Background A case-control study was performed to explore eight pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, namely interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1Ra (IL-1 receptor antagonist), IL-12, IL-17A, IL-31, IL-33, CXCL10 (C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10), and CXCL16, with the aim to understand their role in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) pathogenesis and evaluate their utility as markers to differentiate between diseased and healthy individuals. Among these cytokines, IL-31 and CXCL16 have not been well studied in AS. Patients and methods The study included 94 male patients with AS and 91 age-matched control males. Interleukin and chemokine levels were measured using ELISA kits. Results Serum levels of IL-17A, CXCL10, and CXCL16 were significantly ele

The theatre is one of the main pillars of the human aesthetic thinking as it contains logical explanations for the public human life aspects outside time and environment. When we find that the directive philosophical thinking moving away from the stylistic constants and the virtual laws in taboos that control the accomplishment in terms of the traditional shapes, the employment and the theatrical reception. Some directors moved in post-modernism concepts in a perceptive that liberates thought from its natural context in thinking into an innovative perceptive. The aesthetic images are the basic premise in the prohibition of the philosophical thinking interpretation in order to move the directive thinking and this movement depends on the v

Background: Although the new treatment methods developed in recent years are aiming to minimize the need for cooperation of the patients; however, the latter still important factor the treatment. The aim of the study was to evaluate the cooperation level of Class III maloc-clusion patients with orthodontic treatment. Materials and methods: This study followed a cross-sectional style; the targeted population was patients with Class III malocclusion who were treated with three different types of orthopaedic appliances. Four questionnaires were delivered to the patient, patient’s parents, and orthodontists. Statistical analyses of the study were performed with SPSS 20.0 software. Descriptive analyses were presented using fre-quency, percenta

This study investigated the outcome of Alstonia boonei stem bark on liver enzymes after inducing the Wistar albino rats with carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄). This effect of plant extract was compared with silymarin – a drug commonly used for the treatment of chronic hepatocyte disorder. The plant sample was extracted with ethanol; acute toxicity study of the extract was performed on eighteen Wistar mice, while 30 rats were sacrificed for liver enzymes assay. The rats were divided into six clusters: each cluster has five rats, culster 1 served as control and was given 2 mL/kg b.w - distilled water; clusters 2 – 6 were CCl₄ induced. Cluster 2 was untreated but served as the negative control while cluster 3 wa

When we try to navigate the experiment in search of the repressed and to find the dream of creativity by changing the modularity of the presentation, and the relationship of the characters with the rest of the elements according to a visual vision that reflects the product of the presentation system through the formation of visions and ideas within the textual structure.
We find that the expression of the theatrical act may need to exclude narrative dialogues and turn them into a tangible visual language. Physical and visual expression, and movement review, thus producing a “picture language” through which it is possible to form a new vision, and this is called (image theater), which translates the language of dialogue through lig

The research is summarized in the construction of a mathematical model using the most common methods in the science of Operations Research, which are the models of transportation and linear programming to find the best solution to the problem of the high cost of hajj in Iraq, and this is done by reaching the optimum number of pilgrims traveling through both land ports and the number Ideal for passengers traveling through airports by Iraqi Airways, instead of relying on the personal experience of the decision-maker in Hajj and Umrah Authority by identifying the best port for pilgrim's travel, which can tolerate right or wrong, has been based on scientific methods of Operations Research, the researcher built two mathematical models

The assessment of a river water’ quality is an essential procedure of monitor programs and isused to collect basic environmental data. The management of integrated water resources in asustainable method is also necessary to allow future generations to meet their water needs. Themain objective of this research is to assess the effect of the Diyala River on Tigris River waterquality using Geographic Information System (GIS) technique. Water samples have beencollected monthly from November 2017 to April 2018 from four selected locations in Tigris andDiyala Rivers using the grab sampling method. Fourteen parameters were studied which areTurbidity, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Biological Oxygen Demand, Electrical Conductivity, TotalDissolved Solids,

In this paper, we introduce a DCT based steganographic method for gray scale images. The embedding approach is designed to reach efficient tradeoff among the three conflicting goals; maximizing the amount of hidden message, minimizing distortion between the cover image and stego-image,and maximizing the robustness of embedding. The main idea of the method is to create a safe embedding area in the middle and high frequency region of the DCT domain using a magnitude modulation technique. The magnitude modulation is applied using uniform quantization with magnitude Adder/Subtractor modules. The conducted test results indicated that the proposed method satisfy high capacity, high preservation of perceptual and statistical properties of the steg