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 study was undertaken to prepare Nano zinc oxide (ZnO) by precipitation and microemulsion methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR spectrometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area were the techniques employed for the preparation. The particle size of prepared nano ZnO was 69.15nm and 88.49nm for precipitation and microemulsion methods, respectively, which corresponded to the BET surface area 20.028 and 16.369m2/g respectively. The activity of prepared nano ZnO as a photocatalyst was estimated by the removal of ampicillin (Amp) under visible light. This study, therefore, examined the effect of pH in the range of 5-11, initial concen
... Show MoreThe ancient Iraqis in the Mesopotamian civilization practiced various sports activities and physical exercises to develop their physical fitness until these practices became a part of their lives and accompanied their religious, social, and military celebrations. Music had a presence in many sports scenes, and the presence of musicians and musical instruments with the armies indicated its great role. In the military scene, the research aims to shed light on the archaeological evidence and evidence of the integration of music with the sports and military scene in Mesopotamian civilization and to explore the impact of music in the sports and military scene of Mesopotamian civilization. The historical approach was adopted in collecting and des
... Show MoreBackground: Environmental tobacco smoking is produced by active smokers burning the tip of a cigarette and breathed by nonsmokers and measured by cotinine level. It has the potential to raise the risk of periodontal disease. One of the most frequent chronic diseases in adults is periodontal disease. The lower maternal-fetal attachment has been found to predict smoking status in previous studies, but no research has examined whether maternal-fetal attachment predicts environmental tobacco smoking. This study assessed the effects of maternal environmental tobacco smoke exposure on periodontal health and mother-infant bonding concerning salivary cotinine levels. Materials and methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study comparing en
... Show MoreIn The Name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful
The fundamentals of jurisprudence have a great role in facilitating the ways to know the Shari’a rulings for everything that takes place between people in terms of relationships, and the actions that are issued by them, because without it, the sources from which the rulings were taken are not known, and the methods used by the imams of ijtihad in taking these rulings from those sources are not understood. The foundations on which they followed in the interpretation of texts and its rules, and Muslim scholars in different eras celebrated this science and gave it great care: with what they wrote in it from the works of different directions, but of course the complexity printed many
... Show MoreIn the present study, a novel ligand (L) made of 2-hydroxynaphthaldehyde and 3-hydrazone-1,3-dihydro-indole-2-one(3-[(3-hydroxynaphthalen-2-yl-ethylidene)-hydrazono]-1,3-dihydro-indol-2-one). The ligand was characterized by FTIR, UV-vis, mass, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and CHN elemental analysis. New complexes of this ligand were created by treating methanol and a drop of DMF solution of the produced ligand with the hydrated metal salts of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) in a molar ratio of 2:1 (L:M). As a result, complexes have been emerged and identified FTIR, UV-vis, C.H.N., chloride-containing, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility, and atomic absorption. The characterization result for each complex indicated complexes wi
... Show MoreEncryption of data is translating data to another shape or symbol which enables people only with an access to the secret key or a password that can read it. The data which are encrypted are generally referred to as cipher text, while data which are unencrypted are known plain text. Entropy can be used as a measure which gives the number of bits that are needed for coding the data of an image. As the values of pixel within an image are dispensed through further gray-levels, the entropy increases. The aim of this research is to compare between CAST-128 with proposed adaptive key and RSA encryption methods for video frames to determine the more accurate method with highest entropy. The first method is achieved by applying the "CAST-128" and
... Show MoreBackground: Previous studies about the correlation of genetic polymorphisms in the multigene family of cyto- chrome P450 (CYPs), the effect of tobacco smoking, and the risk of developing cancer have been well in- vestigated in different populations, but not in Iraq. Furthermore, the studies of malignance occurrence re- lationship with cigarette tobacco smoking revealed the presence of strong association, however, little is known about the risk of Waterpipe (WP) tobacco smoking. Thus, determination two important genetic polymorphisms in CYP1A1, a main member of CYPs, among Iraqi men was our first aim. This is the first study that highlights the correlation of CYP1A1 polymorphisms with the risk of lung cancer in Iraq. The second aim was to ev
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