Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were given rituximab induction therapy and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) maintenance therapy. RTX was indicated for refractory and relapsing SLE. Several investigations done before and after RTX treatment and in the last follow up (done one year after starting Rituximab). Those included protein in urine, serum creatinine, double stranded DNA, C3, C4, and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). Proteinuria decreased significantly after RTX treatment and in the last measurement (P=0.01 and P=0.001, respectively). Serum creatinine significantly decreased only in the last measurement (P=0.02). Double stranded DNA decreased remarkably after treatment (P=0.01) with a further decrease in the last measurement (P=0.006). C3 and C4 increased after treatment but the increase was significant only for C3 (P=0.002) and this increase continues till the last measurement (P=0.0006). Active urine sediments found in fifteen patients and disappeared after RTX treatment. Rituximab can be promising in treating lupus nephritis when used along with traditional immunosuppressants. It can reduce disease activity and improve renal function in such patients.
Background: Diabetic neuropathy can affect any peripheral nerve, including sensory neurons, motor neurons, and the autonomic nervous system. Therefore, diabetic neuropathy has the potential to affect essentially any organ and can affect parts of the nervous system like the optic nerve, spinal cord, and brain. In addition, chronic hyperglycemia affects Schwann cells, and more severe patterns of diabetic neuropathy in humans involve demyelization. Schwann cell destruction might cause a number of changes in the axon. study aims to evaluate serum myelin protein level as a predicting marker in the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy and to prevent early neuropathy complications of type 2 diabetes.
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... Show MoreThe presence and absence binary is an essential part of and a motivation for the direction vision which depends on the principle that the components of the theatre performance move in contrast with each other; one is directly informative which is the presence relations and the other is structural that is identical to the absence relations. The first is material band visual that evokes the incorporeal mental absent. Hence, the present study(Presence and Absence in the Iraqi Theatre Performance :Summer's Rain Play as an Example) aims at explaining those relations and their transformations between presence and absence in the performance
The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial mindset and aspiration and small business performance Baghdad, Iraq. This study proposed a quantitative analysis in which entrepreneurial mindset and aspiration is a critical success factor of small business in Iraq. The method employed in the collection of data was by the means of self-administered questionnaire which was filled and completed by small business owners randomly selected from a sampling frame of registered small businesses. The questionnaire was adapted from the study of Davis, Halls & Mayer (2015) and Abdel-Maksoud, Asada & Nakagawa (2008) which was used to measure entrepreneurial mindset and aspiration using a ten items scale and small business
... Show MoreIntroduction and Aim: Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) are the key regulators controlling the activity of Treg cells, which are crucial for maintaining immune tolerance and reducing autoimmune reactions. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential utility of elevated levels of FOXP3 and IL-10 gene expression as a diagnostic indicator in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Materials and Methods: The study used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to examine the expression levels of FOXP3 and IL-10 transcripts in whole blood samples from Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A group of healthy control subjects were also included in the study. Results: In blood samples taken fr
... Show MoreThe flow emission rate of hard photons from lowest order the QCD processes for quark-anti quark annihilation processes in plasma media at high temperatures (175, 200, 225, 250 and 275 MeV) have been study. In these framework photons, the flow photons emission is calculate according to quark-antiquark annihilation using the quantum chromodynamic theory and solves the ultrarelativistic equation with MATLAP program. Due to the results, we show increases flow photons rate with increases strength coupling and increases with increases temperature of media, it indicate that logarithmically divergent thermal effect on photons product. The critical temperature (Tc=155 to 195 MeV) effect on the quarks confined in hadronic matter phase, it is importan
... Show MoreSome physical and chemical characteristics of Jurf Al- Sakar drinking water plant in Babylon governorate have been studied. Seven locations for this plant were selected. These were the drinking water treatment plant source on Euphrates River before entering the plant, precipitation, filtration and collection tanks, and also after leaving the plant at distances of one meter, 4 and 8 km. The samples were collected bimonthly from October, 2002 to August, 2003. Some results match with the national and international standard characters while the other characters (Turbidity, total hardness, calcium, nitrate, phosphate and the biological oxygen demand values) were not match. The present study showed that drinking water treatment plant is undrinka
... Show MoreA simple indirect spectrophotometric method for determination of mebendazol in pure and pharmaceutical formulation was presented in this study. UV-Visible spectrophotometry using the optimal conditions was developed for determination of mebendazole in pure drug and different preparation samples. The method is based on the oxidation of drug by nbromosuccinimide with hydrochloric acid and the left amount of oxidizing agent was determined by the reaction with tartarazine and the absorbance was measured at 428 nm. Calibration curves were linear in the range of 5 to 30 µg.mL-1 with molar absorptivity 8437.2 L.mol-1 .cm-1 . The limits of detection and quantification were determined and found to be 0.7770 µg.mL-1 and 2.3400 µg.mL-1 respec
... Show MorePilot-scale dead end microfiltration membranes were carried out to determine the feasibility of the process for treating the oily wastewater which discharge from some Iraqi factories such as power station of south of Baghdad and the general company of petrochemical industries. Polypropylene membranes (cylindrical shape) with different pore diameters (1 and 5 micron) were used to conduct the study on micromembrane process. The variables studied are oil concentration (100 – 1000 ppm), feed flow rate (20 – 40 l/h), operating temperature (31 – 50°C) and time (0 – 3 h). It was found that the flux increases with increasing feed flow rate, temperature and pore size of membrane, and decreases with increasing oil concentration and operating
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