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.
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The research seeks to identify the role of the International Assurance Standard (3402) in the auditor's procedures, as the importance of the research stems from providing assurance services for control tools through reports that are prepared according to this standard, which contribute to strengthening audit procedures through a proposed assurance program. Many conclusions were reached, the most important of which The assurance operations are considered among the operations with a special assignme
... Show MoreThis research discussed and analyzed the formulation of a strategy to manage tax compliance risks, as an applied research in the General commission for Taxes. The questionnaire was used as a research tool to identify the factors that stimulate or retard the research sample from being compliant. The K-means clustering method was also used to enable the classification of the research sample's views into four behaviors, some of these views pose tax-compliance risks. The research concluded that risk management is a continuous process and that all departments of the General commission for Taxes are responsible for its implementation to enable them to deal with the behavior of the taxpayer towards tax compliance. And it recommended
... Show MoreThis present study demonstrated that liver was involved in 14 %of typhoid patients manifesting with hepatomegaly. Elevation of serum enzymes in typhoid fever was presumably of a muscular origin, while elevation of liver enzyme was relatively less common. This study was performed on 30 female patients diagnosed by ultrasound (US) of abdomen, with paratyphoid A, ranged between (20-40) years compared with 30 healthy control .Patients volunteers were treated with appropriate antibiotics for 14 days and investigations were repeated 2-3 week after completion of treatment. Patients had clinical and biochemical evidence of hepatic dysfunction. The spectrum of hepatic involvement included hepatomegaly , jaundice, derangement of various hepatic func
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This research seeks to test the influence of intellectual capital as an explanatory variable and its components (human capital, structural capital, relational capital) and sustainable competitive performance as a responsive variable and its components (reducing service delivery cycle time, rapid response to market demand, increasing customer satisfaction, providing better Quality of service, increasing market share)” through a field study, and here the research problem was diagnosed in an attempt to answer the following question: Is there awareness among the senior management within the private colle
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The research aims to identify the factors that affect the quality of the product by using the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) tool and to suggest measures to reduce the deviations or defects in the production process. I used the case study approach to reach its goals, and the air filter product line was chosen in the air filters factory of Al-Zawraa General Company. The research sample was due to the emergence of many defects of different impact and the continuing demand for the product. I collected data and information from the factory records for two years (2018-2019) and used a scheme Pareto Fishbone Diagram as well as an FMEA tool to analyze data and generate results.
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... Show MoreStatistical methods of forecasting have applied with the intention of constructing a model to predict the number of the old aged people in retirement homes in Iraq. They were based on the monthly data of old aged people in Baghdad and the governorates except for the Kurdistan region from 2016 to 2019. Using BoxJenkins methodology, the stationarity of the series was examined. The appropriate model order was determined, the parameters were estimated, the significance was tested, adequacy of the model was checked, and then the best model of prediction was used. The best model for forecasting according to criteria of (Normalized BIC, MAPE, RMSE) is ARIMA (0, 1, 2)
Rationale, aims and objectives: A review of studies published over the last six years gives update about this hot topic. In the middle of COVID-19 pandemic, this study findings can help understand how population may perceive vaccinations. The objectives of this study were to review the literature covering the perceptions about influenza vaccines and to determine factors influencing the acceptance of vaccination using Health Belief Model (HBM). Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed utilizing PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Three keywords were used: Influenza vaccine, perceptions, and Middle East. Empirical studies that dealt with people/ HCW perceptions of influenza vaccine in the Middle East and writt
... Show MoreThe investigation of machine learning techniques for addressing missing well-log data has garnered considerable interest recently, especially as the oil and gas sector pursues novel approaches to improve data interpretation and reservoir characterization. Conversely, for wells that have been in operation for several years, conventional measurement techniques frequently encounter challenges related to availability, including the lack of well-log data, cost considerations, and precision issues. This study's objective is to enhance reservoir characterization by automating well-log creation using machine-learning techniques. Among the methods are multi-resolution graph-based clustering and the similarity threshold method. By using cutti
... Show MoreA recent study compared experimentally the hydraulic and thermal activity of twisted tape inserts for two types, metal foam twisted tape (MFTT) and traditional twisted tape (TTT), in a double pipe heat exchanger. The investigation goal of the innovatively designed MFTT is to enhance the heat transfer process, which provides a higher thermal enhancement factor over those of TTT under the same conditions. Heat transfer activity in terms of Nusselt number (
The research study of the possibility of the application of the quality management system under the international standard ISO ISO9001: 2008 in the station project Rustumiya wastewater treatment of the Department of SEWER BAGHDAD - Baghdad MOREALITY as the first step in the right direction towards the implementation of total quality management (TQM), and the research Find the gap between the international standard and the quality system used in the organization surveyed through the use of checklists to analyze the gap, the checklist have included (191) items distributed on five basic requirements, according to the appearance in the international standard, namely, (quality management system, management responsibility, resource man
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