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 corrosion protection of low carbon steel in 2.5 M HCl solution by kiwi juice was studied at different temperatures and immersion times by weight loss technique. To study the determination of the optimum conditions from statistical design in evaluation of a corrosion inhibitor, three variables, were considered as the most dominant variables. These variables are: temperature, inhibitor concentration (extracted kiwi juice) and immersion time at static conditions.
These three variables are manipulated through the experimental work using central composite rotatable Box – Wilson Experimental Design (BWED) where second order polynomial model was proposed to correlate the studied variables with the corrosion rate o
... Show MoreMost of World nations are striving to provide the necessary needs to protect their economic properties assets against natural or abnormal disasters that may be inflicted on such property and the means that used by such countries to reduce the damages is insurance, whereas insurance as a system that collects and distributes different risks into the group thus to achieve a social symbiosis between individuals. The system works to transfer the risks from the individual to the group and then distributes the losses to all members of the group.
According to the importance of the insurance sector and the need to develop it as well as working on improving its performance, this search aims to identify the ac
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, AA Noaimi, BAM Saleh, 2015
Different frequency distributions models were fitted to the monthly data of raw water Turbidity at water treatment plants (WTPs) along Tigris River in Baghdad. Eight water treatment plants in Baghdad were selected, with raw water turbidity data for the period (2008-2014). The frequency distribution models used in this study are the Normal, Log-normal, Weibull, Exponential and two parameters Gamma type. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the goodness of fit. The data for years (2008-2011) were used for building the models. The best fitted distributions were Log-Normal (LN) for Al-Karkh, Al-Wathbah, Al-Qadisiya, Al- Dawrah and, Al-Rashid WTPs. Gamma distribution fitted well for East Tigris and Al-Karamah WTPs. As for Al-
... Show MoreDifferent frequency distributions models were fitted to the monthly data of raw water Turbidity at water treatment plants (WTPs) along Tigris River in Baghdad. Eight water treatment plants in Baghdad were selected, with raw water turbidity data for the period (2008-2014). The frequency distribution models used in this study are the Normal, Log-normal, Weibull, Exponential and two parameters Gamma type. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the goodness of fit. The data for years (2008-2011) were used for building the models. The best fitted distributions were Log-Normal (LN) for Al-Karkh, Al-Wathbah, Al-Qadisiya, Al-Dawrah and, Al-Rashid WTPs. Gamma distribution fitted well for East Tigris and Al-Karamah
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This study is concerned with shedding light on the grammatical method of Ibn Hisham Al-Ansari (761 AH), in his explanation of Bant Souad’s poem by the poet Kaab bin Zuhair, and I included a brief description of Ibn Hisham’s life with a number of explanations of this poem, then clarified the most important features of this method The grammar represented by his reliance on hearing and presenting it to analogy with mention of types of analogy, as well as his attribution of opinions to their owners with weighting, selection and balancing, and his attention to reasoning and a number of grammatical ailments, and his approach is also distinguished by following the method of fractal.
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Theauthor addressed politeness discourse in “Surat Ghafir”. Quran texts include many rhetorical utterances which are considered pragmatic mechanismsconcerned with finding polite discourse. examining these texts allow to determine the effectiveness degree in the discourse, and to find the effect level that leads to interaction between the speaker and the listener. Graduation is considered an effect and a mechanism of discourse escalation.
The author reached a common definition of the graduation effectiveness term, due to its importance in finding polite discourse that is constructed by lingual manifestations some of which are escalation and graduation. Escalation is a mechanism to show the level of discourse graduation, it is a mea
The contractual imbalance is perceived today by the majority of the doctrine as being one of the pitfalls to the execution of the contracts. As a result, most legislations grant judges the power to intervene to restore it. Granting the judge the power to complete the contract raises the question of the extent to which the judge can obtain such power. Is it an absolute authority that is not limited? If so, is it a broad discretion in which the judge operates in his conscience, or is it a power of limited scope by specific legal texts and conventions? This is what we will try to answer in this research.
Rap songs often feature artists who utilize explicit language to convey feelings such as happiness, sorrow, and anger, reflecting audience expectations and trends within the music industry. This study intends to conduct a socio-pragmatic analysis of explicit, derogatory, and offensive language in the songs of the American artist Doja Cat, employing Hughes’ (1996) Swearing Word Theory, Jay’s (1996) Taboo Words Theory, Luhr’s (2002) classification of social factors for sociolinguistic examination, Salager’s (1997) categories of hedges for pragmatic assessment, and Austin’s (1965, 1989) theory of speech acts. The researchers collected the data using the AntConc corpus analysis tool. The data shows the singer’s frequent use
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