Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic rheumatic inflammatory disease affecting mainly the spine and sacroiliac joints. Since the copper-to-zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) indicates an inflammatory response, the change in ratio is expected to correlate with axSpA. This study compared levels of Cu/Zn in the serum of axSpA patients. Serum samples were obtained from 53 patients with axSpA divided according to biological treatment into cohorts A and B, and 28 healthy control as cohort C. Serum levels of Cu and Zn were determined first by a fully automated chemistry analyzer TC-Matrix Plus, then the ratio was obtained. The elevated serum Cu concentration means of cohort B (189.32 ± 13.808 µg/dL) compared to cohort A (168.85 ± 7.244 µg/dL) a

Pigeons have accompanied humans since ancient time because they are used as a source of food, pets, hobby, and religious symbols. Pigeons have shown high prevalence rate of infection with gastrointestinal helminths and protozoan. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of parasitic infections in the domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) from October, 2017 to April, 2018, purchased from bird market of Zakho City, Kurdistan region. The samples were taken from 50 adult pigeons (28 males and 22 females). The birds were transferred to Parasitology Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Zakho University. In the laboratory, each bird was sacrificed and immediately the feather and skin of under wings, chest and the rest of the

The temperature control process of electric heating furnace (EHF) systems is a quite difficult and changeable task owing to non-linearity, time delay, time-varying parameters, and the harsh environment of the furnace. In this paper, a robust temperature control scheme for an EHF system is developed using an adaptive active disturbance rejection control (AADRC) technique with a continuous sliding-mode based component. First, a comprehensive dynamic model is established by using convection laws, in which the EHF systems can be characterized as an uncertain second order system. Second, an adaptive extended state observer (AESO) is utilized to estimate the states of the EHF system and total disturbances, in which the observer gains are updated

Asphalt Hot Mix (HMA) is mainly applied in highway construction in Iraq because of its economic advantage and easy maintenance. Various factors impact the performance of HMA in the field. It is one of the significant impacts on aggregate gradation. The Universal Specification for Roads and Bridges in Iraq (SCRB) limits the different types of asphalt layers and allows for designed tolerance aggregate gradation. It is quite hard for contractors in the present asphalt industries to achieve the required job mix because of sieves' control problems. This study focuses on the effects on the required specification performance of aggregate deviations by using original and modified asphalt binder with AC(40-50) and

Abstract: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the widespread chronic liver diseases; it is ranging from simple fat buildup in the liver (steatosis) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) presence of inflammation and hepatocyte injury.                                                                                                                                        &nb

The current research aims to determine the role of strategic leadership in achieving organizational excellence. In this context the sample of the research consist of 123 managers .The research problem can be summarized as {what is the role of strategic leadership in achieving organizational excellence}which resulted in a number of sub-questions and its goal was to explain the theoretical philosophy and intellectual expositions of this variables because of they are vital variables imposed by the current situation. To achieve research objectives we had use the questionnaire as a tool to collect data and information after verifying the validity and dependency of the measures. A number of statistical techniques and tools had been use

Background: The healing process involves the restoration of the body’s structural integrity. The extracellular matrix, blood cells, cytokines, and growth factors are all involved in this dynamic, intricate, multicellular process. Hemostasis, the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the maturation phase are all included. Opuntia ficus-indica oil (OFI) and Punica grantum (PGS) oil are extensively used natural treatments that are regarded as advantageous for their sedative, spasmolytic, and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as for angiogenesis promotion, fibroblast increase, collagen production and deposition, and extracellular-matrix remodeling. Materials and methods: Twenty-four New Zealand rab

     This 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