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

This study was undertaken to prepare Nano zinc oxide (ZnO) by precipitation and microemulsion methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR spectrometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area were the techniques employed for the preparation. The particle size of prepared nano ZnO was 69.15nm and 88.49nm for precipitation and microemulsion methods, respectively, which corresponded to the BET surface area 20.028 and 16.369m²/g respectively. The activity of prepared nano ZnO as a photocatalyst was estimated by the removal of ampicillin (Amp) under visible light. This study, therefore, examined the effect of pH in the range of 5-11, initial concen

Chlopheniramine maleate ( CPM ) , is  one  of   the  H- receptor antagonist  ,  widely used  in allergic  diseases ,like skin rash  and  pruritis .CPM 3%w/w was successfully  loaded in  2%w/w  sodium alginate (SA)    as a gel    base ,  and  to be considered   as  a  selected  formula .It was found  that  the diffusion   of  CPM    through   the  skin  of  albino  rat   was     increased   as  the concentration  of  CPM  increased from 2 %w/w sodium alginate  ,  More

Carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding is an EOR technique in which carbon dioxide is injected into the reservoir to improve the oil recovery. The reservoir oil and rock properties are altered when carbon dioxide interacts with the oil and rock present in the reservoir. Carbon dioxide injection alters the oil and rock properties by causing reduction in oil viscosity, oil swelling and wettability alteration of the rock. This paper will present a proposal to study the wettability alteration in carbonate formations during miscible carbon dioxide flooding. In miscible carbon dioxide flooding, the injection pressure of carbon dioxide would be kept above the minimum miscibility pressure. Thus carbon dioxide is miscible with the oil present in the reservoi

The mean age of AS patients was (35.0 ± 9.8) years.When the patients and control subjects were divided into different age groups (>40, 30-40, <30 years), the differences were not significantin terms of disease prevalence. The results also showed that the percentage of male patients is higher than that of females. There was no significant difference (P?0.05) between patients and controls in the distribution of males and females.Most of the patients had the disease for a period of 5 years or higher, with a disease severity of ? 2.1 and functional disability degree of I, II. The resultsshoweddifferent patterns of distribution for the three tested cytokines. A significant increase in the level of TNF-?, anon-significantincrease i

Volleyball is one of the sports that require physical and skill abilities thus many teaching models appeared to teach these abilities like group investigation model. The research aimed at identifying the effect of group investigation model on learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball. The researchers hypothesized statistical differences between pre and posttests in learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball as well as differences in posttests of controlling and experimental groups in learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball. The researcher used the experimental method on (30) second year female students of physical education and sport sciences college/ university of Baghdad. Group investigation model was app

The aim of this work was to estimate the concentrations of natural and artificial nuclides in some fertilized and unfertilized plant samples. These samples were collected and prepared in a petri dish for the measurements using gamma spectroscopy. The average values of 238U, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs for the unfertilized plant samples were (11.964 ± 3.226, 8.273 ± 2.639, 402.436 ± 18.099, and 2.761 ± 1.613) respectively, and for the fertilized plant samples were (30.434 ± 5.282, 22.584 ± 4.620, 711.332 ± 25.806, and 6.986 ± 2.542) respectively. The average values of radiological hazard indices, Raeq, D, D for 137Cs, (AEDE)in, (AEDE)out, Iγ, Hin, and Hout for the unfertilized plant samples were (54.782 ± 7.216, 27.306, 0.469, 0.

Medicinal plants contain bioactive substances that are highly bioavailable in extracts or pure molecules, making them promising for therapeutic applications and precursors for chemo-pharmaceutical semi-synthesis. Harpagophytum procumbens (Devil’s Claw) is widely recognized as one of the most potent therapeutic herbs. This study aimed to extract seeds from H. procumbens using two types of solvents and to assess both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the extracts. The two extracts were evaluated for antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities using agar well diffusion assays against four bacterial isolates and two yeast isolates. Qualitative analysis identified the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and terpen