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.
This paper presents an experimental study for strengthening existing columns against axial compressive loads. The objective of this work is to study the behavior of concrete square columns strengthening with circulation technique. In Iraq, there are significantly more reinforced rectangular and square columns than reinforced circular columns in reinforced concrete buildings. Moreover, early research studies indicated that strengthening of rectangular or square columns using wraps of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) provided rather little enhancement to their load-carrying capacity. In this paper, shape modification technique was performed to modify the shape (cross section) of the columns from square columns into circular colu
... Show MoreIn this paper, a miniaturized 2 × 2 electro-optic plasmonic Mach– Zehnder switch (MZS) based on metal–polymer–silicon hybrid waveguide is presented. Adiabatic tapers are designed to couple the light between the plasmonic phase shifter, implemented in each of the MZS arms, and the 3-dB input/output directional couplers. For 6 µm-long hybrid plasmonic waveguide supported by JRD1 polymer (r33= 390 pm/V), a π-phase shift voltage of 2 V is obtained. The switch is designed for 1550 nm operation wavelength using COMSOL software and characterizes by 2.3 dB insertion loss, 9.9 fJ/bit power consumption, and 640 GHz operation bandwidth
Albizia lebbeck biomass was used as an adsorbent material in the present study to remove methyl red dye from an aqueous solution. A central composite rotatable design model was used to predict the dye removal efficiency. The optimization was accomplished under a temperature and mixing control system (37?C) with different particle size of 300 and 600 ?m. Highest adsorption efficiencies were obtained at lower dye concentrations and lower weight of adsorbent. The adsorption time, more than 48 h, was found to have a negative effect on the removal efficiency due to secondary metabolites compounds. However, the adsorption time was found to have a positive effect at high dye concentrations and high adsorbent weight. The colour removal effi
... Show MoreBackground: Anaemia is a major public health concern and is one of the most prevalent health issue in women within reproductive age group.
Objective: to assess maternal knowledge related to anaemia during pregnancy.
Type of the study: A cross –sectional study.
Method: The study including 200 mothers who attended selected primary health care centres, Baghdad during November and December 2015, they completed a previously prepared questionnaire coveringsocio-demographic characteristics and knowledge regarding anaemia in 4 main domains. The responses were analysed by using frequency, percentage and percent score for each statement a
... Show MoreThis paper presents the implementation of a complex fractional order proportional integral derivative (CPID) and a real fractional order PID (RPID) controllers. The analysis and design of both controllers were carried out in a previous work done by the author, where the design specifications were classified into easy (case 1) and hard (case 2) design specifications. The main contribution of this paper is combining CRONE approximation and linear phase CRONE approximation to implement the CPID controller. The designed controllers-RPID and CPID-are implemented to control flowing water with low pressure circuit, which is a first order plus dead time system. Simulation results demonstrate that while the implemented RPID controller fails to stabi
... Show More<span lang="EN-US">The fundamental of a downlink massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) energy- issue efficiency strategy is known as minimum mean squared error (MMSE) implementation degrades the performance of a downlink massive MIMO energy-efficiency scheme, so some improvements are adding for this precoding scheme to improve its workthat is called our proposal solution as a proposed improved MMSE precoder (PIMP). The energy efficiency (EE) study has also taken into mind drastically lowering radiated power while maintaining high throughput and minimizing interference issues. We further find the tradeoff between spectral efficiency (SE) and EE although they coincide at the beginning but later their interests become con
... Show MoreBiodiesel production process was attracted more attention recently due to the surplus quantity of glycerol (G) as a byproduct from the process. Glycerol Utilization must take in to consideration to fix this issue also, to ensure biodiesel industry sustainability. Highly amount of Glycerol converted to more benefit material Glycerol carbonate (GC) was one of the most allurement compound derived from glycerol by transesterification of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate (DMC). Various parameters have highly impact on transesterification was investigated like catalyst loading (1-5) %wt., molar ratio of DMC: glycerol (5:1 – 1:1), reaction time (30 - 150) min and temperature (40 – 80) ᴼC. The Optimum glycerol carbonate yie
... Show MoreThe paper presents the design of a system consisting of a solar panel with Single Input/Multiple Outputs (DC-DC) Buck Converter by using Simulink dialogue box tools in MATLAB software package for simulation the system. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique depending on Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm is used to control the output power of the converter and increase the efficiency of the system. The characteristics of the MSX-60 PV module is chosen in design of the system, whereas the electrical characteristics (P-V, I-V and P-I curves) for the module are achieved, that is affected by the solar radiation and temperature variations. The proposed design module has been found to be stable for any change in atmospheric tempera
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