Background: Although iron chelation therapies have been available for many years for thalassemia intermedia patients, iron accumulation remains the major cause of death. Therefore, the need for additional chelation options is in demand. This randomized controlled study aimed to understand the effects of green tea on iron balance in thalassemia intermedia patients.

Methods: Using a random selection method, 141 thalassemia intermedia patients were initially screened for inclusion in this trial; only 68 patients included after applying exclusion criteria. Two equal groups were generated (n=34/group): green tea (three cups/day after meals) + usual treatment (deferasirox iron chelat

Background: Painful elbow joint over the lateral epicondyle especially with resisted wrist extension are common signs of lateral epicondyle tendinopathy, also called tennis elbow.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical outcome of local platelet rich plasma (PRP) injection in patients with chronic tennis elbow compared with a steroid (Depomedrol 40 mg) injection.

Methods: A total of 88 patients with chronic tennis elbow were treated at Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital and private clinics. All patients had chronic pain for about 24 weeks or more and had failed first line treatment. The patients dividing into two groups, Group A injected with PRP (n = 44), and group B injected with d

Seven leafhoppers (Cicadeilidae). and one plantboppei (Delpbacidae), Homoptera were identified from a one year operated light trap at the College of Agiculture farm in Abu¬Ghraib. The leafhoppers were: Balclutha hortensis Lind.; B. rufaofasciata Merine.; psammctettix alien us Dahlbem.; P. striatus L.; Extianus capicola.; Neoaliturus haematoceps H. R.; and Orozius albicnctus Dist. The planthopper was Sogatella vibix Haupt. one year records of their populations, indicated that B. rufofasciata occured during the fall from October 10 until December 18; E. capicola from October 24 until November 21 and again in the summer from March to October. The others occured only during the summer, from the end of March and early April until Mid-Septemb

The effect of electrolysis operating parameters on the removal efficiency of cadmium from a simulated wastewater was studied by adopting response surface methodology combined with Box–Behnken Design. As a new electrode design, spiral-wound woven wire mesh rotating cylinder electrode was used for cadmium removal. Current (240–400 mA), rotation speed (200–1000 rpm), initial cadmium concentration (200–600ppm), and cathode mesh number (30–60) were chosen as independent variables while the removal efficiency of cadmium was considered as a response function. The results revealed that the rotation speed has the major effect on the removal efficiency of cadmium. Regression analysis showed good fit of the experimental data to the second-or

The rapid development of telemedicine services and the requirements for exchanging medical information between physicians, consultants, and health institutions have made the protection of patients’ information an important priority for any future e-health system. The protection of medical information, including the cover (i.e. medical image), has a specificity that slightly differs from the requirements for protecting other information. It is necessary to preserve the cover greatly due to its importance on the reception side as medical staff use this information to provide a diagnosis to save a patient's life. If the cover is tampered with, this leads to failure in achieving the goal of telemedicine. Therefore, this work provides an in

The aim of t his p aper is t o const ruct t he (k,r)-caps in t he p rojective 3-sp ace PG(3,p ) over Galois field GF(4). We found t hat t he maximum comp let e (k,2)-cap which is called an ovaloid, exist s in PG(3,4) when k = 13. Moreover t he maximum (k,3)-cap s, (k,4)-cap s and (k,5)-caps.

  In this paper, we investigate the connection between the hierarchical models and the power prior distribution in quantile regression (QReg). Under specific quantile, we develop an expression for the power parameter ( ) to calibrate the power prior distribution for quantile regression to a corresponding hierarchical model. In addition, we estimate the relation between the  and the quantile level via hierarchical model. Our proposed methodology is illustrated with real data example.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were