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.
The problem of research is to identify the uses of Iraqi women for Facebook and the motives of these uses and the innovations that have been achieved from them, in view of the increasing role-played by social networking sites in the lives of individuals in general and women in particular.The research seeks to identify the following: Identify the extent to which Iraqi women use Facebook and the usage motives and innovations achieved by the interviewees When they using Facebook. This study belongs to the descriptive studies that are interested in monitoring the characteristics of a particular phenomenon to identify its characteristics and characteristics.This study adopted the survey methodology to test the hypotheses of the study and how
... Show More(Sb2S3)1-xSnx thin films with different concentrations (0, 0.05 and
0.15) and thicknesses (300,500 and 700nm) have been deposited by
single source vacuum thermal evaporation onto glass substrates at
ambient temperature to study the effect of tin content, thickness and
on its structural morphology, and electrical properties. AFM study
revealed that microstructure parameters such as crystallite size, and
roughness found to depend upon deposition conditions. The DC
conductivity of the vacuum evaporated (Sb2S3)1-x Snx thin films was
measured in the temperature range (293-473)K and was found to
increase on order of magnitude with
This work focused on principle of higher order mode excitation using in- line Double Clad Multi-Mode Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (DC-MM-MZI). The DC-MM-MZI was designed with 50 cm etched MMF. The etching length is 5cm. The tenability of this interferometer was studied using opt grating ver.4.2.2 and optiwave
ver. 7 simulator. After removing (25, 35, 45, 55) μm from MMF and immersing this segment of MMF with water bath contained distilled water and ethanol, in addition to, air. Pulsed laser source centered at 1546.7nm ,pulse width 10ns and peak power 1.33mW was propagated via this interferometer Maximum modes were obtained in case of air surrounded media which are 9800 and 25 um removed cladding layer, with peak power 49.800 m
Hyperpigmentation is the increase in the natural color of the skin. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Q-Switched Nd:YAG (1064 & 532 nm) Laser in treatment of skin hyper pigmentation. This study was done in the research clinic of Institute of laser for postgraduate Studies/University of Baghdad from October 2008 to the end of January 2009. After clinical assessment of skin hyperpigmentation color, twenty six patients were divided according to their lesions. Eight Patients with freckles, seven patients with melasma, four patients with tattoo. Cases with tattoo, were subdivided into amateur tattoos two, professional tattoos one, and one traumatic tattoo. Four Patients with post inflammatory hyperpigment
... Show MoreA series of new coumarin and N-amino-2-quinolone derivatives have been synthesized. The reaction of coumarin (1) with excess of Hydrazine hydrate 98% yielded 1-amino-2-quinolone (2), Compound (2) was reacted with different Sulfonyl chloride to yield Sulfonamides [ N-(2-oxoquinolin-1(2H)-yl) methane sulfonamide (3), N-(2-oxoquinolin-1(2H)-yl) Benzene sulfonamide (4) and 4-methyl-N-(2-oxoquinolin-1(2H)-yl) benzene sulfonamide (5) ], while reaction of 2-(4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yloxy) acetic acid (8) with different amines yielded compounds [ 2-(4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yloxy)-N-(2-oxoquinolin-1(2H)-yl) acetamide (9) and N-(5-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)-2-(4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yloxy)acetamide (10) ] th
... Show MoreThe effect of refrigerant injection techniques on the performance of heat pump system based on exergy analysis was studied theoretically. Three refrigerant injection techniques were used; the first was achieved by injected vapour in volume ratios from 1 to 7% in the accumulator. The second was injection liquid refrigerant in the discharge line with the aid of Liquid Pressure Amplification (LPA) pump, with volume ratios from 1 to 10%. The third was a hybrid injection with volume ratios of injected vapour and liquid varied from 1 to 3% and 1 to 10%; respectively. The following improvements in cycle performance were observed. For vapour injection technique, the best ratio of injection was 5%, the exergy destruction reduced
... Show MoreDirect contact membrane distillation is an effective method for production of fresh water from saline water. In this study two samples were used as feed solutions; the first one was RO waste from Al-Hilla Coca-Cola Factory (TDS= 2382 mg/l) and the other was Haji Ali drainage water (TDS= 4127 mg/l). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hydrophobic membrane supported with polypropylene (PP) was used as flat sheet form with plate and frame cell. Results proved that membrane distillation is an effective technique to produce fresh water with high quality from brine with low salinity content. With membrane area of 8x8 cm2, the volume of treated water decreased from 34.97 ml at first half hour to 33.02 ml after 180 min of
... Show MoreThe monomer phenyl acrylamide was synthesized by reacting acrylamide with chloro benzene in the presence of pyridine. Copolymer of phenyl acrylamide (PAM) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) was synthesized by free radical technique using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiator. The overall conversion was kept low (≤ 15% wt/wt) for all studies copolymers samples. The synthesized copolymers were characterized using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and their thermal properties were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The copolymers compositions were determined by elemental analysis. The monomer reactivity ratios have been calculated b
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