Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune vesiculobullous mucocutaneous disease with life-threatening consequences. Rituximab (RTX) has recently emerged as an effective treatment for PV. Objectives: This study aims to determine changes in neutrophil and platelet counts for PV patients treated with RTX or corticosteroids combined with Imuran (azathioprine). Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Dermatology at Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq. Thirty PV patients received two types of treatment: 15 patients were administered RTX and 15 patients took corticosteroids with Imuran (azathioprine). Neutrophil and platelet counts were detected at the hospital laboratory. Results: The age range of PV patients was 27–67 years, and the mean ±SD was 44.866 ± 10.979 years for the patient group treated with RTX and 44.133 ± 11.519 for the patient group treated with corticosteroids and Imuran. In patients treated with RTX, 26.6% were males and 73.33% were females, with a female-to-male ratio of 2.75:1. In patients treated with corticosteroids with Imuran, 40% were males and 60% were females, with a female-to-male ratio of 1.5:1. The results revealed that among patients treated with RTX, 30% of them had mucocutaneous lesions, 6.66% had oral lesions, and 13.33% had cutaneous lesions. Among the other groups treated with corticosteroids and Imuran, 23.33% had mucocutaneous lesions, 13.33% had oral lesions, and 13.33% had cutaneous lesions. Among the patients treated with RTX, 53.33% had normal range of neutrophil count, while 46.6% had neutrophil count above the NR, while in patients treated with corticosteroids and Imuran, 40% had a normal range and 60% had above the normal range. Conclusion: RTX was a more effective treatment compared to corticosteroids with Imuran because no patient remained in an active state during this study. PV was prevalent in females aged 40 years with mucocutaneous lesions.
Catalytic reduction is considered an effective approach for the reduction of toxic organic pollutants from the environment, but finding an active catalyst is still a big challenge. Herein, Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst was synthesized through polyol reduction method and applied for catalytic reduction (conversion) of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst displayed an outstanding reduction activity with 99% conversion of 4-NP in 5 min with a 0.61 min−1 reaction rate (k). A number of structural characterization techniques were executed to investigate the influence of Ag on CeO2 and its effect on the catalytic conversion of 4-NP. The outstanding catalytic performances of the Ag-CeO2 catalyst can be assigne
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This work involves studying the effect of adding some selective organic component mixture on corrosion behavior of pure Al and its alloys in condensed synthetic automotive solution (CSAS) at room temperature. This mixture indicates the increasing of octane number in previous study and in this study show the increasing in corrosion resistance through the decreasing in corrosion rate values.
Electrochemical measurements were carried out by potentiostat at 3 mV/sec to estimate the corrosion parameters using Tafel extrapolation method, in addition to cyclic polarization test to know the pitting susceptibility of materials in tested medium.
The cathodic Tafel slope
... Show MoreThis paper presents the first data for bremsstrahlung buildup factor (BBUF) produced by the complete absorption of Y-91 beta particles in different materials via the Monte Carlo simulation method. The bremsstrahlung buildup factors were computed for different thicknesses of water, concrete, aluminum, tin and lead. A single relation between the bremsstrahlung buildup factor BBUF with both the atomic number Z and thickness X of the shielding material has been suggested.
Spatial data analysis is performed in order to remove the skewness, a measure of the asymmetry of the probablitiy distribution. It also improve the normality, a key concept of statistics from the concept of normal distribution “bell shape”, of the properties like improving the normality porosity, permeability and saturation which can be are visualized by using histograms. Three steps of spatial analysis are involved here; exploratory data analysis, variogram analysis and finally distributing the properties by using geostatistical algorithms for the properties. Mishrif Formation (unit MB1) in Nasiriya Oil Field was chosen to analyze and model the data for the first eight wells. The field is an anticline structure with northwest- south
... Show MoreNew Fe(II),Co(II),Ni(II),Cu(II) and Zn(II) Schiff base complexes which have the molar ratio 2:1 metal to ligand of the general formula [M2( L) X4] (where L=bis(2-methyl furfuraldene)-4-4`-methylene bis(cyclo-hexylamine) ) were prepared by the reaction of the metal salts with the ligand of Schiff base derived from the condensation of 2:1 molar ratio of 2-acetyl furan and 4-4`-methylene bis (cyclohexylamine). The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis using atomic absorption spectrophotometer ,molar conductance measurements, infrared, electronic spectra,and magnetic susceptibility measurement. These studies revealed binuclear omplexes. The metal(II) ion in these complexes have four coordination sites giving the most ex
... Show MoreOne of the most important problems that would continuously face the Higher education organizations is how to improve the service level presented by them, and how this can lead to increase demand for services of this organizations.As this issue has exhausted many organizations pushed some of them to withdraw from the market Because of weaknesses in their services. Here lies the importance of this matter to be given more attention in order to maintain the organization competitive position. According to that, The selection of the research title (The Impact of Quality on the Level of the University Service Request) which seeks to measure the impact of service quality on the level of demand, At a time when world&
... Show MoreEco-friendly concrete is produced using the waste of many industries. It reduces the fears concerning energy utilization, raw materials, and mass-produced cost of common concrete. Several stress-strain models documented in the literature can be utilized to estimate the ultimate strength of concrete components reinforced with fibers. Unfortunately, there is a lack of data on how non-metallic fibers, such as polypropylene (PP), affect the properties of concrete, especially eco-friendly concrete. This study presents a novel approach to modeling the stress-strain behavior of eco-friendly polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete (PFRC) using meta-heuristic particle swarm optimization (PSO) employing 26 PFRC various mixtures. The cement was partia
... Show MoreDeep learning has recently received a lot of attention as a feasible solution to a variety of artificial intelligence difficulties. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) outperform other deep learning architectures in the application of object identification and recognition when compared to other machine learning methods. Speech recognition, pattern analysis, and image identification, all benefit from deep neural networks. When performing image operations on noisy images, such as fog removal or low light enhancement, image processing methods such as filtering or image enhancement are required. The study shows the effect of using Multi-scale deep learning Context Aggregation Network CAN on Bilateral Filtering Approximation (BFA) for d
... Show MoreThe paper uses the Direct Synthesis (DS) method for tuning the Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller for controlling the DC servo motor. Two algorithms are presented for enhancing the performance of the suggested PID controller. These algorithms are Back-Propagation Neural Network and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The performance and characteristics of DC servo motor are explained. The simulation results that obtained by using Matlab program show that the steady state error is eliminated with shorter adjusted time when using these algorithms with PID controller. A comparative between the two algorithms are described in this paper to show their effectiveness, which is found that the PSO algorithm gives be
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