Human beta-defenses (hBDs) are antimicrobial peptides involved in innate immune protection, and their association with the risk of respiratory allergy has been proposed. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate this association in allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma (AS) of Iraqi patients. A case-control study was conducted to investigate serum levels of hBD1, hBD2, hBD3, and hBD4 in 52 AR and 60 AS patients and 61 healthy controls (HC). The hBDs were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results revealed that median levels of hBD1, hBD2, and hBD3 were significantly elevated in the serum of AR and AS patients compared with HC (p < 0.01). Levels of hBD4 were also elevated in AR and AS patients but the differences were not significant. The levels of hBDs showed no significant differences between AR and AS patients. Age, gender, symptoms, and disease duration of patients influenced some of these variations. Logistic regression analysis indicated that hBD3 was the most important marker associated with the risk of AR and AS, and the estimated Odds ratios were 25.31 (95% confidence interval: 2.97-215.78; p = 0.012) and 32.20 (95% confidence interval: 2.49-415.89; pc = 0.032), respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that hBD3 occupied a very good area under the curve in AR and AS (0.83 and 0.84, respectively). In conclusion, the role of hBDs in the pathogenesis of AR and AS was indicated. In this context, hBD3 was the most important, and its association with the risk of developing AR and AS was suggested.
In this work, porous silicon gas sensor hs been fabricated on n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers of (100) orientation denoted by n-PS using electrochemical etching (ECE) process at etching time 10 min and etching current density 40 mA/cm2. Deposition of the catalyst (Cu) is done by immersing porous silicon (PS) layer in solution consists of 3ml from (Cu) chloride with 4ml (HF) and 12ml (ethanol) and 1 ml (H2O2). The structural, morphological and gas sensing behavior of porous silicon has been studied. The formation of nanostructured silicon is confirmed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement as well as it shows the formation of an oxide silicon layer due to chemical reaction. Atomic force microscope for PS illustrates that the p
... Show MoreThis work aimed to investigate the prevalence of pathogenic fungi and evaluate the antifungal activity of Trichoderma orientale FMR12486 crude extract against pathogenic fungi isolated from patients attending the National Center for Thoracic and Respiratory Diseases (having a history of tuberculosis) and consultant of Dermatology of Baghdad hospital, Iraq. A total of 80 clinical specimens were collected: 20 skin scrapings specimens and 60 sputum specimens. The results of direct examination by KOH 10% and culture showed that 11 (55%) cases from 20 skin specimens were positive for fungal infections, while in the sputum specimens, 28 (47%) cases from 60 were positive. Candida albicans represented the most common fungal infection isolat
... Show MoreThe dynamic behavior of laced reinforced concrete (LRC) T‐beams could give high‐energy absorption capabilities without significantly affecting the cost, which was offered through a combination of high strength and ductile response. In this paper, LRC T‐beams, composed of inclined continuous reinforcement on each side of the beam, were investigated to maintain high deformations as predicted in blast resistance. The beams were tested under four‐point loading to create pure bending zones and obtain the ultimate flexural capacities. Transverse reinforcement using lacing reinforcement and conventional vertical stirrups were compared in terms of deformation, strain, and toughness changes of the tes
The research aims to identify the effect of teaching-learning design based on the constructivism theory on the life skills of middle stage students. The sample consisted of (60) students from one of the middle schools in Baghdad's governorate. The experimental group and control group consisted of 30 students for each group, the research tool was the life skills scale composed of (78) items. The scale proved its validity and reliability, which was found to be (0.85). The results showed a statistically significant difference in life skills between the two groups of research in favor of the experimental group, which studied the educational design according to models of constructivism theory compared to the usual method of teaching.
This paper is concerned with studying the numerical solution for the discrete classical optimal control problem (NSDCOCP) governed by a variable coefficients nonlinear hyperbolic boundary value problem (VCNLHBVP). The DSCOCP is solved by using the Galerkin finite element method (GFEM) for the space variable and implicit finite difference scheme (GFEM-IFDS) for the time variable to get the NS for the discrete weak form (DWF) and for the discrete adjoint weak form (DSAWF) While, the gradient projection method (GRPM), also called the gradient method (GRM), or the Frank Wolfe method (FRM) are used to minimize the discrete cost function (DCF) to find the DSCOC. Within these three methods, the Armijo step option (ARMSO) or the optimal step opt
... Show MoreThis work involves preparation of new metal complexes via reaction of two anthraquinone ligands with Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) metal ions . The ligands are prepared by treatment of 1- and 2-anthraquinone with acetic anhydride.
The complexes are characterized by different physicochemical methods; microelemental analysis, molar conductivity, FT-IR, UV-Vis spectra and magnetic measurements. The discussion of the outcome data of the prepared complexes indicates that all complexes are octahedral.
The biological activity properties of the ligands and most of their complexes are studied using gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, which indicate that only two of th
... Show MoreThe data compression is a very important process in order to reduce the size of a large data to be stored or transported, parametric curves such that Bezier curve is a suitable method to return gradual change and mutability of this data. Ridghelet transform solve the problems in the wavelet transform and it can compress the image well but when it uses with Bezier curve, the equality of compressed image become very well. In this paper, a new compression method is proposed by using Bezier curve with Ridgelet transform on RGB images. The results showed that the proposed method present good performance in both subjective and objective experiments. When the PSNR values equal to (34.2365, 33.4323 and 33.0987), they were increased in the propos
... Show More