Cytokines are signaling molecules between inflammatory cells that play a significant role in the pathogenesis of a disease. Among these cytokines are interleukins (ILs) 17A and 33, and accordingly, the current case-control study sought to investigate the role of each of the two cytokines in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixty-eight relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) Iraqi patients and twenty healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to determine serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33. Results revealed that IL-17A and IL-33 levels were significantly higher in MS patients than in controls (14.1 ± 4.5 vs. 7.5 ± 3.8 pg/mL; p < 0.001 and 65.3 ± 16.3 vs. 49.3 ± 20.0 pg/mL; p < 0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that IL-17A was a very good predictor of MS (area under curve [AUC] = 0.869; 95% CI = 0.779 - 0.960; p < 0.001; cut-off value = 10.2 pg/mL; sensitivity = 80.8%; specificity = 75.0%). A similar prediction was presented by IL-33, but the AUC value was lower (AUC = 0.762; 95% CI = 0.63 - 0.89; p < 0.001; cut-off value = 56.4 pg/mL; sensitivity = 70.6%; specificity = 70.0%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis confirmed the significance of IL-17A and IL-33 in MS risk, and under three models of analysis, the estimated odds ratios for IL-17A (1.50, 1.49 and 1.50, respectively) and IL-33 (1.05, 1.05 and 1.06) were above 1.0. Patients stratified by gender (male and female), expanded disability status scale (EDSS: < 3 and ≥ 3) or medication (pre- and post-medication) showed no significant differences in serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33 for each stratum. However, with regard to response to medication, it was found that responding patients showed significantly higher levels of IL-33 than non-responders (70.9 ± 12.2 vs. 57.2 ± 18.2 pg/mL; p = 0.018). This difference was not observed when considering IL-17A. Pearson correlation analysis between IL-17A and IL-33 revealed that both cytokines were not significantly correlated. In conclusion, the study indicated that IL-17A and IL-33 were up-regulated in serum of MS patients, and this up-regulation was not influenced by age, gender, EDSS or medication status, but the elevated level of IL-33 was more pronounced in patients who responded to medication.
Semi-parametric regression models have been studied in a variety of applications and scientific fields due to their high flexibility in dealing with data that has problems, as they are characterized by the ease of interpretation of the parameter part while retaining the flexibility of the non-parametric part. The response variable or explanatory variables can have outliers, and the OLS approach have the sensitivity to outliers. To address this issue, robust (resistance) methods were used, which are less sensitive in the presence of outlier values in the data. This study aims to estimate the partial regression model using the robust estimation method with the wavel
... Show MoreThis qualitative study was conducted on eight types of commercial baking yeast which available in local markets to estimate their fermentation activity as affecting the Bread industry and the impact of the salt added to DoughLeavening, The results showed a great variation in the fermentation capacity of yeast samples (their role in swelling the dough), most notably the sample value Y3 and least sample Y7 and reached 80% and 20% respectively, and the value of Leavening by using the two types of yeast with addition of three levels of salt (0 , 1 and 2%) have 20.0 , 19.7 and 15.7 of the sample Y3, compared with 10.5 , 10.3 and 8.8 of the sample Y7 for each of the levels of salt respectively, reflect
... Show MoreThis study aims to predict the organic pollution produced from the presence of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and determination it's concentrations (µg/L , ppb) in Tigris river water by a collection twenty-seven water samples from a selected three stations with nine sampling sites and three depths of water (5 cm , 2 m and 4 m) each site for 4.6 km distance of a geographic studied area which is located between the ( Al-Senak and AL-Sarrafiah bridges ) at Baghdad city – Iraq on May, 2012. The geographic location was determined with a Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) software program. The concentrations of fourteen components (PAHs) were performed using the reverse phase
... Show MoreThis study was carried out for direct detection of typhi and some of its multidrug resistance genes(tem,capt,gyrA&sul2)which encode for resistance to (Ampicillin, Chloramphenicol,Ciprofioxacin,Co-trimoxazole)by using Polymerase Chain Reaction technique .(71)blood samples for people suffering from typhoid fever symptoms depending on the clinical examination and (25)for control were collected. The results investigation for flic gene which encode for flagellin protein indicated that only (19)with percentage of (26,76%)gave appositive results while all control had a negative ones. Investigation for antibiotic resistance drug in samples which show positive results for flic gene showed that there is a multidrug for all antibiotics with (94.7
... Show MoreIn this study, 158 clinical samples were collected from hospitalized burn patients during the period from December 2012 to June 2013 in Karbala province\ Iraq. Bacterial isolates were identified using conventional biochemical tests and then identification was confirmed by using Vitek-2 compact system. Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovery was 60 isolates in this study. These isolates were analyzed for antibiotic susceptibility by the disk diffusion test (DDT) according to Kirby Bauer's method using seven clinically important antipseudomonal agents: carbapenems (Imipenem and Meropenem), pencillins (Piperacillin), cephalosporins (Ceftazidim), monobactam (Aztreonam), quinolones (Ciprofloxacin) and aminoglycosides (Gentamicin). The results of resista
... Show MoreThe study was conducted over the period of Oct 2018 to Apr 2019 and is aimed for the detection and estimation of four hazardous Volatile Organic Compounds VOC (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) so-called (BTEX) in samples collected from the produced water in the Al-Ahdab oil field in Iraq also to track their availability in the important natural water sources around the field. These compounds pose a risk to human health as well as environment. To avoid the laborious and tiresome conventional extraction methods, water samples were collected and concentrated using solid-phase extraction technique (SPE) which is a robust and cost-effective method of sample extraction with minimal exposure and handling of solvents and then to be analy
... Show MoreIn this study, the dung beetles Aphodius (Bodilus) ictericus (Laicharting, 1781) and Aphodius (Planolinellus) vittatus Say, 1825 which belongs to the family of Aphodiidae (Order: Coleoptera) are redscribed here as to being found for the first time in Iraq.
The specimens were collected from different regions in the middle of Iraq; the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features of males were drawn and pictured.