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.
Most pathological effects of lead on the body are due to ability of lead to bind with important cellular molecules of various tissues and organs leading to formation abnormal molecules and thus to emergence of pathological conditions. To evaluation the risk to the health status of Iraqi workers who work in the batteries industry, expression of three types of calmodulin related genes were examined. Blood samples were collected from worker working in Iraqi industry of batteries (located in Al-Waziriya), then RNAs extraction were done thereby gene expression for Calcium/Calmodulin- dependent protein kinase2 (CaMKK2), C-X-C Chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and mitogen activated protein kinase kinase 6 (MAP2K6) was done for each sample by using RT-q
... Show MoreThe research aims to know the influence of the intellectual capital on the internal control system in a sample of General Inspection Offices in Iraq. The research includes a sample of individuals who are working in these offices total sample (46) individuals distributed according to functional levels (General Inspector, Deputy Inspector General, and Director) , The data and information were collected by using questionnaire, which is done for this purpose, as well as personal interviews in order to reach to the results that achieve the aim of this research , Two hypotheses were formed , the first hypothesis consists of (4) secondary hypothesis , All these hypotheses were tested by using statistical tools such as (percentages, freq
... Show MoreThe research aims to test the effect of the behavioral factors (intangible) represented by an explanatory variable represented by organizational silence and a responsive variable of quality of Function life. The problem was the negative effects of the organizational silence on the morale of the employees and consequently their performance and the quality of function life. To collect the data and information needed to measure the two variables of research conducted in the health center / Sulaikh by taking a sample of (40) employees to test the hypotheses of research through the survey of their views, using statistical tools non parametric using the program. The most important recommendations were the establishment of training workshops fo
... Show MoreConstitute a planning problem on the basis of personal experience and self-governance in the service organizations away from quantitative scientific method in planning an anchor and a platform, who made a recent research study, analysis and interpretation through scientific methodology adopted which formed its contents, The research aims to identify the true reality of production planning in service organizations, specifically in the Baghdad Hotel as a society to look, in order to assess the best strategy through the standard cost of the strategies of tracking and settlement to cope with developments on services demand changes, Search results confirmed that the settlement rates of production strategy is the best strategy in accordance wi
... Show MoreThe research attempts to diagnose the level of the effect of human resources flexibility (employees skills flexibility, employees behaviors flexibility, and human resource practice flexibility) in the south al-rusafa directorate of a power station one of the formations and the Ministry of Electricity, and impact of a range of variables related to the performance operational, namely, (efficiency, effectiveness)recognizing the importance of the subjects studied,& because of the importance of expected results of the field under consideration,researcher selected a sample of size (121) engineers and technicians of workers in the directorate. Was my hypotheses the major search of a relationship and impact between human resources flex
... Show MoreAccording to the importance of the subject of research, and the importance of the surveyed organization as a dynamic sector of the country in general , The research attempts to suggest to service organizations in general reconsidering the currently adopted mechanisms in the redesign of its functions , and in the services provided industry . The data was collected from (98) Director Mangers , head of department and head of division . The research tool is the questionnaire , which included (50) items . The results show Significant Effect & Correlation relationship between the two variables due to their dimensions . These lead to he application of job enrichment technology will increase the organization's ability to possess efficient hu
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This study aims to find the relationships between social capital (social network, social trust, shared goals) and knowledge sharing (knowledge Donating, knowledge collecting) as independent variables and their impact on improving the quality of educational services (academic staffs quality, Quality of teaching methods and study curriculums). This research is an important, because it attempts to identify the relationship between social capital and the knowledge sharing and their effect on improving the quality of educational service for universities. The study problem was determined in several questions related to the nature of the correlation relationship - the impact between the different independent variables (
... Show MoreA total of (25) stool samples were collected from children and adults (2- 4) years old suffering from diarrhea to isolate E. coli strains that produce heat-stable enterotoxin a (STa), and after performing microscopic examination, cultural characterization and biochemical identification only (11) isolates showed positive E. coli. STa activity was estimated by using suckling mouse assay (SMA) and from these (11) isolates only (5) showed STa activity and the one with the highest STa activity was selected for large scale production of STa, which was followed by partial purification using ion-exchange chromatography (normal phase) using DEAE sephadex A-50 column. After purification and determination of protein concentration by using the standard
... Show MoreThis work presents a design for a pressure swing adsorption process (PSA) to separate oxygen from air with approximately 95% purity, suitable for different numbers of columns and arrangements. The product refill PSA process was found to perform 33% better (weight of zeolite required or productivity) than the pressure equalization process. The design is based on the adsorption equilibrium of a binary mixture of O2 and N2 for two of the most commonly used adsorbents, 5A & 13X, and extension from a single column approach. Zeolite 13X was found to perform 6% better than zeolite 5A. The most effective variables were determined to be the adsorption step time and the operational pressure. Increasing the adsorption step
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