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.
Nowadays, the power plant is changing the power industry from a centralized and vertically integrated form into regional, competitive and functionally separate units. This is done with the future aims of increasing efficiency by better management and better employment of existing equipment and lower price of electricity to all types of customers while retaining a reliable system. This research is aimed to solve the optimal power flow (OPF) problem. The OPF is used to minimize the total generations fuel cost function. Optimal power flow may be single objective or multi objective function. In this thesis, an attempt is made to minimize the objective function with keeping the voltages magnitudes of all load buses, real outp
... Show MorePyogenic granuloma is one of the inflammatory hyperplasia seen in the oral cavity. The
present study included 10 patients with pyogenic granuloma, involving 4 males and 6 females with 1:1.5
male to female ratio. Patient ages ranged from 5 to 85 years (mean, 30 years) and half of the lesions had
pedunculated base, with surface ulceration in 10% of cases. Treatment consisted of resection, using 810
nm diode lasers. Eight patients were anesthetized during the surgical operation by local infiltration of
anesthesia. Only three patients reported mild post-operative pain within the first 24 hours of the healing
period. During the surgical operation there was no significant bleeding so clear surgical field. There was
no blee
Pyogenic granuloma is one of the inflammatory hyperplasia seen in the oral cavity. The
present study included 10 patients with pyogenic granuloma, involving 4 males and 6 females with 1:1.5
male to female ratio. Patient ages ranged from 5 to 85 years (mean, 30 years) and half of the lesions had
pedunculated base, with surface ulceration in 10% of cases. Treatment consisted of resection, using 810
nm diode lasers. Eight patients were anesthetized during the surgical operation by local infiltration of
anesthesia. Only three patients reported mild post-operative pain within the first 24 hours of the healing
period. During the surgical operation there was no significant bleeding so clear surgical field. There was
no blee
Ameloblastic fibroma is a rare benign tumor usually affects the first two decades of life. The neoplasm is more predominant in mandibular molar-premolar region and rarely affects the maxilla. In this report, we present a couple of Ameloblastic fibroma cases, affecting boys at their 1st decade. The lesions were presented as swellings of their maxilla, which is atypical location. Radiographic images showed well-defined radiolucency containing areas of radio-opacities and impacted teeth. Differential diagnosis was established as cystic/neoplastic conditions. The lesions were incised and histopathologically diagnosed as Ameloblastic fibroma, since they were composed of immature odontogenic mesenchymal and epithelial cells showing different c
... Show MoreDurability of hot mix asphalt (HMA) against moisture damage is mostly related to asphalt-aggregate adhesion. The objective of this work is to find the effect of nanoclay with montmorillonite (MMT) on Marshall properties and moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixture. Two types of asphalt cement, AC(40-50) and AC(60-70) were modified with 2%, 4% and 6% of Iraqi nanoclay with montmorillonite. The Marshall properties, Tensile strength ratio(TSR) and Index of retained strength(ISR) were determined in this work. The total number of specimens was 216 and the optimum asphalt content was 4.91% and 5% for asphalt cement (40-50) and (60-70) respectively. The results showed that the modification of asphalt cement with MMT led to increase Marsh
... Show MoreToday’s modern medical imaging research faces the challenge of detecting brain tumor through Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI). Normally, to produce images of soft tissue of human body, MRI images are used by experts. It is used for analysis of human organs to replace surgery. For brain tumor detection, image segmentation is required. For this purpose, the brain is partitioned into two distinct regions. This is considered to be one of the most important but difficult part of the process of detecting brain tumor. Hence, it is highly necessary that segmentation of the MRI images must be done accurately before asking the computer to do the exact diagnosis. Earlier, a variety of algorithms were developed for segmentation of MRI images by usin
... Show MoreChemotherapy is one of the most efficient methods for treating cancer patients. Chemotherapy aims to eliminate cancer cells as thoroughly as possible. Delivering medications to patients’ bodies through various methods, either oral or intravenous is part of the chemotherapy process. Different cell-kill hypotheses take into account the interactions of the expansion of the tumor volume, external drugs, and the rate of their eradication. For the control of drug usage and tumor volume, a model based smooth super-twisting control (MBSSTC) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, three nonlinear cell-kill mathematical models are considered in this work, including the log-kill, Norton-Simon, and hypotheses subject to parametric uncertainties and exo
... Show More
