Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune illness, which is consider by three main features: Sclerotic changes in the skin and internal organs, Vasculopathy of small blood vessels, Particular autoantibodies (1). The most important autoantibodies appeared significantly in SSc patients are anti-topoisomerase I autoantibody (Scl-70), anti-centromere autoantibody (ACA), and anti-RNA polymerase III autoantibody (RNAP3) (2). Anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) are infrequent in rheumatic conditions and in healthy persons but occur commonly in limited systemic sclerosis (CREST syndrome), and rarely appeared in the diffuse form of systemic sclerosis (3). Anti-Ro/SSA and antiLa/SSB, antibodies directed against Ro/La ribonucleoprotein complexes, can serve as a diagnostic hallmark of autoimmune disease specially Sjogren’s syndrome (4). Materials and methods: This study was carried out during the period from the middle of November 2015 until the end of November 2016 in Baghdad city. The sample of this study was divided into two groups : Forty systemic sclerosis patients: Those patients were treated at Rheumatology department in Baghdad teaching hospital in Baghdad city as well as Forty healthy control subjects, age matched with no signs and symptoms of any systemic diseases. Results: The serum anti-SSA in SSc patient was significant increased as well as the salivary anti-SSA in SSc patient was highly significantly increased than in the control subjects by using t-test. The present study found that there no statically difference in salivary ACA, anti-SSB and serum anti-SSB while serum ACA was significantly increased. Conclusions: autoantibodies play a role in pathogenesis of SSc patients represented by increased serum (ACA and anti-SSA) that it considered reliable indicator for SSc patients while unpredicted marker in saliva except anti-SSA. Anti-La/SSB is unreliable marker in both serum and saliva SSc patients. The presence of Anti-Ro/SSA antibodies in serum and saliva of SSc patient has been predictive marker for SSc overlapped Sjogren’s syndrome.
CO2 laser (10.6 μm) is the most often used laser in the oral surgery due to its high absorption by water of the oral tissues. Several benefits of the use of CO2 laser have been reported for oral surgical procedures. This study aims to evaluate the effect of CO2 laser on soft and hard oral tissues (in vitro study). This study was done on fresh tissues from sheep’s head. CO2Surgical Laser with different operation modes was used; 0.2 mm spot size using different laser parameters on the tongue, and bone making holes, incisions and cutting. The depths and widths of holes and incisions were measured using endodontic file under magnification. The speed of incisions was calculated and the required time for cutting was measured using sport clo
... Show MoreThe evacuated tube solar collector ETC is studied intensively and extensively by experimental and
theoretical works, in order to investigate its performance and enhancement of heat transfer, for Baghdad climate
from April 2011 till the end of March 2012. Experimental work is carried out on a well instrumented collector
consists of 16 evacuated tubes of aspect ratio 38.6 and thermally insulated tank of volume 112L. The relation
between convective heat transfer and natural circulation inside the tube is estimated, collector efficiency, effect of
tube tilt angles, incidence angle modifier, The solar heating system is investigated under different loads pattern (i.e
closed and open flow) to evaluate the heat loss coefficient
Generally, direct measurement of soil compression index (Cc) is expensive and time-consuming. To save time and effort, indirect methods to obtain Cc may be an inexpensive option. Usually, the indirect methods are based on a correlation between some easier measuring descriptive variables such as liquid limit, soil density, and natural water content. This study used the ANFIS and regression methods to obtain Cc indirectly. To achieve the aim of this investigation, 177 undisturbed samples were collected from the cohesive soil in Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Iraq. Results of this study indicated that ANFIS models over-performed the Regression method in estimating Cc with R2 of 0.66 and 0.48 for both ANFIS and Regre
... Show MoreInvasomes are newly developed types of nanovesicles. A vesicular drug delivery system is considered one of the approaches for transdermal delivery to enhance permeation and improve drug bioavailability. Ondansetron is a serotonin receptor antagonist used for treating vomiting associated with different clinical cases. The study aimed to prepare invasomal dispersions for improving permeation of ondansetron across the skin with a controlled release pattern. Twenty-seven formulas of ondansetron-loaded invasomes were prepared by a modified mechanical dispersion method. These formulas were optimized by studying the effect of variables on entrapment efficiency. Vesicle size, polydispersity, zeta potential, in-vitro release and ex-vivo perm
... Show MoreCovalent modification of protein by drugs may disrupt self-tolerance, leading to lymphocyte activation. Until now, determination of the threshold required for this process has not been possible. Therefore, we performed quantitative mass spectrometric analyses to define the epitopes formed in tolerant and hypersensitive patients taking the β-lactam antibiotic piperacillin and the threshold required for T cell activation. A hydrolyzed piperacillin hapten was detected on four lysine residues of human serum albumin (HSA) isolated from tolerant patients. The level of modified Lys541 ranged from 2.6 to 4.8%. Analysis of plasma from hypersensitive patients revealed the same pattern and leve
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Inflammation leads to joint damage and increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a measure of inflammation in many diseases. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of NLR to detect inflammation in RA, and its correlation to RA disease activity indices and some hematological parameters. A cross-sectional study involving 24 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are using MTX participated in this study. All patients were clinically evaluated using disease activity score of 28 joints (DAS28) and simplified disease activity index (SDAI), whereas functional disability was assessed by health assessment questionnaire di
... Show MoreBackground: Patients with decompensated cirrhosis are often given therapeutic and prophylactic drugs. Polypharmacy raises both the likelihood of prescription errors and the complications associated with drugs. Clinical pharmacists are excellent at recognizing, addressing, and preventing clinically significant drug-related problems.
Objectives: Identification types of pharmacist interventions to address drug-related problems in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and assess the acceptance/implementation of these recommendations. And identify patient factors associated with accepting pharmacist recommend
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