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 immune infertility caused by anti-sperm antibodies (ASAs) represented about 10–20% of infertility among the couples. The ASAs interfere with sperm parameters such as sperm motility and sperm ability to penetrate cervical mucus, sperm-oocyte binding, and fertilization and embryo development. Objectives: The present study designed to assess semen analysis, presence of ASAs and DNA fragmentation index as well as correlation within these parameters in normzoospermic Iraqi subjects Patients, Materials, and Methods: A total number of Iraqi subjects (116) with range of age (20-51) years and their mean duration of infertility (4.70 ± 2.77). Seminal fluid for macroscopic and microscopic assessments done according to WHO 2010 criteria. The
... Show MoreExcess alcohol consumption is associated with numerous metabolic changes and homeostasis disturbances of many macro- and micro-elements in the body. It has been associated with multiple pathologies at all levels. In the digestive apparatus, alcohol has generally been related to its toxic effects upon the liver. Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α-1 AT or AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation, coagulation and repair mechanisms in the body and most α-1 AT in the body is produced by the liver; from the other hand, Intrinsic factor (IF), which is a glycoprotein produced by the parietal cells of the stomach is necessary for the absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine. This study was designed to assess serum levels of α-1 AT and
... Show MoreOver the last 40 years, rate of cesarean delivery has risen from less than10% to over 30% around the world, and almost simultaneously a 10-foldraise in the incidence of placenta accrete spectrum. Fine coordinationamong vascular endothelial growth factor, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase1 and placental growth factor is important for normal placentaldevelopment and trophoblast invasion. To measure and compare the levelsof circulating vascular endothelial growth factor, placental growth factorand soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 in pregnant women with placentaaccreta to a control group. A case control study which involved one hundredpregnant females were recruited from the Obstetric ward in BaghdadTeaching Hospital who were pregnant with 28
... Show MoreBeen investigating a Pfyrus antigen hepatitis pattern J and Virus-positive rubella viral hepatitis antibodies pattern J. declaration followed by the percentage rate-positive patients of measles Allmana antibodies
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The paper proposes a methodology for predicting packet flow at the data plane in smart SDN based on the intelligent controller of spike neural networks(SNN). This methodology is applied to predict the subsequent step of the packet flow, consequently reducing the overcrowding that might happen. The centralized controller acts as a reactive controller for managing the clustering head process in the Software Defined Network data layer in the proposed model. The simulation results show the capability of Spike Neural Network controller in SDN control layer to improve the (QoS) in the whole network in terms of minimizing the packet loss ratio and increased the buffer utilization ratio.
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This study aims to study argumentation in political debates by figuring out the logical fallacies employed in the debates of Clinton and Trump, the presidential nominees of the 2016 elections, and Biden and Trump, the leading contenders in the 2020 United States presidential election. The study attempts to answer the questions: (1) What relevance fallacies are adopted in the debate between Trump and Clinton? (2) What rhetorical devices are used to influence the audience and gain voters besides fallacies in the debates selected? The study analyses two texts from two arguments using Damer's (2009) taxonomy of relevance fallacy and rhetorical devices based on Perrine’s (1969) model of communication and interpersonal rhetoric to answe
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To determine the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disorder, 20 patients with MS aged (25-60) years have been investigated from the period of 2016/12/1 to 2017/3/1 and compared to 15 apparently healthy individuals. All study groups were carried out to measure anti H.pylori IgA and H.pylori IgG antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. There was a significant elevation (p<0.05) in the concentration of anti H.pylori IgG and IgA antibodies (Abs) compared to control group, and there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the concentration of IgA and IgG (Abs) of H.pylori according to gender, and there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the concentration of IgA and I
... Show More57 isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis were identified; they were isolated from different clinical sources which included sputum, bronchial wash, abscess, pleural fluid, gastric fluid, eye fluid, and CSF, also urine and ear swab. This investigation was carried out on 198 patient attended National Reference Laboratory for T.B during September 2009. Also the study declared that the ratio of separation of this bacterium from male was (67.6%) and it’s higher than the ratio of separation this bacterium from females which was (32.3%). The susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to melatonin was evaluated. Many concentrati
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