Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder, the etiology and pathogenesis of which have been suggested to be influenced by cytokines. Two main clinical types of IBD are recognized, namely ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). The present study examined serum levels of two cytokines (IL-17A and IL-23) in 60 IBD patients (30 UC and 30 CD) and 30 healthy controls. The levels were correlated with age, gender, cigarette-smoking status, disease duration, family history, disease extension, symptoms, extra-intestinal manifestations, and medication. The results depicted that IL-17A level was significantly higher in UC and CD patients compared to control (45.2 ± 23.3 and 47.5 ± 34.4 vs. 15.6 ± 7.5 pg/ml, respectively; p < 0.001). Serum level of IL-23 was similarly increased in UC and CD patients compared to control (64.1± 23.7 and 62.5 ± 27.3 vs. 25.2 ± 11.1 pg/ml, respectively). However, the level of both cytokines showed no significant variation between UC and CD patients (p = 0.713 and 0.777, respectively). Distributing UC and CD patients into subgroups according to some characteristics revealed that IL-17A level was significantly increased in UC male compared to female patients (57.3 ± 18.2 vs. 34.5 ± 22.5 pg/ml; p = 0.005). It was also significantly increased in smoker UC patients compared with non-smoker patients (51.9 ± 19.4 vs. 31.6 ± 25.5 pg/ml; p = 0.022). Smoker CD patients also showed a significantly increased level of IL-23 compared to non-smoker patients (72.7 ± 28.5 vs. 52.2 ± 22.6 pg/ml; p = 0.038). In the case of family history, IL-23 level was significantly decreased in UC patients with a family history of IBD compared to CD patients with a family history (84.5 ± 24.3 vs. 50.4 ± 17.0 pg/ml.; p = 0.042). In conclusion, the present data suggest a role for IL-17A and IL-23 in the etiology and pathogenesis of UC and CD.
A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents bolts from slipping within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes the typical construction tolerance issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly. Therefore, it can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow including the following: (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (
... Show MoreCystic conditions of the jaw cause bony destruction and may cause resorption or displacement of adjacent teeth. Odontogenic cysts have developmental or inflammatory origins. To describe in detail the inflammatory odontogenic cysts, a manual search was done in hard copy books of oral and maxillofacial pathology, and an electronic search was done in the google website, oral and maxillofacial pathology E-books, PubMed, Research Gate, Academia, and Google scholar using the keywords "odontogenic cysts," "classification of the odontogenic cysts," "radicular cyst," "periapical cyst," "lateral inflammatory cyst," "residual cyst," "paradental cyst," "collateral inflammatory cyst," "treatment of inflammatory odontogenic cysts," and matching
... Show MoreThe cathodic deposition of zinc from simulated chloride wastewater was used to characterize the mass transport properties of a flow-by fixed bed electrochemical reactor composed of vertical stack of stainless steel nets, operated in batch-recycle mode. The electrochemical reactor employed potential value in such a way that the zinc reduction occurred under mass transport control. This potential was determined by hydrodynamic voltammetry using a borate/chloride solution as supporting electrolyte on stainless steel rotating disc electrode. The results indicate that mass transfer coefficient (Km) increases with increasing of flow rate (Q) where .The electrochemical reactor proved to be efficient in removing zinc and was abl
... Show MoreThe esterification of oleic acid with 2-ethylhexanol in presence of sulfuric acid as homogeneous catalyst was investigated in this work to produce 2-ethylhexyl oleate (biodiesel) by using semi batch reactive distillation. The effect of reaction temperature (100 to 130°C), 2-ethylhexanol:oleic acid molar ratio (1:1 to 1:3) and catalysts concentration (0.2 to 1wt%) were studied. Higher conversion of 97% was achieved with operating conditions of reaction temperature of 130°C, molar ratio of free fatty acid to alcohol of 1:2 and catalyst concentration of 1wt%. A simulation was adopted from basic principles of the reactive distillation using MATLAB to describe the process. Good agreement was achieved.
: The terrestrial snail Eobania vermiculata (O. F. Müller, 1774) were collected from three station in Baghdad Al- Karkh, Iraq between the period from June 2016 to July 2017. Then we studied the life cycle from the egg to maturity. We studied and photographed the external morphology of it’s shell to identified the species. This species was recorded for the first time in Baghdad.
Despite their long successful use, synthetic dyes have several problems due to their carcinogenic and toxic effects. Besides providing bright colors, some natural pigments have shown notable antimicrobial activity; thus, they could be utilized as functional dyes in many applications such as making colored antimicrobial textiles. In this work, a yellow pigment produced by Streptomyces thinghirensis AF7 and has a notable antimicrobial activity was used to produce a colored antimicrobial textile. The extracted yellow pigment was subjected to a purification step using silica gel column eluted with di ethyl ether solvent. The FTIR, GC-MS and NMR analysis showed that the colorings in this type of product are due to t
... Show MoreWith the development of cloud computing during the latest years, data center networks have become a great topic in both industrial and academic societies. Nevertheless, traditional methods based on manual and hardware devices are burdensome, expensive, and cannot completely utilize the ability of physical network infrastructure. Thus, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has been hyped as one of the best encouraging solutions for future Internet performance. SDN notable by two features; the separation of control plane from the data plane, and providing the network development by programmable capabilities instead of hardware solutions. Current paper introduces an SDN-based optimized Resch