Cytokines play a prominent role in etiology and pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and one of these cytokines is interleukin-1β (IL-1β). The association between IL1B gene single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP: rs16944) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a sample of Iraqi patients was investigated. Fifty-one RA patients (21 males and 30 females) were enrolled and their age range was 20 - 63 years (44.9 ± 1.5 years). In addition to patients, 45 apparently healthy control subjects were also enrolled in the study. They matched patients for ethnicity (Iraqis), gender (14 males and 31 females) and age (41.3 ± 1.3 years). Analysis of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in RA patients and controls revealed that the IL1B ge

     Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflamed chronic autoimmune disease in which genetics and environment are the most common causative factors. Peptidyl arginine deiminase type IV (PADI4) is an enzyme responsible for the posttranslational conversion of arginine residues into citrulline. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a specific technique was used to determine gene polymorphism. One hundred twenty three patients molecularly confirmed with RA and sixty healthy control subjects were recruited. By applying the logistic regression analysis, some alleles and genotypes were associated with susceptibility to RA. Under the allelic model, C allele frequency was significantly increased in RA patients compared

Portland cement concrete is the most commonly used construction material in the world for decades. However, the searches in concrete technology are remaining growing to meet particular properties related to its strength, durability, and sustainability issue. Thus, several types of concrete have been developed to enhance concrete performance. Most of the modern concrete types have to contain supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) as a partial replacement of cement. These materials are either by-products of waste such as fly ash, slag, rice husk ash, and silica fume or from a geological resource like natural pozzolans and metakaolin (MK). Ideally, the utilization of SCMs will enhance the concrete performance, minimize

It was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 fem

       Background: viruses are responsible for a large proportion of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). Other causes of LRTIs are bacteria: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus being the most common. Sputum samples are commonly used in the microbiological laboratory for diagnosing lower respiratory infections. Objective: The aim of this study to evaluate the causative bacteria and antibiotics sensitivity in culture of sputum samples. Patients Methods: A retrospective study performed in the microbiology department of Al Immamin Al Kahdimin Medical laboratory in Baghdad. The results of sput

This study was designed to highlight the role of Epstein Barr viruses (EBV) as a possible causative effect in multiple sclerosis (MS) through testing the viral load along with both biochemical and immunological parameters in female MS patients. We also aimed at finding the effects of different types of treatment line on the various study aspects. The results of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed first an increased level of EBV EBNA1IgG IL-17A (96.13±27.60 pg/ml) in sera of female MS patients (0.05±0.01 U/ml, n=50) compared with the control group (n=40). We confirmed this result using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) which also showed a significantly higher EBV load in MS patients (22.61±12.72 copi

     In the contemporary world, the security of data and privacy policies are major concerns in cloud computing. Data stored on the cloud has been claimed to be unsafe and liable to be hacked. Users have found it difficult to trust their data in the cloud. Users want to know that their data is accessible from anywhere and that an unauthorized user will not be able to access it. Another area of concern is the authentication of users over the cloud. There are a number of security concerns with Cloud Computing which include Distributed Denial of Service, Data leakage, and many more, just to mention a few. In this paper, an Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) algorithm is used for the encryption and decryption of the information stored on

The current investigation included study of leaf surface epidermis beside indumentum for the species Galium aparine L., G. ceratopodum Boiss, G. setaceum Lam., G. spurium L., and G. tricornatum Dandy, the study showed that paracytic type of stomatal complex is the only type occur in leaf. The indumentum compose of eglandular hairs vary in their apices, length and occurrence of different part of plant body

     Wasit Governorate is characterized by industrials activities such as groups of asphalts and bricks factories, oil fields and thermal power plant, in addition to the agricultural activity that is widely separated, which leads to pollution of the surface soils with heavy metals. The main objective in this research is to assess heavy metals pollution and understand the distribution in the surface soils in the studied area.  Twenty two surface soils samples were collected from 6 districts and 4 subdistricts within Wasit Governorate during April 2017. The results obtained showed that grain size analyzes are classified as sandy mud (sand 9.5%, silt 50.8 % and clays 39.8%). In the term of geochemic