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.
Accurate and simple techniques for measurement of fluid rheological properties are important for field operations in the oil industry. Marsh Funnels are popular qualitycontrol tools used in the field for drilling fluids and they offer a simple, practical alternative to viscosity measurement. In the normal measurements, a single point (drainage time) is used to determine an average viscosity; little additional information is extracted regarding the non-Newtonian behavior of the fluid. Here, a new model is developed and used to determine the rheological properties of drilling muds and other non-Newtonian fluids using data of fluid density and drainage time collected from a Marsh Funnel as a function of viscosity. The funnel results for viscos
... Show MoreThe bauxite produced from Al-Ga 'ara area in Al-Enbar containing 50.4 wt. percentages Al2O3 was used for a- alumina production.
For α-alumina pro
... Show MoreThis investigation was carried out to study the treatment and recycling of wastewater in the cotton textile industry for an effluent containing three dyes: direct blue, sulphur black and vat yellow. The reuse of such effluent can only be made possible by appropriate treatment method such as chemical coagulation. Ferrous and ferric sulphate with and without calcium hydroxide were employed in this study as the chemical coagulants.
The results showed that the percentage removal of direct blue ranged between 91.4 and 94 , for sulphur black ranged between 98.7 and 99.5 while for vat yellow it was between 97 and 99.
Diyala Governorate was exposed recently to high flood waves discharged from Hemrin Dam to Diyala River when the dam reached its full capacity. The recently recorded discharge capacity of Diyala River was reduced to just 750m3/s. This exposes cities and villages along the Diyala River to flood risk when discharging the flood waves, which may reach 3000 m3/s. It is important to manage, suggest, and design flood escapes to discharge the flood waves from Hemrin Dam away from Diyala River. This escape branches from Hemrin Lake towards Ashweicha Marsh. One dimensional hydraulic model was developed to simulate the flow within the escape by using HEC-RAS software. Eighty-two cross-sections were ext
... Show MoreBioethanol production from sugar fermentation is one of the most sustainable alternatives to substitute fossil fuel. production of bioethanol from low grade dates which are rich of sugars. An available sugar from a second grade dates (reduction sugar) was 90g/l in this study. Sugar can be served as essential carbon sources for yeast growth in aerobic condition and can also be converted to bioethanol in anaerobic condition. The effect of various parameters on bioethanol production, fermentation time, pH-values, inoculum size and initial sugar concentration were varied in order to determine the optimal of bioethanol production. The highest bioethanol yield was 33g/l which was obtained with sugar concentration 90 g/l, inocu
... Show MoreOwing to their remarkable characteristics, refractory molybdenum nitride (MoNx)-based compounds have been deployed in a wide range of strategic industrial applications. This review reports the electronic and structural properties that render MoNx materials as potent catalytic surfaces for numerous chemical reactions and surveys the syntheses, procedures, and catalytic applications in pertinent industries such as the petroleum industry. In particular, hydrogenation, hydrodesulfurization, and hydrodeoxygenation are essential processes in the refinement of oil segments and their conversions into commodity fuels and platform chemicals. N-vacant sites over a catalyst’s surface are a significant driver of diverse chemical phenomena. Studies on
... Show MoreDifferent frequency distributions models were fitted to the monthly data of raw water Turbidity at water treatment plants (WTPs) along Tigris River in Baghdad. Eight water treatment plants in Baghdad were selected, with raw water turbidity data for the period (2008-2014). The frequency distribution models used in this study are the Normal, Log-normal, Weibull, Exponential and two parameters Gamma type. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the goodness of fit. The data for years (2008-2011) were used for building the models. The best fitted distributions were Log-Normal (LN) for Al-Karkh, Al-Wathbah, Al-Qadisiya, Al- Dawrah and, Al-Rashid WTPs. Gamma distribution fitted well for East Tigris and Al-Karamah WTPs. As for Al-
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to highlight the relationship between competitive intelligence and Entrepreneurial Performance by centralizing the strategic vigilance of a sample of civil faculties in Baghdad. The sample of the study was targeted at 10 Iraqi civil colleges, which consisted of (133) members of the faculty council of the faculties, the search data was collected using the questionnaire form as the main research tool. The results showed that the correlation and influence of competitive intelligence and strategic vigilance in the Entrepreneurial Performance, as well as the role of strategic vigilance as an intermediate variable between competitive intelligence and Entrepreneurial Performance.