Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic rheumatic inflammatory disease affecting mainly the spine and sacroiliac joints. Since the copper-to-zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) indicates an inflammatory response, the change in ratio is expected to correlate with axSpA. This study compared levels of Cu/Zn in the serum of axSpA patients. Serum samples were obtained from 53 patients with axSpA divided according to biological treatment into cohorts A and B, and 28 healthy control as cohort C. Serum levels of Cu and Zn were determined first by a fully automated chemistry analyzer TC-Matrix Plus, then the ratio was obtained. The elevated serum Cu concentration means of cohort B (189.32 ± 13.808 µg/dL) compared to cohort A (168.85 ± 7.244 µg/dL) and cohort C (155.68 ± 3.707 µg/dL) with 0.029 p-values. Reduced Zn concentration means of cohort B (79.74 ± 4.344 µg/dL) compared to cohort A (91.26 ± 4.159 µg/dL) and cohort C (100.93 ± 6.161 µg/dL) with 0.031 p-values. The Cu/Zn mean of cohort B was (2.54 ± 0.25) compared to the Cu/Zn mean of cohort A (1.968 ± 0.125) and cohort C (1.679 ± 0.104) with 0.002 p-values. Due to the results suggesting that the differences between cohorts were associated with inflammatory responses since there was a similar change in ESR levels; however, the differences between cohorts A and B are due to the anti-inflammatory therapy (TNF inhibitor) that cohort A was treated with. Keywords: Axial spondyloarthritis; copper-to-zinc ratio; copper; zinc; inflammation.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 primarily occurs through binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), which is abundantly expressed in various anatomical sites, including the nasopharynx, lungs, cardiovascular system, and gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts. This study aimed to nurses' knowledge and protective health behaviors about prevention of covid-19 pandemic complications.
A descriptive design stud
Hydrated lime has been recognized as an effective additive used to improve asphalt concrete properties in pavement applications. However, further work is still needed to quantify the effect of hydrated lime on asphaltic concrete performance under varied weather, temperature, and environmental conditions and in the application of different pavement courses. A research project was conducted using hydrated lime to modify the asphalt concretes used for the applications of wearing (surface), leveling (binder), and base courses. A previous publication reported the experimental study on the resistance to Marshall stability and the volumetric properties, the resilient modulus, and permanent deformation at three different weather temperatures. This
... Show MoreExpanded use of antibiotics may increase the ability of pathogenic bacteria to develop antimicrobial resistance. Greater attention must be paid to applying more sustainable techniques for treating wastewater contaminated with antibiotics. Semiconductor photocatalytic processes have proven to be the most effective methods for the degradation of antibiotics. Thus, constructing durable and highly active photocatalytic hybrid materials for the photodegradation of antibiotic pollutants is challenging. Herein, FeTiO3/Fe-doped g-C3N4 (FTO/FCN) heterojunctions were designed with different FTO to FCN ratios by matching the energy level of semiconductors, thereby developing effective direct Z-type heterojunctions. The photodegradation behaviors of th
... Show MoreBiological activity of the carotenoids which are produced fromchemically-mutaed local isolate of Rhodotorula mucilaginosawas studied. The results showed variation of inhibition activity of caritenoids against different types of pathogenic bacteria include, Staph aureus, E. coli, B. subtilis and Salmo. typh., the number declined from 2×107cell/ml to 2×104, 5×104, 2×105, 9×105 cell/ml respectively after 24hour. The produced carotenoids from alocal mutant Rhodotorula mucilaginosa revealed an antioxidant activity as free radical removal of 85.6%. Carotinoides revealed a highest stability in petroleum ether solvent for 30 days at room temperature. It found that the pigment was more stability in sesame oil compared with sun flower and coc
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Naproxen(NPX) imprinted liquid electrodes of polymers are built using polymerization precipitation. The molecularly imprinted (MIP) and non imprinted (NIP) polymers were synthesized using NPX as a template. In the polymerization precipitation involved, styrene(STY) was used as monomer, N,N-methylenediacrylamide (N,N-MDAM) as a cross-linker and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as an initiator. The molecularly imprinted membranes and the non-imprinted membranes were prepared using acetophenone(AOPH) and di octylphathalate(DOP)as plasticizers in PVC matrix. The slopes and detection limits of the liquid electrodes ranged from)-18.1,-17.72 (mV/decade and )4.0 x 10-
... Show MoreThis research is devoted to investigating the thermal buckling analysis behaviour of laminated composite plates subjected to uniform and non-uniform temperature fields by applying an analytical model based on a refined plate theory (RPT) with five unknown independent variables. The theory accounts for the parabolic distribution of the transverse shear strains through the plate thickness and satisfies the zero-traction boundary condition on the surface without using shear correction factors; hence a shear correction factor is not required. The governing differential equations and associated boundary conditions are derived by using the virtual work principle and solved via Navier-type analytical procedure to obtain critica
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