Background Psoriasis is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin conditions; its prevalence ranges from 1 to 3%. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), a cytokine that enhances inflammation, is overexpressed in synovium and skin plaques in psoriasis. TNF-α plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. IL-10 is the most crucial cytokine for reducing excessive immune responses and decreasing pro-inflammatory reactions in all autoimmune disorders. Objective To evaluate the effect of Apremilast on ILـ10, TNFـα, and BMI in obese psoriatic patients. Methods Thirty patients included in this investigative study to measure the concentrations of TNFـα, ILـ10 and BMI, before and after receiving Apremilast. TNFـα and ILـ10 were examined by ELISA technique. Results The present work found that the concentration of TNF-α before receiving Apremilast was 286.80 pg/ml, and after six months from baseline, it was reduced to 131.08 pg/ml (P<0.01). Also, IL-10 before using Apremilast was 69.28 pg/ml, and after six months of treatment it increased to 112.57 ±7.89, which was statistically significant (P<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in BMI (P>0.05). Conclusion Apremilast significantly reduced the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α and increased the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, leading to improvement in psoriasis lesions. It also reduced Body Mass Index in obese psoriatic patients.
This study aims to evaluate the performance of the sewage treatment plant in Al- Diwaniya, one of cities in the southern part in Iraq. This evaluation could be used to facilitate effluent quality assessment or optimal process control of the plant. The influent reaching the plant is considered a medium to strong in strength with BOD5/COD ratio in the range 0.23 and 0.69 which can be considered an easily degradable sewage by the biological processes performed by the activated sludge unit. The quality of the effluent was found to be higher than the Iraqi standards for disposal to water bodies. The BOD5/COD ratios of the treated sewage varied over a wide range as low of 0.13 to 1.48 indicating operational problems in the plant. Regressio
... Show MoreA major disadvantage of dose reconstruction by means of thermoluminescence (TL) is the fact that during readout of any TL material exposed to ionizing radiation (i.e., during measuring the glow curve), the radiation-induced signal gets lost. Application of the photo-transferred thermoluminescence phenomenon (PTTL) may offer a solution to this problem. In PTTL, the residual signal that is not destroyed by conventional TL readout (because it comes from deeper electron traps) can be readout through simultaneous stimulation by UV light and heating, allowing to obtain information about the absorbed dose in a second run. The present paper describes the application of PTTL for emergency dose assessment. For
The design of safe pedestrian facilities usually depends on the assessment of pedestrian characteristics and behavior. In this investigation, pedestrian walking speed through the religious occasion have been monitored at three locations, Al- Kadhimiya (Imam AL-Kadim), Najaf and Karbala (Imam AL-Husain) holy shrines. Video captures of the pedestrian through their walking to the two holy shrines have been prepared and analyzed for walking speed, gender, age groups, and clothing tradition. The pedestrian sample size is 468, 501, and 447 for Al- Kadhimiya, Karbala, and Najaf respectively. When the gender is taken into consideration, it can be noted that the walking speed of male and female pedestrian is (0.97, 1.68, and 1.63
... Show MoreThis study aimed to evaluate the surface changes of commercial pure Titanium disks (CP Ti) and the Ti 13Nb 13 Zr (Alloy) with a zigzag pattern of laser surface treatment. In vitro, experimental study of CNC Laser treatment on the CP Ti and Alloy disks. Texturing the surfaces of CP Ti and Alloy disks via CNC laser, the sample disks were analyzed using surface roughness, wettability and FESEM. The FESEM revealed a proper increase in the surface texturing and roughness on macro and micro measures without crack formation or dramatic change of the core substance of the CP Ti and Alloy disks. The CNC laser is an effective and suitable method for surface texturing CP Ti and Alloy for dental implantology. Keywords: Commercial pure Titanium;
... Show MoreStorage of rainwater within the root depth zone is one of the modern ways to increase plant production. Subsurface water retention technology was applied to assess improving values of crop yield and crop water use efficiency, applying a membrane made of low-density polyethylene trough installed below the crop root zone. The goal of this paper is to assess that the retention of rainwater above the membrane can improve the crop yield and crop water use efficiency values for winter wheat. The experiment was conducted in open field, within Joeybeh Township, located in east of the Ramadi City, in Anbar Province, in winter growing season 2018-2019. Two plots T1 (with membrane trough) and T2 (without membrane) were used for the
... Show MoreAims: This study aimed to assess complications of caesarean section among pregnant women attending AL Diwaniyah Maternity and Pediatric Hospital; and find out relationship between complications of caesarean section and socio-demographic data of women. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design is conducted for the period of December 26th 2020 to June 1st 2021. The validity of the questionnaire is determine through a panel of experts and reliability was achieved through a pilot study. By a purposive sample is selected among pregnant women who undergo caesarean section, data was collected through the use of questionnaire and interview techniques; and analyzed through the descriptive and inferential statistic. Results: Findings indica
... Show MoreOrganogel as a system was to estimate its capacity to delay and slow the drug release in the duodenum. The gelators, 12HSA (12-hydroxystearic acid), span 60. span 40 were used; the castor oil (CO) and anise oil (AO) also represented the liquid phase. To achieve the goal of this work was by using diclofenac sodium (DS). Organogels specifications were by estimating thermal attitude using tabletop rheology and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The organogel strength study was by applying oscillatory rheology tests the amplitude sweep and the frequency sweep. Realizing the morphology of the organogel was done utilizing an optical microscope. CO and AO binding capacity was also manifested. The transition temperatures for all organogels
... Show MoreBioindicators have an important role in assessing the quality of water bodies. Aquatic oligocheates, was used as a bioindicator to assess the sediment quality of Al-Hindyia and AL-Abbasyia river (branches of Euphrates River in Iraq). Two sites in each river have been chosen for this purpose, site S1 was located at Al-Hindyia River and S2 at Al-Abbasyia River. Some kinds of biological indices were used in this study, comprising the percentage of oligochaetes in benthic invertebrates, ranged from 20.3-60.16%. While the percentage of Tubificidae within benthic invertebrates was close 43.3-43.9%.Index of pollution D ranged from 0.13-0.21. The maximum percentage of aquatic oligochaetes to insects larvae of family
... Show MoreTwenty bacterial isolates were identified as Staphylococcus aureus collected from wounds and catheters related infections. A capsulated S. aureus isolate was chosen after performing serum soft agar test, for this study Neutropenic mice were challenged with capsulated S. aureus ,and the effect of G-CSF with or without moxifloxacin was studied. The results indicated that the addition of G-CSF to moxifloxacin therapy have a synergistic effect in the killing of the bacteria, while when each G-CSF and moxifloxacin were used seperately have a similar effect on bacterial killing. It was found that the moxifloxacin has the same activity as G_CSF but is less costly than the latter one.
Monetary sterilization policies are one of the modern trends of monetary policy in rentier countries, specifically to confront the positive shocks in foreign assets flowing into the national economy and the impact of these shocks on monetary and real variables. And that the Central Bank contains these emergency increases in foreign exchange with the aim of avoiding the impact of this increase on the official local currency through its three main monetary tools, which are the rediscount rate, the legal reserve, and open market operations. As well as the relationship between the central bank and the objective of external balance, which is reflected in the balance of payments balance, the central bank resorts to managing the exchange rate
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