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.
Objectives: The study aims to evaluate effectiveness of health education program on health care providers’ knowledge toward immunization of children at primary health care centers in Kirkuk city.
Methodology: A quasi –experimental study design two- group (pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2) conducted at primary health care centers in Kirkuk city during the period from 28 October 2019 to 10 August 2020. By collecting (50) samples divided into two groups, each one (25) participant as control & study group. The study group exposed to the education program only.
Results: Results showed a clear positive
... Show MoreTo demonstrate the effect of changing cavity length for FM mode locked on pulse parameters and make comparison for both dispersion regime , a plot for each pulse parameter as Lr function are presented for normal and anomalous dispersion regimes . The analysis is based on the theoretical study and the results of numerical simulation using MATLAB. The effect of both normal and anomalous dispersion regimes on output pulses is investigate Fiber length effects on pulse parameters are investigated by driving the modulator into different values. A numerical solution for model equations using fourth-fifth order, Runge-Kutta method is performed through MATLAB 7.0 program. Fiber length effect on pulse parameters is investigated by driving th
... Show MoreCitizenship education is the effective educational tool in building a citizen who is able to participate in building his country. This can only come through the educational efforts that teachers make in the classroom. Such a step requires teachers to have knowledge of citizenship education, its principles, and the foundations for its development. Thus, the study aims to examine the degree of social studies teachers' knowledge of the dimensions of citizenship education at the basic education schools in the Sultanate of Oman. It also aims to examine its relationship with a set of variables. The researchers used the quantitative descriptive approach to achieve the objectives of the study. It further adopted a test tool, which consisted in i
... Show MoreThe twentieth century witnessed developments, transformations and artistic revolutions, including what was witnessed in Arab art, especially contemporary Iraqi plastic art, and as a result, research and studies have increased that dealt with its topics in different ways, which has become a presence that gave it its own language and unique discourse, especially the body, thus opening the way for its employment in composition, to become a form. It denotes interpretable meanings through its various formal representations, which are artistic, cultural and cognitive products. The modernity of the Iraqi formation in the body has passed through different roles, so it started to deal with the body as a representation that reflects the real envir
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to find out the effects of the strategy of productive thinking upon the student’s achievement for the subject of research methodology in the College of Islamic Sciences. Achieving this objective, the researchers set the null hypotheses: (1) No difference is noticed to be statistically significant at the level of significance (0.05) among the student’s mean scores in the experimental group who were taught by the strategy of productive thinking, and the student’s mean scores in the control group who studied by the traditional method in the achievement test. (2) At level of sig. (0.05), there is no statistically significant difference in the mean of scores of the pre-tests and post ones in the achievement test of
... Show MoreThis paper set forth the spatial suitability of the informal settlement supposed to be distributed by the Iraqis government to poor people. The Iraqi government identified 9 locations of informal settlement in Baghdad city and acceptance it as a reality as a help for them to getting home. In this paper I discovered the suitability of those locations which one will be suitable more than others for living. The analysis process was applied using the GIS environment – spatial analysis. According to the results, It has been identified as the most important measures to identify which one of these areas suitable for development for housing by using some criteria (Distance from the city center, Proximity from transport routes, Proximity of high v
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