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Neutrophil/lymphocyte and platelet/lymphocyte ratios as potential markers of disease activity in patients with Ankylosing spondylitis: a case-control study
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Abstract<sec> <title>Background

The neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Methods

The study involved 132 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 81 healthy controls matched in terms of age and gender. Their sociodemographic data, disease activity scores using the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet counts were recorded. The patients with ankylosing spondylitis were further divided according to their BASDAI scores into patients with inactive disease (BASDAI < 4) and patients with active disease (BASDAI ≥4). The correlations between the NLR, PLR and disease activity were analysed.

Results

There was a statistically significant difference in the NLR and PLR between the active and inactive ankylosing spondylitis patients (2.31 ± 1.23 vs. 1.77 ± 0.73, p = 0.002), (142.04 ± 70.98 vs. 119.24 ± 32.49, p <  0.001, respectively). However, there was no significant difference in both the NLR and PLR between the healthy control group and ankylosing spondylitis patients (p > 0.05). In addition, the PLR was significantly higher in both the active and inactive groups compared to those in the healthy control group (142.04 ± 70.98 vs. 99.32 ± 33.97, p = 0.014), (119.24 ± 32.49 vs. 99.32 ± 33.97, p = 0.019). The BASDAI scores were positively correlated with the PLR (r = 0.219, p = 0.012) and the NLR, but they were not statistically significant with the later (r = 0.170, p = 0.051). Based on the ROC curve, the best NLR cut-off value for predicting severe disease activity in ankylosing spondylitis patients was 1.66, with a sensitivity of 61.8% and a specificity of 50.6%, whereas the best PLR cut-off value was 95.9, with a sensitivity of 70.9% and a specificity of 55.5%.

Conclusion

The PLR may be used as a useful marker in the assessment and monitoring of disease activity in AS together with acute phase reactants such as the ESR.

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Publication Date
Sat Dec 30 2023
Journal Name
Iraqi Journal Of Chemical And Petroleum Engineering
Flotation of Chromium Ions from Simulated Wastewater Using Air Microbubbles
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   A microbubble air flotation technique was used to remove chromium ions from simulated wastewater (e.g. water used for electroplating, textiles, paints and pigments, and tanning leather). Experimental parameters were investigated to analyze the flotation process and determine the removal efficiency. These parameters included the location of the sampling port from the bottom of the column, where the diffuser is located to the top of flotation column (30, 60, and 90 cm), the type of surfactant (anionic, SDS, or cationic, CTAB) and its concentration (5, 10, 15, and 20 mg/L), the pH of the initial solution (3, 5, 7, 9, and 11), the initial contaminant concentration (10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/L), the gas flow rate (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 L/mi

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Publication Date
Wed Jul 01 2015
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Enhancing the Performance of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters Using Permanent Magnets
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A cantilevered piezoelectric beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This paper introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester which increases the generated voltage without changing the natural frequency of the harvester: The attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the natural frequency. Three setups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle. Theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffe

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Publication Date
Sun Mar 01 2020
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Three-Dimensional Explicit Finite Element Simulation of Piled-Raft Foundation
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This paper aims to validate a proposed finite element model to be adopted in predicting displacement and soil stresses of a piled-raft foundation. The proposed model adopts the solid element to simulate the raft, piles, and soil mass. An explicit integration scheme has been used to simulate nonlinear static aspects of the piled-raft foundation and to avoid the computational difficulties associated with the implicit finite element analysis.

The validation process is based on comparing the results of the proposed finite element model with those of a scaled-down experimental work achieved by other researchers. Centrifuge apparatus has been used in the experimental work to generate the required stresses to simulate t

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Publication Date
Sun Oct 08 2023
Journal Name
International Journal Of Research In Social Sciences And Humanities
The Role of Banking Compliance to Reduce Risks to Run
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The importance of operational risks increases with the increase in technological development, the development of banking operations, the extent of banking compliance, and the attempt of many banks to achieve quality in banking services. And the extent of the position occupied by Iraqi banks for banking compliance and reducing operational risks. The Basel Committee (2) paid its attention to operational risks and the interest of international banks to follow policies that work to ensure banking compliance and cover operational risks, because of its role in reducing losses due to increased costs and achieving an increase in profits. Realizing and working to confront the best possible and traditional methods, that some risks Operational problem

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Crossref
Publication Date
Wed Sep 29 2021
Journal Name
Biomass Conversion And Biorefinery
Encapsulated deep eutectic solvent for esterification of free fatty acid
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A novel encapsulated deep eutectic solvent (DES) was introduced for biodiesel production via a two-step process. The DES was encapsulated in medical capsules and were used to reduce the free fatty acid (FFA) content of acidic crude palm oil (ACPO) to the minimum acceptable level (< 1%). The DES was synthesized from methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (MTPB) and p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA). The effects pertaining to different operating conditions such as capsule dosage, reaction time, molar ratio, and reaction temperature were optimized. The FFA content of ACPO was reduced from existing 9.61% to less than 1% under optimum operating conditions. This indicated that encapsulated MTPB-DES performed high catalytic activity in FFA esterificatio

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Publication Date
Wed Aug 28 2019
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Adsorption of Methylene Blue on Prepared Charcoal from Molasses Waste
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Recently, important efforts have been made in an attempt to search for the cheapest and ecofriendly alternatives adsorbents. In the present work, waste molasses from Iraqi date palm (Zahdi) had been used as a provenance to produce charcoal for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye from water. The optimum prepared charcoal was obtained at 150 C, by increasing temperature to 175 C, the charcoal had almost converted to ash. The obtained charcoal have been inspected for properties using scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), porosity and surface area. Adsorption data were optimized to Langmuir and Freundlich and adsorption parameters have been evaluated. The thermodynamic parameters like a change

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Publication Date
Tue May 16 2023
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE LAMINATED PLATES USING HOST 12
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This paper presents an application of a Higher Order Shear Deformation Theory (HOST 12) to problem
of free vibration of simply supported symmetric and antisymmetric angle-ply composite laminated plates.
The theoretical model HOST12 presented incorporates laminate deformations which account for the effects
of transverse shear deformation, transverse normal strain/stress and a nonlinear variation of in-plane
displacements with respect to the thickness coordinate – thus modeling the warping of transverse crosssections more accurately and eliminating the need for shear correction coefficients. Solutions are obtained in
closed-form using Navier’s technique by solving the eigenvalue equation. Plates with varying number of

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Crossref
Publication Date
Tue Jan 01 2019
Journal Name
Indian Journal Of Public Health Research &amp; Development
Maternal Attitude Toward Formula Feeding among Sample of Iraqi Mothers
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Publication Date
Sun Jun 30 2024
Journal Name
Iraqi Journal Of Chemical And Petroleum Engineering
Catalytic Microwave Pyrolysis of Albizia Branches Using Iraqi Bentonite Clays
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Catalytic microwave-assisted pyrolysis of biomass is gaining popularity as an alternative to fossil fuels due to health, environmental, climate, and economic issues. This study conducted a catalytic pyrolysis process of the Albizia plant's branches using an Iraqi clay catalyst (bentonite) focusing on the variables including the biomass-particle size, experimental time, microwave power level, and the catalyst-to-biomass ratio. The physical and chemical properties of the resulting biofuel were analyzed presented by HHV, acidity, density, viscosity, GC-MS, FTIR for bio-oil and SEM, EDX, BET, HHV, FTIR for biochar. The study revealed that addition of bentonite as a catalyst led to enhanced production of biogas produced from 5% to 45% an

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Publication Date
Tue Dec 03 2024
Journal Name
African Journal Of Biological Sciences
Antibacterial effect of plantago major extract on staphylococcus aureus biofilm
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The ability of microorganisms to attach to living and non-living surfaces and create a biofilm is the cause of numerous long-lasting illnesses, as well as their strong resistance to drugs. Bacterial biofilms consist of intricate assemblies of immobile bacteria. These are located in an extracellular matrix and adhere to various surfaces for a long period. The present study evaluated the antibacterial effectiveness of Plantago major extract against Staphylococcus aureus biofilm. The specimens analyzed in this investigation were skin infections of clinical origin. The current study was not previously studied, particularly in terms of S. aureus biofilm breakdown and inhibition. The disc diffusion method was used to test the antimicrobial activi

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