Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association between polymorphisms in the promoter region of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene at locations -308G/A, -857C/T, and -863C/A with the tendency of being non-responder to etanercept.

Patients and methods: Between October 2020 and August 2021, a total of 80 patients (10 males, 70 females; mean age: 50 years; range, 30 to 72 years) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving etanercept for at least six months were included. The patients were divided into two groups responders and non-responders, based on their response after six months of continuous treatment. Following polymerase chain reac

This study aims to observe the effect of melatonin implantation and exposure to different light colors and their interaction on productive in local Iraqi chicken. This study was conducted at the poultry farm of the Department of Animal Production/College of Agriculture/University of Baghdad/Abu Ghraib, on 252 birds (180 females and 72 males). The birds were divided into three sections (white, red and green) each section contains two lines, one of which has been planted melatonin under the skin of the neck of birds and the other has not been planted hormone. The results of the study showed significant improvement in productive traits such as egg proportion rate, egg weight, cumulative eggs number, egg mass and feed conversion rate. That the

Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) could be considered as the furthermost significant modern high compressive strength concrete. In this study, an experimental investigation on the impact of micro steel fiber volume fraction ratio and gamma ray irradiation duration influence upon the compressive strength of RPC is presented. Three volume fraction ratios (0.0, 1.0 and 1.5) % was implemented. For each percentage of the adopted fiber ratios, six different irradiation duration was considered; these are (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) days. Gamma source (Cs-137) of energy (0.662) MeV and activity (6) mci was used. In a case of zero volume fraction ratio, the experimental results showed that gamma ray had a significant influence on the reducing of the

The performance and lifetime of the flexible asphalt pavement are mainly dependent on the interfacial bond strength between layer courses. To enhance the bond between layers, adhesive materials, such as tack coats, are used. The tack coat itself is a bituminous material, which is applied on an existing relatively non-absorbent surface to ensure a strong bond between the old and newly paved layer. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of various types of tack coat materials on interlayer bond strength and to determine the optimal application rate for each type. The tack coat types used in this paper were RC-70, RC-250, and CSS-1h. Both laboratory-prepared and field-constructed hot mix asphalt concrete pavements usin

Background: Odontogenisis is a complex process controlled by dynamic and reciprocal interactions that regulated by various molecules. Thymosin β4 is a small bioactive peptide with wide spectrum biological effects on much cell types. The present study was designed to highlight the effect of synthetic exogenous Tβ4 on developing dental tissue of the upper central teeth of rats, by histological examination and immunohistochemical evaluation of TGFβ1. Materials and method: Thirty six Albino Wister pregnant rat 18control group received intraperitoneal injection of normal saline and the others are experimental group received 50µg/300µl of Tβ4 injection. The animals were sacrificed at periods 16th and 18th day I.U.L and one day p

Zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The laser used is the Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with 1064nm wavelength and 1Hz pulse repetition rate and varying laser energy 700mJ-1000mJ with 25 pulse. The substrate temperature was kept constant at 100°C. The structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnS thin films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and UV-VIS spectrophotometer.

This work studies with produce of light fuel fractions of gasoline, kerosene and gas oil from treatment of residual matter that will be obtained from the solvent extraction process as by product from refined lubricate to improve oil viscosity index in any petroleum refinery. The percentage of this byproduct is approximately 10% according to all feed (crude oil) in the petroleum refinery process. The objective of this research is to study the effect of the residence time parameter on the thermal cracking process of the byproduct feed at a constant temperature, (400 °C). The first step of this treatment is the thermal cracking of this byproduct material by a constructed batch reactor occupied with control device at a selective range of re

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a widespread Nontraditional Machining (NTM) processes for manufacturing of a complicated geometry or very hard metals parts that are difficult to machine by traditional machining operations. Electrical discharge machining is a material removal (MR) process characterized by using electrical discharge erosion. This paper discusses the optimal parameters of EDM on high-speed steel (HSS) AISI M2 as a workpiece using copper and brass as an electrode. The input parameters used for experimental work are current (10, 24 and 42 A), pulse on time (100, 150 and 200 µs), and pulse off time (4, 12 and 25 µs) that have effect on the material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and wear ratio (WR). A

The aim of this study is to understand the effect of addition carbon types on aluminum electrical conductivity which used three fillers of carbon reinforced aluminum at different weight fractions. The experimental results showed that electrical conductivity of aluminum was decreased by the addition all carbon types, also at low weight fraction of carbon black; it reached (4.53S/cm), whereas it was appeared highly increasing for each carbon fiber and synthetic graphite. At (45%) weight fraction the electrical conductivity was decreased to (4.36Scm) and (4.27Scm) for each carbon fiber and synthetic graphite, respectively. While it was reached to maximum value with carbon black. Hybrid composites were investigated also; the results exhibit tha