Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by elevated levels of circulating anti-nuclear autoantibodies and interferon-alpha (INFs-α). Interferon regulatory factor-5 (IRF5) plays an important role in the induction of type I interferon and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and participates in the SLE pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the role of IRF5 gene expression levels in a sample of SLE Iraqi patients and its correlation with disease activity, and to identify its diagnostic ability as a biomarker reflecting disease activity. Blood samples were taken from 45 participants diagnosed with SLE cases classified according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. They were scored via the SLE disease activity index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) to assess the disease activity and according to it, they were subdivided into “SLE (I) group” (SLEDAI-2k ≤5), and “SLE (II) group” (SLEDAI-2k >5), as well as age and gender matched healthy control group. RNA was isolated from whole blood samples and gene expression levels of IRF5 were determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Our results revealed that the expression levels of the IRF5 gene were significantly increased in SLE (I) and SLE (II) patient groups compared with the control group (p<0.05, and p<0.01) respectively, as well as higher in SLE (II) group than the SLE (I) group (p<0.01). Moreover, the expression levels of IRF5 were found to be related positively and significantly to the disease activity index in both SLE patient groups. The analysis of receiver operator curves (ROC) for gene expression levels of IRF5 in SLE (II) group showed a perfect accuracy to distinguish between SLE patients and healthy individuals (AUC=0.989, sensitivity= 95.5%, and specificity= 88.0%). However, in SLE (I) group showed a good accuracy to discriminate between SLE patients and healthy individuals. (AUC=0.769, sensitivity= 69.6%, and specificity= 80.0%). The correlation between gene expression levels of IRF5 with other parameters revealed that a significant positive correlation was found with uric acid and ALP in SLE (I) group, while in SLE (II) group with urea, creatinine, and uric acid. Our conclusion suggests that the up-regulation of IRF5 gene expression levels correlates positively with disease activity in SLE patients reflecting the possibility of using it as an immunological biomarker for diagnosis, and monitoring the disease flare.
Noor Oil Field is one of Iraqi oil fields located in Missan province / Amarah city. This field is not subjected to licensing rounds, but depends on the national effort of Missan Oil Company. The first two wells in the field were drilled in seventies and were not opened to production until 2009. The aim of this study is to study the possibility of using the method of gas lift to increase the productivity of this field . PROSPER software was used to design the continuous gas lift by using maximum production rate in the design.
The design was made after comparing the measured pressure with the calculated pressure, this comparison show that the method of Beggs-Brill and Petroleum Exper
... Show MoreSpatial data analysis is performed in order to remove the skewness, a measure of the asymmetry of the probablitiy distribution. It also improve the normality, a key concept of statistics from the concept of normal distribution “bell shape”, of the properties like improving the normality porosity, permeability and saturation which can be are visualized by using histograms. Three steps of spatial analysis are involved here; exploratory data analysis, variogram analysis and finally distributing the properties by using geostatistical algorithms for the properties. Mishrif Formation (unit MB1) in Nasiriya Oil Field was chosen to analyze and model the data for the first eight wells. The field is an anticline structure with northwest- south
... Show MoreIn this work, multilayer nanostructures were prepared from two metal oxide thin films by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. These metal oxide were nickel oxide (NiO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The prepared nanostructures showed high structural purity as confirmed by the spectroscopic and structural characterization tests, mainly FTIR, XRD and EDX. This feature may be attributed to the fine control of operation parameters of dc reactive magnetron sputtering system as well as the preparation conditions using the same system. The nanostructures prepared in this work can be successfully used for the fabrication of nanodevices for photonics and optoelectronics requiring highly-pure nanomaterials.
Dam break is series phenomenon that can result in fatal consequences and loss of properties. Unfortunately, the observed consequences can only be available after the dam breaks. Therefore, it is important to anticipate what will happen prior to dam break to issue suitable warning and locate the possible risk areas. This study attempts to simulate the case of dam break in Blue Nile at Roseires dam and see its consequences downstream. Roseires dam lies at a distance of 630 km south of Khartoum, Sennar dam lies at about 260 km downstream of Roseires dam. In this study hydraulic model is developed based of Hydraulic Engineering Centre (HEC), River Analysis System (RAS), and HEC- RAS. The HEC-RAS based model is calibrated and validated usi
... Show MoreDBN Rashid, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES, 2021
The goal of this work is to check the presence of PNS (photon number splitting) attack in quantum cryptography system based on BB84 protocol, and to get a maximum secure key length as possible. This was achieved by randomly interleaving decoy states with mean photon numbers of 5.38, 1.588 and 0.48 between the signal states with mean photon numbers of 2.69, 0.794 and 0.24. The average length for a secure key obtained from our system discarding the cases with Eavesdropping was equal to 125 with 20 % decoy states and 82 with 50% decoy states for mean photon number of 0.794 for signal states and 1.588 for decoy states.
The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of environmental pH on production of biofilms and virulence genes expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Among 303 clinical and environmental samples 109 (61 + 48) isolates were identified as clinical and environmental P. aeruginosa isolates, respectively. Clinical samples were obtained from patients in the Al-Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad city, Iraq. Waste water from Al-Yarmouk hospital was used from site before treatment unit to collect environmental samples. The ability of prod