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.
Fluidization process is widely used by a great assortment of industries worldwide and represents a trillion dollar industry [6]. They are currently used in separation, classification, drying and mixing of particles, chemical reactions and regeneration processes; one of these processes is the mass transfer from an immersed surface to a gas fluidized bed
Introduction: Melanin is a high-molecular weight pigment produced through the oxidative polymerization of phenolic or indolic compounds and plays a perfect role in UV-light shielding, as well as in photoprotection. Among biopolymers, melanin is unique in many aspects. This study is designed to screen Production, extraction and characterizes of an extracellular melanin pigment from clinically isolated P. aeruginosa. Objective: The aim of the current study is isolation and diagnosis of P.aeruginosa using vitek-2 compact system and screening the ability to produce melanin and characterization of extracted melanin by UV-vis, FTIR, XRD and SEM. Materials and methods: the samples swab inoculated on cetrimide agar as selective media and incubated
... Show MoreThis research aims to discuss an important issue because of its role in increasing the efficiency of financial markets and boost investor confidence by a insider trading, which arises as a result of leaking secret information to some investors and reliable in the process of trading shares in the Iraq Stock Exchange And thus obtain abnormal profits at the expense of other investors. Research was based on the assumption that " Where shortcomings in local regulations relating to disclosure and insider trading in accounting information leads to the activate the phenomenon of insider trading in accounting information in the Iraq Stock Exchange and including a negative impact on investors' decisions ". and Because of the difficulty the discove
... Show MoreErbil city is located in the northern Iraq with a population of over one million people. Due to water crises farmers usually use wastewater and well water for the agricultural production. In this study six stations were designed to sample waste water and three from well water to define waste water and ground water characteristics. In this study, Residual Na+ Carbonate, Mg++ hazard, salinity hazard, Kelley index, %sodium, total hardness, permeability index, potential salinity, sodium adsorption ratio, and Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI) were determined. The order of average cation concentrations in water was Mg2+> Ca2+ > Na+ > K+. While the proportion of main
... Show MoreIn the era of the digital economy, public organizations need to consolidation the capabilities of entrepreneurial alertness to reduce the risks of sudden transformations and changes, and to find effective mechanisms to discover and invest in environmental opportunities proactively, as this concern has become a knowledge gap in public sector institutions, the current research aims to identify the role of digital competence in influencing on entrepreneurial alertness in the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), the descriptive analytical approach was used as a research method to describe and analyze the main research variables. digital competence as an explanatory variable includes three dimensions: digital infrastructure, digital integration, and d
... Show MoreSome major pollutants of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) those discharged as water produced (WP) from the AlAhdab oil field (AOF) in the ponds close to it may leak to the water resources around and eventually reaches the marshes which will affect its ecosystem. Thus, this work aims to track the availability of PAH in the water resources and the Main Outfall Drain (MOD) nearby. The determination of PAH was evaluated using “High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)”. The mean concentration of sixteen PAH in the produced water within the field was relatively high (0.01 to 10.89 g/ml) with standard deviations of (0.10.9). While, PAH outside the field were gradually diminishes down to (0.01-0.039) x10-2 g/ml which exceeds th
... Show MoreAt the beginning of the nineties increased responsibility of the auditor to the community as the demand for auditing the environmental performance for the economic units in addition to audit the financial performance. With the aim of preserving the environment and reducing the damagse as aresult of the negative effects of the activities of these units.
The researh deal with two sides the first one identifies the theoretical framework of the concept of environmental audits, requirements, methods, types of procedures, and duties of the auditor in conducting environmental audits. It also deals with the concept of the enviro
... Show MoreThe typical test for diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique, but the chest CT scan might play a complementary role at the first detection of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Objectives: To determine the sensitivity of CT scan on patients with COVID-19 in Al-Najaf, Iraq, and to compare the accuracy of CT scan with that of RT-PCR technique. Material and Method: This is a prospective study. The patients suspicious of having COVID-19 infection and respiratory symptoms were registered. All patients were diagnosed by RT-PCR and chest CT. Diagnostic performance of CT was intended using RT-PCR as the reference sta
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