Background: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory, systemic rheumatic condition that mostly affects the axial skeleton. Tenascin-C (TN-C) is a hexameric glycoprotein of considerable size, upregulated in many inflammatory conditions, while Interleukin-17 (IL-17) a cytokine that plays an important role in SpA symptoms. Objective: to investigate the upregulation between the serum levels of TN-C and IL-17 in Iraqi axSpA patients and the disease characteristics. Patients and Methods: Seventy-four axSpA patients and 28 matched controls were studied. Fifty-four patients received a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) and 20 did not. Serum TN-C and IL-17 concentrations were determined using the ELISA technique. The Bath Ankyl

In this research we study the effect of UV radiation on pure PC samples and doped samples with plasticizer (DOP) for different exposure times (6, 12, 18, 24h). The study have been made on the change in the IR spectra causes by the UV radiation on both kinds of samples, besides the morphology changes were also studied by the optical microscope. From the results we conclude that the increasing of exposure causes the elaboration of CO₂ and C₂ gases.

One of the most important human diseases that need to be considered in terms of development of the medical engineering devices is cardiovascular disease which is a significant cause of death globally recently. Valvular heart disease is normally treated by restoring or altering heart valves with an artificial one. But the new prosthetic valve designs necessitate testing for durability estimate and failure method. It is significant to simulate the circulation system by the building of a pulse duplicator system. This study is stated by clarifying the parameter and implementation steps of the pulse duplicator system in which the different researchers have utilized the system and tried to explain the design steps of using this system wit

In the present paper a low cost mechanical vibration shaker of rotating unbalanced type with uniaxial shaking table was designed and constructed in an attempt to provide opportunities for experimental testing and application of vibration in experimental modal analysis, stress relief of weldments, effect of vibration on heat transfer and seismic testing of civil engineering structures. Also, it provides unexpressive solution to enhance the knowledge and technical skills of students in mechanical vibration laboratory. The shaker consists of a five main parts shaker frame, shaker table, flexible support, drive motor, and eccentricity mechanism. The experimental results show that the amplitude of the shaker is increased with increasing the f

Construction and operation of (2 m) parabolic solar dish for hot water application were illustrated. The heater was designed to supply hot water up to 100 oC using the clean solar thermal energy. The system includes the design and construction of solar tracking unit in order to increase system performance. Experimental test results, which obtained from clear and sunny day, refer to highly energy-conversion efficiency and promising a well-performed water heating system.

The beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly destructive pest of vegetables and field crops. Management of beet armyworm primarily relies on synthetic pesticides, which is threatening the beneficial community and environment. Most importantly, the BAW developed resistance to synthetic pesticides with making it difficult to manage. Therefore, alternative and environment-friendly pest management tactics are urgently required. The use of pesticidal plant extracts provides an effective way for a sustainable pest management program. To evaluate the use of pesticidal plant extracts against BAW, we selected six plant species (Lantana camara, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon citratus, Nicotiana tabacum ,

Biomass has been extensively investigated, because of its presence as clean energy source. Tars and particulates formation problems are still the major challenges in development especially in the implementation of gasification technologies into nowadays energy supply systems. Laser Induced Fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF) method is incorporated for determining aromatic and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) produced at high temperature gasification technology. The effect of tars deposition when the gases are cooled has been highly reduced by introducing a new concept of measurement cell. The samples of PAH components have been prepared with the standard constrictions of measured PAHs by using gas chromatograph (GC). OPO laser with tun