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.
The purpose of this study to synthesize and characterize silver nanoparticles using phenolic compounds obtained from Camellia sinensis, to test the antibacterial properties of biosynthesized nanoparticles on the formation of biofilms in multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ten isolates of P. aeruginosa were obtained from the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Institute laboratories of the University of Baghdad. By using the VITEK-2 system and culturing the isolates on cetrimide agar, the diagnosis was confirmed. Camellia sinensis silver nanoparticles (CAgNPs) were created using an extract of the plant's aqueous and methanolic leaves. Based on the results of the nanoparticle synthesis, spherical nanoparticles that may be single or
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was to evaluate ovarian masses with conventional grey scale ultrasonography and colour Doppler flow imaging and to assess the diagnostic reliability of these methods in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian masses.
We assessed 56 patients with an ovarian mass. Morphological characterisation of the mass was performed utilising the Sassone score. Colour Doppler parameters were recorded for each patient, and the Caruso vascular score was also applied. The results were compared with surgical/pathological and/or follow-up scans.
Using the Sassone score, overall reliability in differentiating ovaria
P. aeruginosa is one of the complex targets for antimicrobial chemotherapy. Also, it is intrinsically resistant to several antibiotics. It produces β-lactamases enzymes that are responsible for the widespread β-lactam antimicrobial resistance. There are three major groups of β-lactamase enzymes, MBLs and ESBLs forming Pseudomonas is a major issue for the treatment of burns victims. Methods: A total of 28 clinical isolates related to P. aeruginosa have been obtained from the burns specimens from patients attending to AL-Imam hospital/Baghdad-Iraq, through the period from October 2015 to March 2016. Also, all isolates have been recognized as P. aeruginosa via utilizing bacteriological assay and confirmed by Vitek 2. In addition, the suscep
... Show MorePathogenic microorganisms from hospitals, communities, and the environment remain great threats to human health. The increasing concern about antibiotic resistance has also necessitated the search for robust alternatives. Therefore, this study aims to isolate, screen and evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from a soil sample taken from northern, western and eastern parts of Kelana Jaya Lake against four antibiotics (gentamycin, tetracycline, ampicillin, and penicillin) on a Mueller-Hinton Agar media plate. Pseudomonas identification was done by using API 20 kit. Disc diffusion was employed as well as the oxidase test. From the positive oxidase result, the isolated bacteria were identified as Burkhold
... Show MoreAbstract Background: Multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDR) often contaminate hospital environment and cause serious illnesses. Quorum Sensing (QS) regulates a variety of downstream cellular processes, including antibiotics resistance mechanisms and biofilm formation, and causes harm to the host. This study investigates antibacterial susceptibility and biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria in hospital environment. Methods: Hundred bacterial isolates were collected from various environments in the Medical City hospital. The antimicrobial susceptibility technique was evaluated through disk diffusion method. Next, biofilms formation was detected by the microliter plate assay. Finally, PCR was used to analyze the frequency of QS system gene
... Show MoreThe calculation. of the nuclear. charge. density. distributions. ρ(r) and root. mean. square. radius.( RMS ) by elastic. electron. scattering. of medium. mass. nuclei. such. as (90Zr, 92Mo) based. on the model. of the modified. shell. and the use of the probability. of occupation. on the surface. orbits. of level 2p, 2s eroding. shells. and 1g gaining. shells. The occupation probabilities of these states differ noticeably from the predictions of the SSM. We have found. an improvement. in the determination. of ground. charge. density. and this improvement. allow. more precise. identification. of (CDD) between. (92Mo- 90Zr) to illustrate the influence of the extra
... Show MoreThis article aims to determine the time-dependent heat coefficient together with the temperature solution for a type of semi-linear time-fractional inverse source problem by applying a method based on the finite difference scheme and Tikhonov regularization. An unconditionally stable implicit finite difference scheme is used as a direct (forward) solver. While by the MATLAB routine lsqnonlin from the optimization toolbox, the inverse problem is reformulated as nonlinear least square minimization and solved efficiently. Since the problem is generally incorrect or ill-posed that means any error inclusion in the input data will produce a large error in the output data. Therefore, the Tikhonov regularization technique is applie
... Show MoreIn this study, iron oxide nanoparticles (α-Fe₂O₃ NPs) were prepared using a readily available chili pepper plant extract from local markets. This study aims to evaluate the magnetic properties of α-Fe₂O₃ prepared in green chemistry from Capsicum plant extract. After several simple preparatory steps, such as washing and cutting, they were treated with an inorganic complex (potassium hexacyanoferrate) (K3[Fe(CN)₆]). In the first analytical step, the in vitro detection of the plant extract solution after reaction with the potassium hexacyanoferrate (III) complex revealed characteristic adsorption bands of the cyanide group, which disappeared upon complexation. The iron oxide NPs were characterized using various methods, including X
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