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.
A cantilever beam is made from composite material which is consist of (matrix: polyester) and (particles: Silicon-Carbide) with different volume fraction of particles. A force is applied at the free end of beam with different values. The experimental maximum deflection of beam which occurs at the point of the applied load is recorded. The deflection and slope of beam are analyzed by using FEM modeling. MATLAB paltform is built to assemble the equations, vector and matrix of FEM and solving the unknown variables (deflection and slope) at each node. Also ANSYS platform is used to modeling beam in finite element and solve the problem. The numerical methods are used to compare the results with the theoretical and experimental data. A good ag
... Show MoreAbstract: The issue of rebuilding the strategiccapacity of Iraq after the occupation and the US invasion in 2003 has been oneof the most contentious issues of debate and debate. It raises a number ofpolitical, social, economic, military and security problems. We say politicalprimarily because the climate and political conditions play a large and activerole along with other factors complementary to them. The important questionthat arises here is: How can the ruling political blocs move to the stage ofreconstruction without reservations? In order to answer this question, wedivided the study into three main axes. The first deals with the concept ofpower and its types. The second axis deals with the relationship betweenstrategic capa
... Show MoreThe research aims to explore the difficulties that encounter teaching geography of cities as perceived by female students. A total of (113) third stage female students / Geography Dept / college of education for women were chosen as a sample for the study. To collect the required data, a questionnaire was used as an instrument; it consisted of six parts represent teaching difficulties. It was a three-point Likert scale instrument with 1 signifying ‘main difficulty, 2 ‘sub-difficulty, and 3 ‘no difficult'. The difficulties organized in descend order, to analyze data, SPSS tool was used. The results revealed that the difficulties of content ranged (2.15-1.18), difficulties of education techniques ranged (2.47-2.04), difficulties of t
... Show MoreObjective: Breast cancer is regarded as a deadly disease in women causing lots of mortalities. Early diagnosis of breast cancer with appropriate tumor biomarkers may facilitate early treatment of the disease, thus reducing the mortality rate. The purpose of the current study is to improve early diagnosis of breast by proposing a two-stage classification of breast tumor biomarkers fora sample of Iraqi women.
Methods: In this study, a two-stage classification system is proposed and tested with four machine learning classifiers. In the first stage, breast features (demographic, blood and salivary-based attributes) are classified into normal or abnormal cases, while in the second stage the abnormal breast cases are
... Show MoreResearch in the field of English language as a foreign language (EFL) has been consistently highlighted the need for communicative competence skills among students. Accompanied by the validated positive impact of technologies on students’ skills’, this study aims to explore the strategies used by EFL students in enhancing their communicative competence using digital platforms and identify the factors of developing communicative competence using digital platforms (linguistic factors, environmental factors, psychological factors, and university-related factors). The mixed-method research design was utilized to obtain data from Iraqi undergraduate EFL students. The study was conducted in the Iraqi University in Baghdad Iraq. EFL undergradu
... Show MoreImprovement of optoelectrical characteristics of phosphorus diffused silicon photodiodes by Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pulses was investigated. Laser pulses have dissolved the precipitation of phosphorus resulted during thermal diffusion process. The experimental data show that responsivity higher than (0.32 A/W) at 850 nm can be achieved after laser annealing with (1.5 MW/cm2) for 6 shots.
Empirical research in the disciplines of art and design has started to escalate and gather consideration within the academic community over the past few decades. However, still, graphic design tends to be a topic extremely under-researched by scholarly persons. Profound research in the field of graphic design extends far beyond the works produced by the designer himself (Khoury, 2009, p.844). In order to develop a clear insight, one needs to delve deep into the subcategories that the diverse field of graphic design is comprised of, including illustration, typography, interaction design, branding and even the impact of notable, eminent institutes from around the world that have taken the budding artists for quite a long time (Walke
... Show MoreIn this work, a CW CO2 laser was used for cutting samples of the fiber-reinforced
plastics (FRP) of three different types of reinforcing material; aramide, glass and carbon.
Cutting process was investigated throughout the variation of some parameters of cutting
process and their effects on cutting quality as well as the effect of an inert gas exist in the
interaction region and finally using a mechanical chopper in order to enhance the cutting
quality. Results obtained explained the possibility to perform laser cutting with high
quality in these materials by good control of the parameters and conditions of the process.
Polymer additives binder system provides many properties useful in thermal energy storage (TES) then developed the efficient energy storage materials and green strength bodies system.
This paper studies the thermal energy storage property for polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) / paraffin wax (WPw) blends. To enhance paraffin wax thermal conductivity, PVOH as a material which high conductivity was employed. A fixed weight of Paraffin wax was dispersed with PVOH heterogeneously at different additive weights ratios of PVOH/Pw (50/50, 67/33, 75/25, and 80/20) wt. ratio respectively. The composite material was prepared using wetted pressing method.
Both base materials (polyvinyl alcohol and paraffin wax) were scanned using differential
... Show MoreMobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) is a wireless technology that plays an important role in several modern applications which include military, civil, health and real-time applications. Providing Quality of Service (QoS) for this application with network characterized by node mobility, infrastructure-less, limitation resource is a critical issue and takes greater attention. However, transport protocols effected influential on the performance of MANET application. This study provides an analysis and evaluation of the performance for TFRC, UDP and TCP transport protocols in MANET environment. In order to achieve high accuracy results, the three transport protocols are implemented and simulated with four different network topology which are 5, 10
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