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.
Many economists believe that the development and promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises is one of the most important sources of economic and social development in countries in general and in developing countries in particular. This is considered to be an essential starting point for increasing production capacity and contributing to tackling poverty and unemployment. In view of the importance of these projects, most developing countries have concentrated their efforts on them. They have encouraged the establishment of small and medium industries, especially after they have proved their ability and efficiency in dealing with the major problems facing different economies.
The banking system plays an important role by finan
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The study aims to identify the levels of core competencies dimensions and types of organizational flexibility in the investigated organization, as well as to determine the nature of the relationship and the impact of core competencies dimensions with the process of organizational flexibility. Thus, a number of research questions were presented to express the research problem as follows:
- What is the level of the investigated individuals' awareness to core competencies and organizational flexibility across their dimensions and types in the investigated organization?
- To what extent are core competencies and organizational flexibility available in the Organiz
The banking performance and deposits attraction are considered to be of great importance in banks management, also the banking performance is one of the indications that measure the ability of satisfying and full fill the banks goals and the range of approach and move away from those goals, Also there are some important factors that affects on deposits, such as financial performance ,The aim of the research is to measure and analyses the banking performance and showing its effective impact and its relation in attracting deposits.
For the satisfaction of the research goals a smple was selected from the Iraqi banks which represented in five private banks were their data been analyzed between the periods 2009 to 2013 ,th
... Show MoreThe article aims to study the liquidity that is required to be provided optimally and the profitability that is required to be achieved by the bank, and the impact of both of them on the value of the bank, and their effect of both liquidity and profitability on the value of the bank. Hence, the research problem emerged, which indicates the extent of the effect of liquidity and profitability on the value of the bank. The importance of the research stems from the main role that commercial banks play in the economy of a country. This requires the need to identify liquidity in a broad way and its most important components, and how to
... Show MoreThe study of Terracotta in Mesopotamia is one of the important
technical topics that gave us valuable information ،whether from a
technical or cultural point of view
In this research two algorithms are applied, the first is Fuzzy C Means (FCM) algorithm and the second is hard K means (HKM) algorithm to know which of them is better than the others these two algorithms are applied on a set of data collected from the Ministry of Planning on the water turbidity of five areas in Baghdad to know which of these areas are less turbid in clear water to see which months during the year are less turbid in clear water in the specified area.
The present study was performed to evaluate the level of some risk factors (biochemical and immunological) in hypothyroid Iraqi patients considering the different thyroid functional states (hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism).The study includes 82 patients clinically diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Three study groups have been investigated: (47 clinical hypothyroid patients, 12 subclinical hypothyroid patients 23 healthy individuals) of different ages. This study, show that the proportion of females (83.3 %), (87.2%) in subclinical and clinical hypothyroidisim respectively higher than the proportion of males (16.7%),(12.8%) in subclinical and clinical hypothyrodism respectively of the total patients.The majority of subclinical hyp
... Show MoreThe development of the world, and in light of the intensity of competition highlighted the need to research and create a sustainable competitive advantage is sustained from an internal source in the company earned by the scarcity and difficulty of imitation by competitors, and this source is green innovation. In order to achieve the objective of the research, which is the diagnosis and analysis of the relationship between green innovation (in products, processes) and sustainable competitive advantage in the group of companies Kronji, was developed a default model of the research reflects the nature of the relationship and influence among its variables, the research adopted the questionnaire as a key tool for collecting data and i
... Show MoreIn addition to being a religious book with high human and moral themes, Nahj al-Balagha is considered a mirror of Arab culture and a literary masterpiece at the height of eloquence and eloquence, and because proverbs in the form of short, concrete and understandable phrases for everyone, experiences, thoughts and convey ideas, Imam Ali (AS) used it to facilitate the understanding of various political, social and moral concepts. In this article, we intend to criticize the way Dashti, Shahidi and Foladvand translated it by using Newmark's model due to the importance and cultural reflections of proverbs in understanding the cultural atmosphere governing Nahj al-Balagheh. In his evaluation model, Newmark divides cult
... Show Morestudy aimed to recognize the relationship shyness and depression and to recognize the differences between the genders, according to the variable of shyness and depression, the sample consisted (214) students, (141) female (73) male, and the sample responded scale of shyness and Inventory beck for depression, The Results of this study show that: the sample has a low degree shyness and a high degree depression, . There are no statistically significant differences according to gender variable in shyness, and there are statistically significant differences according to gender variable in depression favor for male, and there are statistically significant relationships between the variables of the study at lev
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