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 paper deals with claims in construction projects in Iraq and studies their types, causes, impacts, resolution methods and then proposes a management system to control the impacts of claims. Two parts have been done to achieve the research objective (theoretical part and practical part). The findings showed that the main types of the claims are extra work claims, different site condition claims, delay claims and the main causes of the claims are variation of the orders, design errors and omission, delay in payments by owner, variation in quantities and scheduling errors. The claims have bad impacts on the cost by increasing (10% to 25%) and also on the duration of the project by increasing from (25% to 50%).The negotiation is the main
... Show MoreThe study of the dynamic behavior of packed distillation column was studied by frequency response analysis using Matlab program. A packed distillation column (80 mm diameter) (2000 mm height) filled with glass packing (Raschig Rings 10mm), packing height (1500 mm) has been modified for separation of methanol-water mixture (60 vol%). The column dynamic behavior was studied experimentally under different step changes in, feed rate (±30%), reflux rate (±22%), and reboiler heat duty (±150%), the top and bottom concentration of methanol were measured. A frequency response analysis for the above step response was carried out using Bode diagram, the log modulus and the phase angle were used to analyze the process model. A Matlab progra
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The Iraqi government seeks to overcome the financial crisis by investing and privatizing some projects to achieve sustainable growth. Most of the investment projects in Iraq suffer from many constraints that greatly impact the success of these projects. A survey of the opinions of a group of experts was conducted to identify the most important constraints facing the investment process in Iraq. Then the experts' answers were arranged in a closed questionnaire and distributed to the research sample for which the statistical analysis was conducted. Through it, the most important (17) factors that had the greatest impact on the failure of investment projects in Iraq were reached. One of the main constraints was
... Show MoreBack ground: The innervations of the pineal
gland from the superior cervical ganglion have
shown some form of a chromatolysis reaction.
Objective:
1-Tracing the innervations of the pineal gland by
removing the target tissue (the pineal gland in
this study) i.e. (pinealoctomy) and removal of the
superior cervical ganglion i.e. (ganglionectomy).
2- The localization and total number of the
neurons which project into the rat pineal gland
3-The effect of pinealoctomy on the SCG after a
different time interval.
Methods: Twenty five albino rats were used in
this study, Pinealoctomy was done, then after a
different time interval ganglionectomy was done,
in order to study the Chromatolysis in their cel
This study explores the language used in reporting political headlines conducting a rhetorical stylistic analysis. It is based on showing the effect of the rhetorical stylistic relations in news reporting. The aim is to investigate the structure adopted in reporting political news. It argues that the rhetorical stylistic devices are necessary and applicable to non-literary texts, i.e. political headlines to evaluate language use in the representation of non-literary texts. The analysis was carried out on data selected from the British broadsheet The Guardian and the American New York Times newspaper headlines. The data were examined and subjected to a contrastive analysis incorporating rhetorical and stylistic tools to discern h
... Show MoreSerum levels of iron,copper,ceruloplasmin and transferrine were estimated in three groups of patients with ?- thalassemia: 24 patients have splenectomy thalassemia major, 29 patients have non splenectomy thalassemia major and 19 patients have thalassemia intermedia , data were compared to normal and pathological controls (anemia and minor). There were significant increase in trace element levels in all studied groups of pateints as compared to normal and pathological controls. Also there were a significant increase in ceruloplasmin levels,While the result revealed that there were a significant decrease in transferrine levels in all groups of patients studied as compared to normal and pathological controls. The result also indicate that the
... Show MoreRecent reports of new pollution issues brought on by the presence of medications in the aquatic environment have sparked a great deal of interest in studies aiming at analyzing and mitigating the associated environmental risks, as well as the extent of this contamination. The main sources of pharmaceutical contaminants in natural lakes and rivers include clinic sewage, pharmaceutical production wastewater, and sewage from residences that have been contaminated by drug users' excretions. In evaluating the health of rivers, pharmaceutical pollutants have been identified as one of the emerging pollutants. The previous studies showed that the contaminants in pharmaceuticals that are widely used are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ant
... Show MoreThe cyanobacterial neurotoxin