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.
Background: Assessment is an important part of the learning cascade in education. Students realize it as an influential motivator to direct and guide their learning. The method of assessment determines the way the students reach high levels of learning. It has been documented that one of factor affecting students’ choice of learning approach is the way how assessment is being performed. Many methods of assessment namely multiple choice questions, essay questions and others are mainly used to assess basic science knowledge in undergraduate education. Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare multiple choice questions (MCQ) and essay questions (EQ) (record the success and failure rate of multiple choice questions (MCQ) and essay quest
... Show MoreOsteoarthritis (OA) is a series of aggressive destructive inflammatory processes. Synovitis is common both at an early and a late phase. This disease may be uniquely singular in some site but phylogenetically related at some point in time to produce a common outcome of dysfunction, disability, socioeconomic destruction and sometimes socioeconomic failure. Articular cartilage, subchondral bone and synovial membrane are the site of major abnormalities in this disease process. Rheumatoid factor (RF) represents one of the routine laboratory tests that made for all patients have joint complaints.Chloroquine phosphate (CQP) is agent belong to disease modifying osteoathritic drugs (DMOADs). Chloroquine and their derivatives have been used for t
... Show Morewith an organized propaganda campaign. This military campaign was helped to formulate its speech by many institutions, research centers, and knowledge and intelligence circles in order to mobilize public opinion gain supporters and face the opponents by different means depending on a variety of styles to achieve its required effects.
After the US occupation of Iraq, US media fighters sought to influence the Iraqi public opinion and making them convinced them of the important presence of US military forces in Iraq which necessitated finding its justification through the use of persuasive techniques in its intensive propaganda campaigns.
This research discusses the most important
The methods used by the print media (press) is varied in conveying its messages and its orientations to the readers. But language takes the leading method among these methods, or a real competitor - so far - due to the characteristics and advantages of languages, including: ease, abbreviation, and development, etc.
In the midst of such events, political tensions, and what they carry of the global developments, and among which was the most important the fall of the former Iraqi regime in the spring of 2003, the press had the greatest share, and a large portion on the level of monitoring, analyzing, and interpreting the various consequences of the event. The interpreting of the news varies according to the evolving political trends
... Show MoreIn this paper, a polymer-based composite material was prepared by hand Lay-up method consisting of epoxy resin as a base material reinforced by magnesium oxide powder once and silicon dioxide powder again and with different weight ratios (3, 6, 9 and 12) wt %. The three-point bending test was performed in normal conditions and after immersion in sulfuric acid. The results showed that the bending value decreased with the increase of the weighted ratio of the reinforcement material (MgO, SiO2). The Bending of samples reinforced by SiO2 was found to be less than the bending of samples reinforced by particles (MgO). For example, the bending of the SiO2 sample (0.32 mm) at the weighted ratio (3%) and for the MgO (0.18mm) sample at the weight
... Show MoreAmeloblastic fibroma is a rare benign tumor usually affects the first two decades of life. The neoplasm is more predominant in mandibular molar-premolar region and rarely affects the maxilla. In this report, we present a couple of Ameloblastic fibroma cases, affecting boys at their 1st decade. The lesions were presented as swellings of their maxilla, which is atypical location. Radiographic images showed well-defined radiolucency containing areas of radio-opacities and impacted teeth. Differential diagnosis was established as cystic/neoplastic conditions. The lesions were incised and histopathologically diagnosed as Ameloblastic fibroma, since they were composed of immature odontogenic mesenchymal and epithelial cells showing different c
... Show MoreToday’s modern medical imaging research faces the challenge of detecting brain tumor through Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI). Normally, to produce images of soft tissue of human body, MRI images are used by experts. It is used for analysis of human organs to replace surgery. For brain tumor detection, image segmentation is required. For this purpose, the brain is partitioned into two distinct regions. This is considered to be one of the most important but difficult part of the process of detecting brain tumor. Hence, it is highly necessary that segmentation of the MRI images must be done accurately before asking the computer to do the exact diagnosis. Earlier, a variety of algorithms were developed for segmentation of MRI images by usin
... Show MoreObjective: Breast cancer is regarded as a deadly disease in women causing lots of mortalities. Early diagnosis of breast cancer with appropriate tumor biomarkers may facilitate early treatment of the disease, thus reducing the mortality rate. The purpose of the current study is to improve early diagnosis of breast by proposing a two-stage classification of breast tumor biomarkers fora sample of Iraqi women.
Methods: In this study, a two-stage classification system is proposed and tested with four machine learning classifiers. In the first stage, breast features (demographic, blood and salivary-based attributes) are classified into normal or abnormal cases, while in the second stage the abnormal breast cases are
... Show MoreA variety of single-engine driven files and inematics have been introduced to improve the clinical performance of NiTi rotary files. The purpose of this in vitro study was to measure and compare the incidence of dentinal defects after root canal preparation with different single file systems.
Background: preparation of root canals is an important step in root canal treatment. Mechanical instrumentation of root canals cause an irregular layer of debris, known as the smear layer. As a result, several studies reported that preferring the removal of the smear layer. Objective: To study the influence of the energy (100 mJ) of Erbium, Chromium: Yttrium Scandium Gallium Garnet (Er,Cr:YSGG) laser at short pulse duration (60 μs) on smear layer removal of apical third after using Photon induced photoacoustic streaming technique. Materials and methods: Eighteen straight single-rooted mandibular premolars were used. The roots length were uniform to 14mm from the anatomic apex and
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