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.
This research aims to shed light on some phonetic linguistic terms used in the Arabic phonetic lesson for the purpose of monitoring, analyzing and tracking its developments. Such a step helps to standardize and weigh between them. The study follows a descriptive-analytical approach; it surveys the problem of the phonetic linguistic term, and its linguistic exactness. Then, it examines some phonetic terms in the Arabic phonetic lesson, such as phonology and phonology; intensity, looseness and mediation; the production, articulatory, transition, position, and the two vocal chords. One of the most prominent conclusions of the study is that the phonetic linguistic terminology enjoyed a tangible development since its infancy, given that phone
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The research aims to clarify the impact of adopting the IFRS16 financial reporting standard on lease contracts in insurance companies on audit procedures. The change in the classification of lease contracts in the case of adopting the IFRS16 financial reporting standard necessarily requires audit procedures that are compatible with this change. A proposed audit program was prepared, guided by international auditing standards, based on the study of the client's environment and analysis of external and internal risks in the light of financial and non-financial indicators. The researchers reached a set of concl
... Show MoreWe define L-contraction mapping in the setting of D-metric spaces analogous to L-contraction mappings [1] in complete metric spaces. Also, give a definition for general D- matric spaces.And then prove the existence of fixed point for more general class of mappings in generalized D-metric spaces.
As a kind of linguistic study, the study of presupposition in drama is one of captivating topic to explore, because of the capability of this topic to make people perceive the presupposition differently. Presupposition is one of the most important concepts in linguistics. It refers to the implicit inferences made in communication between people. These inferences are necessary to understand the utterances correctly. The research particularly endeavors to focus on the linguistic constructions that activate presupposition.
The present study aims to investigate the various request constructions used in Classical Arabic and Modern Arabic language by identifying the differences in their usage in these two different genres. Also, the study attempts to trace the cases of felicitous and infelicitous requests in the Arabic language. Methodologically, the current study employs a web-based corpus tool (Sketch Engine) to analyze different corpora: the first one is Classical Arabic, represented by King Saud University Corpus of Classical Arabic, while the second is The Arabic Web Corpus “arTenTen” representing Modern Arabic. To do so, the study relies on felicity conditions to qualitatively interpret the quantitative data, i.e., following a mixed mode method
... Show MoreNarcissism is a complicated phenomenon that can be reflected in the narcissist’s language. Investigating narcissism in terms of linguistics, and pragmatics in particular, does not seem to have been given its due attention, as this study reveals. Thus, this study is an endeavor to discover how narcissism is reflected in the American movie Big Eyes (2014). It is known for introducing narcissistic behaviors. This paper aims to identify the types, motivations, and pragmatic manifestations of narcissism in the selected movie. Three pragmatic theories are chosen to scrutinize narcissism in the data: Searle’s speech acts (1969), Grice’s maxims breaching (1975), and Culppeper’s impoliteness (1996). To cope with the nature of the
... Show MoreWhen we talk about the foresight in films, it is necessary to talk about dreams because foresight represents one of its distinct types. The Precognitive vision has become a possible material in dealing with as subjects in the film industry that adopt these ideas with their philosophical and scientific orientations, because they represent the imagination that predictors are specialized with. It can be invested through the introduction of a vision of another kind to achieve its goals and ambitions in the film industry and in particular the huge institutions of production as in Hollywood. The cinema works in the light of those concepts of production which found the prognostic dream (the foresight) as a distinctive genre in its films,
Th
Topic management is the awareness of how speakers deal with initiating, developing, changing, and ending a topic and how they fix the relationship when a misunderstanding occurs. It is such an important unit of conversation as it includes the transition from one strategy to the other to be accomplished in a systematic and orderly manner. These strategies are impaired in dementia patients thus lead to communication breakdown. This study aims at detecting the dementia patients' topic management strategies in selected speeches and answering the questions of which of these strategies are fully or partially detected in these speeches. The researchers use a qualitative method to examine the speeches of those patients and they adopt an eclectic
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