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: Pyogenic discitis most frequently occurs
after home delivery, hemorridectomy, and dilatation and
curettage. Discitis is generally due to blood borne bacterial
invasion of the disc from adjacent end-plate via
communicating vessels. Infective discitis remains an
uncommon, but potentially serious cause for back pain.
Delayed diagnosis can occur and a high index of suspicion
may occur.
Methods: The study included 30 patients suffering from
localized low back pain with limitation of movement.
Diagnosis was made by history, physical examination and
investigation mainly E.S.R and MRI.
Results: 50.3% of patient with discitis had a history of
vaginal delivery, 15% had a history of hemorridectomy
With the increasing rate of unauthorized access and attacks, security of confidential data is of utmost importance. While Cryptography only encrypts the data, but as the communication takes place in presence of third parties, so the encrypted text can be decrypted and can easily be destroyed. Steganography, on the other hand, hides the confidential data in some cover source such that the existence of the data is also hidden which do not arouse suspicion regarding the communication taking place between two parties. This paper presents to provide the transfer of secret data embedded into master file (cover-image) to obtain new image (stego-image), which is practically indistinguishable from the original image, so that other than the indeed us
... Show MoreChannel estimation and synchronization are considered the most challenging issues in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. OFDM is highly affected by synchronization errors that cause reduction in subcarriers orthogonality, leading to significant performance degradation. The synchronization errors cause two issues: Symbol Time Offset (STO), which produces inter symbol interference (ISI) and Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO), which results in inter carrier interference (ICI). The aim of the research is to simulate Comb type pilot based channel estimation for OFDM system showing the effect of pilot numbers on the channel estimation performance and propose a modified estimation method for STO with less numb
... Show MoreThe work in this research presents an experimental and a theoretical study to obtain the effect of using a low permeability geosynthetic material on the longitudinal and lateral coefficients of dispersion. This would have its effect on the contaminants migration through an isotropic, homogenous and saturated soil. The first stage of this research involves the study of the geosynthetic material and in calculating the longitudinal and lateral coefficients of dispersion for an Iraqi sandy soil by using an experimental set-up to simulate the processes. To investigate the effect of using a geosynethtic material on the dispersion coefficients, the test was conducted for each velocity that was used in the experimental work and as follows: with
... Show MoreCloud computing is a newly developed concept that aims to provide computing resources in the most effective and economical manner. The fundamental idea of cloud computing is to share computing resources among a user group. Cloud computing security is a collection of control-based techniques and strategies that intends to comply with regulatory compliance rules and protect cloud computing-related information, data apps, and infrastructure. On the other hand, data integrity is a guarantee that the digital data are not corrupted, and that only those authorized people can access or modify them (i.e., maintain data consistency, accuracy, and confidence). This review presents an overview of cloud computing concepts, its importance in many
... Show MoreBackground: Potentially malignant oral disorders (PMODs) are common precursors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Neoangiogenesis and signalling are important intermediate biomarkers that may govern the progression of dysplastic mucosa into carcinoma. Aims: Evaluate the importance of CD34 and Wnt3 expression in PMODs and OSCCs in relation to their clinicopathological parameters. Settings and Design: Prospective cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemical staining for CD34 and Wnt3 was performed for 41 samples. These included 27 PMODs, six OSCCs and eight normal gingival and alveolar mucosa. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests were applied. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: CD34
... Show MoreThe primary aim of this paper, is to introduce the rough probability from topological view. We used the Gm-topological spaces which result from the digraph on the stochastic approximation spaces to upper and lower distribution functions, the upper and lower mathematical expectations, the upper and lower variances, the upper and lower standard deviation and the upper and lower r th moment. Different levels for those concepts are introduced, also we introduced some results based upon those concepts.
This study was conducted to determine the side effects of dexamethasone n some physiological and immunological criteria, which included, Measuring sugar level, liver (ALT, AST , LDH, Total protein) and kidney function (urea, createnine), total and differential count of W.B.C,CRP, TNF-α ,IL6,IL10. thirty rats were divided into two groups (15\ rat). G1: This group was considered negative control injection with normal saline, G2: This group was injected with 2 mg\kg dexamethasone. The results showed a significant increase in the level of enzymesALT, AST and sugar levels and decreased level of total protein in the group treated with the drug, also showed, a significant decrease in the total number of W.B.C an
... Show MoreBenthic algae of Tigris river and one of its northern tributary the lower Zab were study at monthly intervals during Nov. 2001-Oct. 2002. Four sites were selected, a total of 115 species of algae were identified during this study, diatoms was the dominating group (86 species) followed by Chlorophyta (18 species), Cyanophyta (7species), Euglenophyta (2 species) and one species for each of Pyrrophyta and Chryzophyta. Pennate diatoms formed the major density within the identified algae and distributed among all stations especially the species Achnanthes minutissima, Navicula gracilis and Nitzschia palea, the diatoms bloomed in spring and autumn seasons. Bio-diversity and density of benthic algae in Tigris river was affected negatively by the e
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