All major organs may be impacted by the connective disease systemic lupus erythematosus, a separate risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Adhesion molecules like intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecules (VCAM) can detect endothelial damage and dysfunction, which appear to play a crucial role. This study investigated whether people with SLE had elevated subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis risk factors. Traditional CAD risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia cannot entirely explain this elevation. It is thought that immunological dysfunction also increases CAD risk in SLE patients. The study aimed to assess early endothelial changes in SLE Iraqi female patients without previous coronary artery lesions by exploring a potential relationship between circulating VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 as risk factors for atherosclerosis and the relationship of CAD with SLE disease and its severity; further, the study explained the effect of the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on the lipid profile levels of the patients. 92 female SLE patients were divided into mild, moderate, and severe, according to the SLE disease activity index 2000 (SLEDAI-2k), compared with 30 apparently healthy control individuals. All of them need a history of CAD. Serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1 level, VCAM-1/ICAM1 ratio, TC, HDL, LDL levels TC/HDL and LDL/HDL ratios were measured. sVCAM-1, sICAM-1 levels and VCAM-1/ICAM-1 ratio were significantly and gradually increased in patient groups compared with control. Serum TC, HDL and LDL levels were significantly reduced in the SLE patients compared to the control. At the same time, the TC/HDL and LDL/HDL ratios were significantly elevated with the severity of the SLE disease. sVCAM-1, sICAM-1 level and VCAM1/ICAM-1 ratio together with serum TC/HDL and LDL/HDL may improve coronary artery disease risk categorization in SLE patients without acute coronary syndromes. Furthermore, they were more sensitive in severe SLE instances than in moderate and mild ones, suggesting that they may be related to the extent of coronary lesions in SLE patients. VCAM-1 had a higher sensitivity than ICAM-1 in detecting and severity screening for CAD in SLE patients. Keywords: VCAM-1, ICAM-1, SLE, Atherosclerosis
In this research, the focus was on estimating the parameters on (min- Gumbel distribution), using the maximum likelihood method and the Bayes method. The genetic algorithmmethod was employed in estimating the parameters of the maximum likelihood method as well as the Bayes method. The comparison was made using the mean error squares (MSE), where the best estimator is the one who has the least mean squared error. It was noted that the best estimator was (BLG_GE).
A low-cost reverse flow plasma system powered by argon gas pumping was built using homemade materials in this paper. The length of the resulting arc change was directly proportional to the flow rate, while using the thermal camera to examine the thermal intensity distribution and demonstrating that it is concentrated in the centre, away from the walls at various flow rates, the resulting arc's spectra were also measured. The results show that as the gas flow rate increased, so did the ambient temperature. The results show that the medium containing the arc has a maximum temperature of 34.1 ˚C at a flow rate of 14 L/min and a minimum temperature of 22.6 ˚C at a flow rate of 6 L/min.
The effect of heat treatment using different annealing temperatures on optical properties of bulk heterojunction blend (BHJ) Alq3: C60 thin films which are fabricated by the spin coating technique were investigated in this study. The films have been coated on a glass substrate with speed of 2000 rpm for one min and treated with different annealing temperature (373, 423 and 473) K under vacuum. The optical properties and the chemical bonds structure of blends as-deposited and heat treated have been studied by UV-Vis spectroscopic and Fourier Transform-Infra Red (FTIR) measurements respectively. The results of UV visible show that the optical energy gap decreasing with increasing the annealing temperature for the ratio (100:1) while decrea
... Show MoreThe issue of increasing the range covered by a wireless sensor network with restricted sensors is addressed utilizing improved CS employing the PSO algorithm and opposition-based learning (ICS-PSO-OBL). At first, the iteration is carried out by updating the old solution dimension by dimension to achieve independent updating across the dimensions in the high-dimensional optimization problem. The PSO operator is then incorporated to lessen the preference random walk stage's imbalance between exploration and exploitation ability. Exceptional individuals are selected from the population using OBL to boost the chance of finding the optimal solution based on the fitness value. The ICS-PSO-OBL is used to maximize coverage in WSN by converting r
... Show MoreFor more than a decade, externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites successfully utilized in retrofitting reinforced concrete structural elements. The function of CFRP reinforcement in increasing the ductility of reinforced concrete (RC) beam is essential in such members. Flexural and shear behaviors, ductility, and confinement were the main studied properties that used the CFRP as a strengthening material. However, limited attention has been paid to investigate the energy absorption of torsion strengthening of concrete members, especially two-span concrete beams. Hence, the target of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of CFRP-strengthening technique with regard to energy absorption of two-span RC
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