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.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most important relatively recent; treatment programs that attempt to modify behavior and control psychological disorders by modifying the individual's thinking style and awareness of himself and his environment, and cognitive reconstruction by replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. The current study aimed to know the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral treatment program in reducing nervous fatigue among mothers of children with cerebral palsy. The sample on which the nervous fatigue scale was applied consisted of (30) mothers whose son suffers from cerebral palsy, and the results indicated that (24) mothers suffer from nervous fatigue. This sample was divided
... Show MoreCOVID-19 is a pandemic disease that has a wide spectrum of symptoms from asymptomatic to severe fatal cases due to hyperactivation of the immune system and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study aimed to assess the level and impact of interleukin (IL)-13, IL-33, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α cytokines on immune responses in mild and moderate COVID-19-infected Iraqi patients. A prospective case-control study was conducted from January 2023 to January 2024; it included 80 patients infected with moderate COVID-19 infection who consulted in different private clinics and 40 healthy controls. The serum of both groups was tested for quantification of serum IL-13, IL-33, and TNF-α using the human enzyme-linked immunosorbe
... Show MoreDuring recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the investigation of the cytokines roles in pathogenesis of cancer, thus the study aimed at evaluating the level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-?) in sera of Iraqi multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Beta 2-microglobulion (?2-m) was assessed to determine if there was any association between this cytokine and the level of ?2- m, as the latter is related to the stage of the disease. In addition, the age and gender were also taken into consideration. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between IgG and TNF-? in sera of patients. 49 Iraqi patients (27 males and 22 females).The patients were also divided into two groups: the first group included (17) patients who were
... Show MoreThe purpose of this article was to identify and assess the importance of risk factors in the tendering phase of construction projects. The construction project cannot succeed without the identification and categorization of these risk elements. In this article, a questionnaire for likelihood and impact was designed and distributed to a panel of specialists to analyze risk factors. The risk matrix was also used to research, explore, and identify the risks that influence the tendering phase of construction projects. The probability and impact values assigned to risk are used to calculate the risk's score. A risk matrix is created by combining probability and impact criteria. To determine the main risk elements for the tender phase of
... Show MoreThe purpose of this article was to identify and assess the importance of risk factors in the tendering phase of construction projects. The construction project cannot succeed without the identification and categorization of these risk elements. In this article, a questionnaire for likelihood and impact was designed and distributed to a panel of specialists to analyze risk factors. The risk matrix was also used to research, explore, and identify the risks that influence the tendering phase of construction projects. The probability and impact values assigned to risk are used to calculate the risk's score. A risk matrix is created by combining probability and impact criteria. To determine the main risk elements for the tend
... Show MoreThe integration of gender in urban studies is considered a goal and objective to build a society characterized by justice and equality. It further allows all its residents to enjoy the opportunities to live in a safe urban life. Based on the that, the limitations of the research and its field of interest related to the relationship between gender and urban studies have become clear. The insufficient knowledge in this regard considers gender as a concept that does not exist in itself, but rather overlaps and intersects with several concepts and studies, including urban studies. Thus, it has become necessary to adopt a descriptive methodology that helps reach a theoretical framework to explain the beginnings of such an interaction and inte
... Show MoreWhen optimizing the performance of neural network-based chatbots, determining the optimizer is one of the most important aspects. Optimizers primarily control the adjustment of model parameters such as weight and bias to minimize a loss function during training. Adaptive optimizers such as ADAM have become a standard choice and are widely used for their invariant parameter updates' magnitudes concerning gradient scale variations, but often pose generalization problems. Alternatively, Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) with Momentum and the extension of ADAM, the ADAMW, offers several advantages. This study aims to compare and examine the effects of these optimizers on the chatbot CST dataset. The effectiveness of each optimizer is evaluat
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted to investigate effect of prey type on the relationship between age of females of Macrocyclops albidus and reproductive performance, which included each of mean number of nauplii, age at first brood, and age at first clutch. Results revealed that the correlation coefficient between the age at first brood and clutch and age of females fed on Artemia was significant P <0.05, being 0.65 and 0.81 respectively, while the correlations were not significant P>0.05 in females fed on mosquito larvae (Culex quinquefasciatus) and Paramecium nauplii. It was also found that the correlation coefficients between mean number of the nauplii and longevity in M. albidus were significant P<0.05 whereas, the correlations were not s
... Show MoreImage is an important digital information that used in many internet of things (IoT) applications such as transport, healthcare, agriculture, military, vehicles and wildlife. etc. Also, any image has very important characteristic such as large size, strong correlation and huge redundancy, therefore, encrypting it by using single key Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) through IoT communication technologies makes it vulnerable to many threats, thus, the pixels that have the same values will be encrypted to another pixels that have same values when they use the same key. The contribution of this work is to increase the security of transferred image. This paper proposed multiple key AES algorithm (MECCAES) to improve the security of the tran
... Show MoreWith the shift of narration and the revolution against the traditional methods which were dominated by the authorial intrusion and the single narrative voice, there appeared new forms that go along with the change in methods of narration. Form becomes the representation which equips us to understand more fully aspects of existence outside of art. Form is the objectifying of idea, and its excellence depends upon its appropriateness to the idea.1 One of the most important approaches to writing fiction is the power of point of view.
In the strategy of 'point of view' lies the secret of art and, as Norman Friedman indicates, it provides a method for distinguishing the possible degrees of authorial extinction in the narrati
... Show More