Background: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory, systemic rheumatic condition that mostly affects the axial skeleton. Tenascin-C (TN-C) is a hexameric glycoprotein of considerable size, upregulated in many inflammatory conditions, while Interleukin-17 (IL-17) a cytokine that plays an important role in SpA symptoms. Objective: to investigate the upregulation between the serum levels of TN-C and IL-17 in Iraqi axSpA patients and the disease characteristics. Patients and Methods: Seventy-four axSpA patients and 28 matched controls were studied. Fifty-four patients received a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) and 20 did not. Serum TN-C and IL-17 concentrations were determined using the ELISA technique. The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) was assessed. For statistical tests, Chi Square, Mann Whitney, Independent Samples T, and Pearson's correlation tests are used. Results: Patients mean age was 35.6±0.9 years, 65 males and 9 females, and disease duration was 5.18±0.6 years. 47.4% were smokers, 47% had inflammatory low back pain, and HLA-B27 was present in 91%. BASDAI mean was 6.1±0.4 in non-TNFi and 2.6±0.3 in those on TNFi. The serum TN-C concentration was significantly increased in patients, especially those on non-TNFi (79±9.6 pg/mL) compared to those on TNFi (69.1±3.2 pg/mL) and control (53±3.9 pg/mL) (p=0.003). Serum IL-17 was significantly elevated in those receiving TNFi (877.9±257 pg/mL) compared to non-TNFi (487.2±234 pg/mL) and control (182.4±36.6 pg/mL) (p=0.033). The TN-C significantly correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r=0.27, p=0.02) and with hemoglobin (Hb) concentration (r=0.26, p=0.02). TN-C and IL-17 were non-significantly related (r=0.14, p=0.2). Conclusions: axSpA Patients demonstrated high levels of serum TN-C, particularly in those not receiving TNFi, and high IL-17 levels in those receiving TNFi, suggesting that there is an association with tissue injury from the disease and stimulation of immunological and resident tissue cells. Patients who had not received TNFi showed significantly higher disease activity than others.
Thermal management has grown more and more problematic as electronic components continue to get faster and smaller. One of the passive two-phase cooling systems are Oscillating heat pipe (OHP) that have the capacity to transmit a significant quantity of thermal energy across long distances. Oscillating heat pipe is a device that has the potential to satisfy this developing requirement. An investigation into the effects of orientation, filling ratio, and heat load on the initiation and characteristics of oscillatory motion, combining numerical simulations with experimental validation. A copper tube with a 2 mm inner diameter and a 2 mm wall thickness is used to fabricate the OHP. The condenser, evaporator, and adiabatic sections are
... Show MoreBackground: Oral Lichen Planus is a chronic inflammatory mucosal disease, presenting in various clinical forms .Both antigen-specific and non-specific mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of OLP. Apoptosis or programmed-cell death is a physiological process essential for the normal development and maintenance of homeostasis in many organisms. Fas is a cell-surface glycoprotein, 40-kDa, that belongs to the nerve growth factor / tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family. Fas is expressed in several tissues including blood, where its expression is upregulated on activated T and B lymphocytes and natural killer cells. Fas ligand is a type II transmembrane protein that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor family. The proto-oncogene c-Myc is
... Show MoreBackground: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease with unknown aetiology that may be associated with the defect in proliferation and differentiation of the keratinocytes related to inflammatory cell infiltration. According to published reports, it is universal in occurrence; its prevalence in different populations varies from 0.1% to 11.8%. Receiving Apremilast resulted in a strong reduction in interleukin 17 and interleukin 23, as well as reduced expression of other inflammatory cytokines and improvement of psoriatic lesions. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the impact of Apremilast on levels of IL-17, IL-23, and lipids in obese psoriatic patients. Methods: Thirty obese patients with psoriasis were included in
... Show MoreThe objective review is to inspect the involvement of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to highlight the role of IL-6 and its variants in the pathogenesis of RA and response to anti-IL-6 agents. Several genetic and environmental risk factors and infectious agents contributed to the development of RA. Interleukin-6 is engaged in self-targeted immunity by modifying the equilibrium between T regulatory (T-reg) and T helper-17 (Th-17) cells. The evidences reported that IL-6 parti
Background: Smoking is the major environmental risk factor that has been associated with the pathogenesis and progression of periodontal diseases. Interleukin-8 (IL-8), has been associated with the immunopathology of periodontitis. Objectives: To determine the influence of smoking on salivary Interleukin-8 level from smokers and non-smokers with periodontitis and periodontally healthy control subjects.
Materials and Methods: Un-stimulated saliva samples were collected of 90 participants: 30 smokers and 30 non-smokers with chronic periodontitis, as well as 30 periodontally healthy control subjects. The clinical parameters such as the pocket depth, clinical attachment loss, plaque index, and gingiv
... Show MoreToxoplasmosis is regarded as one of the most important global life-threatening diseases in immune-compromised people. The intracellular protozoon Toxoplasma gondii is the causative pathogen of toxoplasmosis. Aim of this study is to investigate the possible association between T. gondii infection and breast cancer (BC) in Iraqi women, also to assess the effect of T. gondiion interleukin 10 (IL-10) of the immune response. By ELISA method, blood samples from 81 women with breast cancer and 60 apparently healthy women have been examined for presence of anti-toxoplasmaantibodies, also the levels of serum IL-10 were estimated in these subjects. Results showed that women with BC had the highest prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis. The anti- T.gondii
... Show MoreAbstract
The aim of this work is to create a power control system for wind turbines based on fuzzy logic. Three power control loop was considered including: changing the pitch angle of the blade, changing the length of the blade and turning the nacelle. The stochastic law was given for changes and instant inaccurate assessment of wind conditions changes. Two different algorithms were used for fuzzy inference in the control loop, the Mamdani and Larsen algorithms. These two different algorithms are materialized and developed in this study in Matlab-Fuzzy logic toolbox which has been practically implemented using necessary intelligent control system in electrical engineerin
... Show MoreThis study aimed at investigating the level of social skills and its relationship with self-regulation among gifted students according to the academic stage and gender. The sample consisted of (417) male and female students at King Abdullah II School for Excellence in Salt, Jordan. Two instruments were used to collect the data; A scale of social skills and a scale of self-regulation. The results revealed that the level of social skills was high among gifted students. There were statistically significant differences in the social skills among gifted students according to their academic stage in favor of the secondary stage and according to their gender in favor of female students. There were statistically signific
... Show MoreThe research is aimed at investigating how the New York Times framed the war against ISIS in its news coverage and which news sources it adopted while reporting on this war.
The research could be classified under descriptive researches. The survey methodology has been adopted and the content analysis has been used. The research sample consists of all the news stories the New York Times have published about the war against ISIS from 10/17/2016 to 4/16/2017 according to the comprehensive sampling method. The number of news stories that were analyzed was (155) news story. The research tool was (coding scheme).
The research has reached the following conclusions:
1. In its news coverage of the war against ISIS, the New York T