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.
The experimental and theoretical methods were studied for inhibition of the corrosion titanium in HCl by using neomycin sulfate drug. The results of neomycin sulfate drug had good corrosion protection for titanium in hydrochloric acid and the inhibition efficiency (%IE) increasing with increasing concentration of drug because the neomycin sulfate drug had adsorption from acid solution on surface of titanium metal. The program of hyperchem-8.07 was used for theoretical study of the drug by molecular mechanics and semi-empirical calculations. Quantum chemical was studied drug absorption and electron transferred from the drug to the Titanium metal, also inhibition potentials of drug attachment with the (LUMO-HOMO) energy gap,
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Background: Acute urinary tract infection is a common bacterial infection causing illness in infants and children. At age of seven, 8% of girls and 2% of boys will have at least one episode. Although drinking water and using home remedies are known to help to flush away bacteria and keeps them from sticking to the bladder wall, researches to test the efficacy and safety of hydrochlorothiazide's diuretic effect as adjuvant to the antibiotics in pediatric age groups are lacking, and so this research was to address this subject.
Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and the safety of hydrochlorothiazide as adjuvant therapy to the antibiotics in treating acute urinary tract infect
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The atmospheric air cold plasma has been used to manufacture gold nanomaterials for treating parasitic leishmaniasis. This study experimentally assessed the treatment of Leishmania parasites (L. donovani and L. tropica) by gold nanoparticles. Specifically, atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma was generated using different diameters (1.0, 2.8, 3.8 and 4.3 mm) of high voltage electrode. Aqueous gold tetrachloride salts (HAuCl4·4H2O) were used as precursor to produce gold nanoparticles. UV-vis spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction were conducted for characterization of the nanoparticles. The optimum condition (a diameter of 1 mm) was chosen to prepare gold nanoparticles, where the grain size was found to be 17 nm. Accordingly, the nanoparticle
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Although cinema is moving towards art, it has dealt with the character since the beginning of the discovery of cinematic art in films such as (Doctor Caligari's cabin) and most German expressive films in the third decade of the twentieth century, but the interest of cinema is growing in the estranged human personality, meaning that this character It lives by its alienation from the environment and society that surrounds it, because our present days have witnessed on the material and moral level more social breakdowns such as wars and disasters, and the sharp contradiction in the social and economic level of people themselves or between different societies, or between the individual and his community, and new social relations have increas
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Background: Significant numbers of patients with spinal tuberculosis (TB), especially in developing countries, still present late after disease onset with severe neurological deficits.
Objective:This study was conducted to assess the outcome of surgery in patients with tuberculosis of the spine with motor deficits.
Type of the study: Retrospective study.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data obtained in all the patients with severe motor deficits due to spinal TB admitted to and surgically treated in four hospitals in Baghdad/Iraq during the period from January 2012 to January 2014. History, examination, imaging, histological, postoperative, a
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Background: Otitis media with effusion is a common and important pediatric clinical problem; it is the leading cause of hearing impairment in children. Medical treatment remains controversial. Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of using topical nasal steroids in the treatment of otitis media with effusion. Patients and Methods: Between November 2019 and October 2022, a prospective controlled clinical study was carried out in the department of otolaryngology at Al-Jerrahat Teaching Hospital in Medical City, Baghdad, Iraq. This study comprised 40 patients with bilateral otitis media with effusion (23 males, 17 females). Two groups were created for the patients. Patients in group A (20 patients) were treated with mometasone furoate nasal spra
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The aesthetic and technical expertise help in producing the artistic work and achieving results in aesthetic formulations that reflect the aesthetic and expressive dimensions and the reflective dimensions of the pottery, surpassing its traditions, asserting its active presence in life, cherishing it even when it breaks or get damaged by employing techniques that are originated from the Japanese environment.
The research problem is to study how ( Kintsugi) technique and similar techniques are used to create new rebirths of pottery piec
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