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.
Celiac disease (CD) is the most common genetically - based disease in correlation with food intolerance. The aim of this study is to measure the activity of ALT enzyme and purify enzyme from sera women with celiac disease. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity has been assayed in (30) women serum samples with celiac disease, age range between (20-40) year and (30) serum of healthy women as control group, age range between (22-38) year. In the present study, the mean value of ALT activity was significantly higher in patients with celiac disease than healthy group (p<0.01). The ALT enzyme was partial purified from sera women with celiac disease by dialysis, gel filtration using Sephadex G- 50 and ion exchange chromatography using DEAE- cell
... Show MoreIn the present study, the effects of brake pad particles of lung and liver histological sections were evaluated for (60) adult male mice. The animals were divided into three groups ( A,B,C) according to the periods of exposure (4, 8, and 12) weeks respectively exposed to brake pad particles in addition to the control groups (F) exposed to fresh air only. A special inhalation chamber designed locally has been used to expose the animals. The exposure to brake pad particles was (2.228) µg/m³ for 30 min/day, 5 days/week for (4,8and12) weeks respectively.
The examination in group (A) of the histological sections of the lung showed the thickness of interalveolar septa. Also, a congestion of alveolar capillary was marked indicat
... Show MoreThe present study aimed to investigate the morphological description and histological structure of Gallbladder in the adult local chicken bird. The morphological description and histological structure of the Gallbladder in the local chicken Gallus gallus domesticus found in the form of a cystic, spindle or pear-shaped, dark green color, located within the visceral abdominal side of the right lobe of the liver, histologically it was found that its wall consisted of three tunicae. The first tunica is mucosa which consists of an epithelial lining layer and lamina propria layer, while the muscularis mucosa was missing. The second tunica is musclaris, which is composed of smooth circularly arranged muscle fibers, and the third tunica is serosa o
... Show MoreThis paper considers and proposes new estimators that depend on the sample and on prior information in the case that they either are equally or are not equally important in the model. The prior information is described as linear stochastic restrictions. We study the properties and the performances of these estimators compared to other common estimators using the mean squared error as a criterion for the goodness of fit. A numerical example and a simulation study are proposed to explain the performance of the estimators.
This study was conducted to identify the health status of children's nurseries in the city of Baghdad and to identify improper dietary habits practiced by these children have shown the results of this study that the same proportion of childhood diarrhea disease research and infections
A simple, accurate and sensitive spectrophotometric way is used to determine Bisacodyl in pure and pharmaceutical preparations. The proposed method depends on using 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine as chromogenic reagent . The method was based on the oxidative coupling reaction of Bisacodyl with 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine with Sodium periodate in the presence of sodium hydroxide as alkaline media to form red water soluble dye product , that has a maximum absorption at ?max 522nm . Beer ,s law is obeyed in the concentration of (2.00–20.00) ?g.ml -1 .The molar absorptivity is (6505) L.mol-1.cm-1,a sandall sensitivity of(0.0555) ?g.cm-2), correlation coefficient of (0.9970) , Limitof detection (LOD) (0.0312 ?g.ml-1), limit of Quantitation (LOQ) (
... Show MoreIn this paper, two meshless methods have been introduced to solve some nonlinear problems arising in engineering and applied sciences. These two methods include the operational matrix Bernstein polynomials and the operational matrix with Chebyshev polynomials. They provide an approximate solution by converting the nonlinear differential equation into a system of nonlinear algebraic equations, which is solved by using
Currently, there is an intensive development of bipedal walking robots. The most known solutions are based on the use of the principles of human gait created in nature during evolution. Modernbipedal robots are also based on the locomotion manners of birds. This review presents the current state of the art of bipedal walking robots based on natural bipedal movements (human and bird) as well as on innovative synthetic solutions. Firstly, an overview of the scientific analysis of human gait is provided as a basis for the design of bipedal robots. The full human gait cycle that consists of two main phases is analysed and the attention is paid to the problem of balance and stability, especially in the single support phase when the biped
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