Background:It is widely assumed that cellular immune response and cytokine (especially proinflammatory cytokines) production play an important role in the course and treatment effectiveness of chronic hepatitis C infection. <br />Aim of the study: evaluate the level of Th-1 cytokines during treatment of chronic HCV infection and their dynamic changes in response to treatment.<br />Patients and methods: The study was performed on sixty patients with chronic HCV infection, the patients were recruited from medical city gastroenterology and hepatology teaching hospital for the period from February 2007 till February 2008 and 50 healthy control group. Diagnosis was made using third generation ELISA-based screening test, RIBA-based test and PCR-based test. On the other hand, Cytokines (serum level) were determined by ELISA method before, during (6, 12, 24 weeks) and after the treatment.<br /> Results: This study showed that after 6 weeks from the initiation of the treatment by pegilated interferon-α in the combination with ribavirin, concentration of serum cytokines IL-1β, TNF- α and INF- γ have significantly changed and at the end of the treatment concentration of all cytokines have decreased and this change was statistically significant for all cytokines.Conclusion: dynamic changes of some cytokines during INF- α and ribavirin treatment may be used as a predictor factor for evaluation of the therapy effectiveness.
This study presents an investigation about the effect of fire flame on the punching shear strength of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete flat plates. The main considered parameters are the fiber type (steel or glass) and the burning steady-state temperatures (500 and 600°C). A total of 9 half-scale flat plate specimens of dimensions 1500mm×1500mm×100mm and 1.5% fiber volume fraction were cast and divided into 3 groups. Each group consisted of 3 specimens that were identical to those in the other groups. The specimens of the second and the third groups were subjected to fire flame influence for 1 hour and steady-state temperature of 500 and 600°C respectively. Regarding the cooling process, water sprinkling was applied directly aft
... Show MoreExperimental tests were carried to control lost circulation in the Khabaz oil field using different types of LCMs including Nano-materials. A closed-loop circulation system was built to simulate the process of lost circulation into formations. Two dolomite plugs were used from different depths of the formation of Azkand in Khabaz oil field. The experimentations were carried out to study the effect of different types of LCMs, cross-linked copolymer (FLOSORB CE 300 S), SiO2 NP, and Fe2O3 NP, on mud volume losses as a function of time.
The rheological measurements of the nanoparticles-reference mud system showed that both of the SiO2 NP and Fe2O3 NP w
... Show MoreThe inelastic C2 form factors and the charge density distribution (CDD) for 58,60,62Ni and 64,66,68Zn nuclei has been investigated by employing the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock method with (Sk35-Skzs*) parametrization. The inelastic C2 form factor is calculated by using the shape of Tassie and Bohr-Mottelson models with appropriate proton and neutron effective charges to account for the core-polarization effects contribution. The comparison of the predicted theoretical values was conducted with the available measured data for C2 and CDD form factors and showed very good agreement.
In this study, the effect of increasing pump pulse energy and delay time on the energy conversion efficiency of the Potassium Titanyl Phosphate (KTP) crystal at room temperature was investigated. It was found that the higher the pump pulse the greater the efficiency at a certain value of the delay time. Moreover, at the delay time 3.524ns, we found that the efficiency of the conversion of energy increases from 0.0112 to 0.0159. We also observed that the lower delay time between the pump and the probe pulses leads to increase the rate of energy conversion efficiency of the KTP crystal, where the reaches up to 3, which is higher than the value recorded in the absence of a pump pulse. The highest value of the
... Show MoreBackground: Physical exercise is essential for performance of the immune system. The integrity of immune response is dependent on the intensity and duration of the exercise performed. During exercise the metabolic and hormonal changes that occurred can induce lymphocyte apoptosis. Dehydroepiandrosteron sulphate (DHEAS) is one of the hormones that is affected by exercise, it is an androgen released from the adrenal cortex in response to adrenocortiocotropin releasing hormone (ACTH). DHEAS is regarded as an anti-aging hormone; it is primarily immune enhancing, providing some degree of counterbalance to the potentially detrimental effects of catecholamine and cortisol which are immunosuppressive if chronic
... Show MoreA friction stir spot welding (FSSW) process is an emerging solid state joining process in which the material that is being welded does not melt. In this investigation an attempt has been made to understand the effect of tool shoulder diameter on the mechanical properties of the joint. For this purpose four welding tools diameter (10,13, 16 and 19) mm at constant preheating time and plunging time were used to carry
out welding process. Effect of tool diameter on mechanical properties of welded joints was investigated using shear stress test and Microhardness of joint which welded was studied. Based on the stir welding experiments conducted in this study the results show that aluminum alloy (1200) can be welded using (FSSW) process with
This paper aims to study the role of a prey refuge that depends on both prey and predator species on the dynamics of a food web model. It is assumed that the food transfer among the web levels occurs according to Lotka-Volterra functional response. The solution properties, such as existence, uniqueness, and uniform boundedness, are discussed. The local, as well as the global, stabilities of the solution of the system are investigated. The persistence of the system is studied with the assistance of average Lyapunov function. The local bifurcation conditions that may occur near the equilibrium points are established. Finally, numerical simulation is used to confirm our obtained results. It is observed that the system has only one type of a
... Show MoreLafutidine (LAF) a newly developed histamine H2-receptor antagonist with absorption window makes it a good candidate to be prepared as floating drug delivery system. The current study involves formulation and in- Vitro evaluation of lafutidine as floating microspheres. Different formulation variables that affect the physicochemical properties of the prepared microspheres besides to the drug release behavior were investigated. Fourteen formulas were prepared by emulsion (o/w) solvent evaporation method using Ethyl cellulose (EC) as the polymeric matrix and tween 80 (TW80) as an emulsifying agent. The prepared formulas were evaluated for their percentage buoyancy (%), Percentage yield (%) and Entrapment efficiency (EE %). The results obt
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The nanocompsite of alumina (Al2O3) produced a number of beneficial effects in alloys. There is increasing in resistance of materials to surface related failures , such as the mechanical properties , fatigue and stress corrosion cracking .The experimental results observed that the adding of reinforced nanomaterials type Al2O3 enhanced the HB hardness, UTS, 0.2 YS and ductility of 2014 Al/Al2O3 nano composites . the analysis of experiments, indicated that The maximum enhancement was observed at 0.4 wt.% Al2O3. The ultimate improvement percentage were 15.78% HB hardness, 18.1% (UTS), 12.86% (
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