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 potential application of granules of brick waste (GBW) as a low-cost sorbent for removal of Ni+2ions from aqueous solutions has been studied. The properties of GBW were determined through several tests such as X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and BET surface area. In batch tests, the influence of several operating parameters including contact time, initial concentration, agitation speed, and the dose of GBW was investigated. The best values of these parameters that provided maximum removal efficiency of nickel (39.4%) were 1.5 hr, 50 mg/L, 250 rpm, and 1.8 g/100mL, respectively. The adsorption data obtained by batch experiments subjected to the Three i
... Show MoreThe present study investigated the impact of fuel kind on the emitted emissions at the idling period. Three types of available fuels in Iraq were tested. The tests conducted on ordinary gasoline with an octane number of 82, premium gasoline with an octane number of 92, and M20 (consist of 20% methanol and 80% regular gasoline). The 2 liters Mercedes-Benz engine was used in the experiments.
The results showed that engine operation at idle speed emits high levels of CO, CO2, HC, NOx and noise. The produced emission levels depend highly on fuel type. The premium gasoline (ON=92) represents the lower emissions level except for noise at all idling speed. Adding methanol to ordinary gasoline (ON=82) showed high levels of emi
... Show MoreThe removal of turbidity from produced water by chemical coagulation/flocculation method using locally available coagulants was investigated. Aluminum sulfate (alum) is selected as a primary coagulant, while calcium hydroxide (lime) is used as a coagulant aid. The performance of these coagulants was studied through jar test by comparing turbidity removal at different coagulant/ coagulants aid ratio, coagulant dose, water pH, and sedimentation time. In addition, an attempt has been made to examine the relationship between turbidity (NTU) and total suspended solids (mg/L) on the same samples of produced water. The best conditions for turbidity removal can be obtained at 75% alum+25% lime coagulant at coagulant dose of 80 m
... Show MoreThe faujasite type Y zeolite catalyst was prepared from locally available kaolin. For prepared faujasite type NaY zeolite X-ray, FT-IR, BET pore volume and surface area, and silica/ alumina were determined. The Xray and FT-IR show the compatibility of prepared catalyst with the general structure of standard zeolite Y. BET test shows that the surface area and pore volume of prepared catalyst were 360 m2 /g and 0.39 cm3 /g respectively.
The prepared faujasite type NaY zeolite modified by exchanging sodium ion with ammonium ion using ammonium nitrate and then ammonium ion converted to hydrogen ion. The maximum sodium ion exchange with ammonium ion was 53.6%. The catalytic activity of prepared faujasite type NaY, NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolites
This study focused on treatment of real wastewater rejected from leather industry in Al-Nahrawan city in Iraq by Electrocoagulation (EC) process followed by Reverse Osmosis (RO) process. The successive treatment was applied due to high concentration of Cr3+ ions (about 1600 ppm) rejected in wastewater of this industry and for applying EC with moderate power consumption and better results of produced water. In Electrocoagulation process (EC), the effect of NaCl concentration (1.5, 3 g/l), current density (C.D.) (15-25 mA/cm2), electrolysis time (1-2 h), and distance between electrodes (E.D.) (1-2 cm) were examined in a batch cell by implementing Taguchi experimental design. According to the results obtained from multiple regression and signa
... Show Morehe effect of different cultural conditions on production of bioemulsifier from Serratia marcescens S10 was determined; different carbon and nitrogen sources were used such as: different oils include: edible (vegetable) oils (olive oil, sesame oil, sun flower oil and corn oil) and heavy oils (oil 150, oil 60, oil 40) as carbon sources and (NH4Cl, casein, (NH4)2SO4, peptone, tryptone, gelatin and yeast extract) as nitrogen sources were added to production media. Bioemulsifier was estimated by measuring the surface tension (S.T), emulsification activity (E.A) and emulsification index (E24%). The best results of bioemulsifier production from Serratia marcescens S10 were obtained at pH8 and incubated at 37ºC for 5days, using sesame oil
... Show MoreThis paper investigated the treatment of textile wastewater polluted with aniline blue (AB) by electrocoagulation process using stainless steel mesh electrodes with a horizontal arrangement. The experimental design involved the application of the response surface methodology (RSM) to find the mathematical model, by adjusting the current density (4-20 mA/cm2), distance between electrodes (0.5-3 cm), salt concentration (50-600 mg/l), initial dye concentration (50-250 mg/l), pH value (2-12 ) and experimental time (5-20 min). The results showed that time is the most important parameter affecting the performance of the electrocoagulation system. Maximum removal efficiency (96 %) was obtained at a current density of 20 mA/cm2, distance be
... Show MoreIn developing countries, conventional physico-chemical methods are commonly used for removing contaminants. These methods are not efficient and very costly. However, new in site strategy with high treatment efficiency and low operation cost named constructed wetland (CW) has been set. In this study, Phragmites australis was used with free surface batch system to estimate its ability to remediate total
petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from Al-Daura refinery wastewater. The system operated in semi-batch, thus, new wastewater was weekly added to the plant for 42 days. The results showed high removal percentages (98%) of TPH and (62.3%) for COD. Additionally, Phragmites australis biomass increased significant