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 past several years have seen an increase in awareness of the pervasiveness of medications as pollutants in the aquatic environment. The main reason for concern regarding the release of pharmaceuticals into the environment is the possibility that biological agents may become opposing to them. The development of precise and reliable analytical techniques for pharmaceutical determination in a range of samples is necessary for their safe use in the pharmaceutical industry and medical treatments. This review offers a summary of chromatographic techniques for identifying and quantifying the examination of pharmaceuticals in a range of environmental samples. Both the general public and the scientific community are currently very intere
... Show MoreAutoimmune hepatitis is an inflammatory disease and its incidence has been increasing. The features of hepatitis are the release of inflammatory cytokines, the elevation of AST and ALT, and hepatocyte apoptosis and necrosis. Concanavalin A considered as essential model represents the acute immune-mediated liver damage in rodents. Thymoquinone is well known herbal compound that exert hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activity. In this study, we focus on the immunoregulatory and liver protective effect of thymoquinone in a mouse model of concanavalin A-induced liver injury.
Twenty-four male mice were randomly divided into four groups each containing six animals: Negative control group, concanavalin A model group,
... Show MoreThe management of anger is problematic for many people and it is a particularly important issue for persons with substance use disorders (SUD). The paper reviews the research studies dating back to 2005 on how to help persons with SUD manage anger. The literature reveals that various pharmaceutical and non-pharmacological approaches have been studied to help persons with SUD manage their anger. In chronic and lower risk situations non-pharmacological are the first line approaches, they include anger management training, cognitive-behavioral based treatments, exercising and relaxing, music therapy and empathy. Atypical antipsychotic and medications for opioid use disorders (MOUD) are also widely used. In acute and high risk of violen
... Show MorePlanning of cities show great attention on streets planning as one of the most structural component foundations for cities, that providing many functional needs and connect parts of the city each other, and work as a commercial and services activities centers. Instead of this highly focused on distributing streets with different streets types such as economical and trading and housing streets. This concerned was only on the dimensions and scales of different types of vehicles and their movement. When scale and dimension and movement of mans were as a second priority in designing and planning streets. Which came's first for traditional streets. The research try to submit some designs guides for planners that contribute in re conce
... Show MoreBiological drugs have an active substance that is made by a living organism or derived from a living organism. They are one of the important therapy options used in a wide range of diseases especially life-threatening diseases. Biological therapy opens new opportunities for treating different diseases for which drug therapy is minimal, but they have considerable differences in the safety consequences in comparison with non-biological drugs. The aim of the current study was to assess the post-marketing safety profile of biological drugs used in Iraqi hospitals by the analysis of the reported adverse drug reactions regarding their severity, seriousness, preventability, expectedness, and outcome. It is a retrospective study of the individu
... Show MoreThe problem of the paper focused on the role of the learning organization in the crisis management strategy, and the extent of the actual interest in both the learning organization and the crisis management and aimed at diagnosing and analyzing that and surrounding questions. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used to calculate the results and the correlation coefficient between the two main variables. The methodology was descriptive and analytical. The case study was followed by a questionnaire that was distributed to a sample of 31 teachers. The paper adopted a seven-dimensional model of systemic thinking that encourages questioning, empowerment, provision of advanced technologies, and strategic lea
... Show MoreIn the last decades, using mineral admixture in concrete became very necessary to improve concrete properties and reduce CO2 emissions associated with the cement production process. Subsequently, more sustainable concrete can be obtained. Ternary blended cement containing two different types of mineral admixture can achieve ambitious steps in this trend. In this research, the synergic effects of mineral admixtures in ternary blended cement and its effects on concrete fresh properties, strength, durability, and efficiency factors of mineral admixture in ternary blended cement, were reviewed. The main conclusion reached after reviewing many literature pieces is that the concrete with ternary blended cement
... Show MoreThe study aimed to build a suggested conception for employing gamification in teaching the general education curricula. Using the analytical method of the previous analytical studies in Teaching, which agreed with the determinants of the analysis of 20 studies from 2014 to 2019, they come on order: points, badges, leaderboards, and then levels. The four most commonly used theories are the theory of self-determination, flow theory, the theory of planned behavior and social theory. In addition, the researcher identified the most commonly used models in gamification, respectively: the ARCS model and the user-based design model. Based on the results of the analysis and using the descriptive approach, the researcher presented a practical perc
... Show MoreThere are many varied studies that dealt with the dramatic construction, especially books and studies that addressed drama in its construction and the method of writing it, that no textbook or a general cultural content is void of tackling the dramatic text in its construction and how the dramatic action develops in it. Therefore, a question occurs to the mind about the feasibility of dealing with the dramatic construction in this time, where many contemporary studies of dramatology and its relation and the contemporary critical directions are accumulating. This question many have two realistic aspects, yet the novelty and originality that this research shows lie in addressing a refined linguistic text in its style and connotations, such
... Show MoreCharacterization is commonly known in stylistics to be the cognitive process in the readers' minds when comprehending a fictional character in a literary work .In one approach, it is assumed that characters are the outcome of the interaction between the words in the text on the one hand and the contents of our heads on the other. This paper is an attempt to understand how characterization is achieved by applying Culpeper’s (2001) model which seems to be to present a method of analysis that is more objective and more systematic in analyzing characters. Two characters are selected for discussion; Ralph and Jack from Golding’s (1954) Lord of the Flies. The novel talks about the corruption of human beings and the capacity of evil th
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