for irrigation purposes. Among the systems planted with Phragmites Australia, the hybrid subsurface flow system which cons
... Show MoreThe study was conducted during spring seasons of 2000 and 2001.The aim was to study the changes in the moisture content of sunflower plants during growth stages under hardening conditions to drought tolerance .Agricultural practices were made according to recommendation. Asplit-split plots design was used with three replications. The main plots included irrigation treatments:irrigation to100%(full irrigation),75and50%of available water. The sub plots were the cultivars Euroflor and Flame.The sub-sub plots represented four seed soaking treatments: Control (unsoaked), soaking in water ,Paclobutrazol solution(250ppm),and Pix solution(500ppm). The soaking continued for 24 hours then seeds were dried at room temperature until they regained t
... Show MoreThe primary aim of this study was to identify the effect of using the simultaneous electronic presentations strategy in teaching basic skills of basketball to second-grade intermediate students. The present study had a parallel group, pre-post experimental design. In the present study the students of the Salah al-Din Intermediate School for the academic year 2020-2021 constituted the research community. A total of 75 students were present in the research community. Out of 75 students 16 students were selected as the participants for the study. The students falling within the age group of 13-14 years were recruited as the study participants, making up a percentage of 21.33 of the total number. Based on the results of th
... Show MoreAnodic electrodeposition was used to synthesize a composite electrode of nanostructured manganese dioxide/carbon fiber (CF) galvanostatically. Different characterization results of the nanostructured MnO2 were obtained by varying the H2SO4 concentration and the current density. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy were utilized to characterize the prepared composite electrodes. The best conditions were: 0.3 mA cm−2 current density and 0.64 M H2SO4 concentration. The electrosorption performance of the MnO