Introduction and Aim: The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-39, a member of the IL-12 family plays a key role in the inflammatory response by modulating immune cell activity and inflammation. A literature search shows no study undertaken for the effect of IL-39's on arthritis so far. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of IL-39 in rheumatoid arthritis. Materials and Methods: This study involved 80 patients with rheumatoid arthritis registered at the Rheumatology Clinic at Baghdad teaching hospital. The patients were divided into three groups based on treatments received. Group 1 included patients who were not on any treatment for arthritis, Group 2 with patients on hydroxychloroquine and or prednisone treatment, and Group 3 that received Enbrel® (etanercept) and HUMIRA® (adalimumab) treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. A control group was included in the study. Patients in all groups were assessed for their serum IL-39 concentration, C - reactive protein, Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACCP) and ESR. Results: The patient age and BMI were not significantly different between the groups receiving treatment for Rheumatoid arthritis. A significant increase in the interleukin 39 concentration was observed in treatment groups (G1, G2, G3) as compared to normal healthy controls regardless of whether they were positive or negative for the anti-CCP test. Conclusion: This study showed that the serum interleukin IL-39 levels significantly increased in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis thus suggesting that IL-39 could be considered as a potential inflammatory biomarker of RA.
Background: The incidence of oral cancers is increasing all over the world. Early detection ofthis important public health matter makes them more amenable to treatment and allows the greatest chance of cure.The aim of this study was to investigate the awareness and knowledge on oral cancer among final -year dental students in Iraq. Materials and methods: Questionnaires were delivered to 160 final–year dental students in the College of Dentistry in Baghdad. The questionnaire focused on the awareness/knowledge of oral cancer, earlyand common clinical signs and symptoms andassociated risk factors. Results: It was found that 87% of students were aware of oral cancer. The followings were recognized as signs and symptoms of oral cancer: persis
... Show MoreThe purpose of this paper is to model and forecast the white oil during the period (2012-2019) using volatility GARCH-class. After showing that squared returns of white oil have a significant long memory in the volatility, the return series based on fractional GARCH models are estimated and forecasted for the mean and volatility by quasi maximum likelihood QML as a traditional method. While the competition includes machine learning approaches using Support Vector Regression (SVR). Results showed that the best appropriate model among many other models to forecast the volatility, depending on the lowest value of Akaike information criterion and Schwartz information criterion, also the parameters must be significant. In addition, the residuals
... Show MoreBackground: Ear infections can manifest in many forms depending on site of infection whether external, middle or internal ear and the culprit pathogen whether viral, bacterial or fungal. Acute middle ear infections are usually accompanied by aural discharge. Objective: 1. To get an overview on the bacterial pathogens involved in ear infections. 2. To assess the antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted in Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital / Baghdad /Iraq. Swabs taken from 225 patients suffering from aural discharge were tested for culture and sensitivity for the duration of two years 2018-2019. Aural discharge is cultured by inoculating it into blood, MacConkey agar, chocolate agars and Sabou
... Show MoreThe importance of Baghdad city as the capital of Iraq and the center of the attention of delegations because of its long history is essential to preserve its environment. This is achieved through the integrated management of municipal solid waste since this is only possible by knowing the quantities produced by the population on a daily basis. This study focused to predicate the amount of municipal solid waste generated in Karkh and Rusafa separately, in addition to the quantity produced in Baghdad, using IBM SPSS 23 software. Results that showed the average generation rates of domestic solid waste in Rusafa side was higher than that of Al-Karkh side because Rusafa side has higher population density than Al-Karkh side. T
... Show More Purpose - The study aimed at evaluating the accounting system of the Iraqi political parties, which is applied according to legislative texts, and then the ability to provide accounting information to evaluate the strategic performance and control of the party's operational and financial performance.
Findings- The research found that the unified accounting system applied to political parties does not provide relevance informations to judge the performance of the political party, the researcher a proposal for an accounting system that provides the necessary information to measure and monitor the performance of Iraqi political parties can be presented. The
Visualization of subsurface geology is mainly considered as the framework of the required structure to provide distribution of petrophysical properties. The geological model helps to understand the behavior of the fluid flow in the porous media that is affected by heterogeneity of the reservoir and helps in calculating the initial oil in place as well as selecting accurate new well location. In this study, a geological model is built for Qaiyarah field, tertiary reservoir, relying on well data from 48 wells, including the location of wells, formation tops and contour map. The structural model is constructed for the tertiary reservoir, which is an asymmetrical anticline consisting of two domes separated by a saddle. It is found that
... Show MoreABSTRACT
The simulation of groundwater movement has been carried out by using MODFLOW model
in order to show the impact of change of water surface elevation of the Tigris river on layers of
the aquifer system for Nuclear Research Center at Al-Tuwaitha area, in addition to evaluate the
ability of the proposed pumping well to collect groundwater and change the direction of flow at
steady-state. The results of the study indicated that there is a good match between the values of
groundwater levels that calculated in the model and measured in the field, where mean error is
0.09 m.
The study also showed that the increasing of water surface elevation of the
ABSTRACT Two females of the red-back spider, Latrodectus scelio Thorell, 1870 were first recorded in Iraq, short description with figure was provided
Engineering equipment is essential part in the construction project and usually manufactured with long lead times, large costs and special engineering requirements. Construction manager targets that equipment to be delivered in the site need date with the right quantity, appropriate cost and required quality, and this entails an efficient supplier can satisfy these targets. Selection of engineering equipment supplier is a crucial managerial process .it requires evaluation of multiple suppliers according to multiple criteria. This process is usually performed manually and based on just limited evaluation criteria, so better alternatives may be neglected. Three stages of survey comprised number of public a
... Show MoreExploration activities of the oil and gas industry generate loads of formation water called produced water (PW) up to thousands of tons each day. Depending on the geographic area, formation depth, oil production techniques, and age of oil supply wells, PW from different oil fields contain different chemical compositions. Currently, PW is also known as industrial waste water containing heavy metals that are toxic to humans and the environment, requiring special processing so that they can be disposed of in the environment. To determine the heavy metals content in PW from the Al-Ahdab oil field (AOF), the Ministry of Science and Technology/Agricultural Research Department determined som