Background: Several infectious lung diseases often develop in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially during immunosuppressive medication, including disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The present study aimed to determine the role of respiratory tract bacterial infection in RA activity. Methods: Blood and sputum samples were collected from 31 patients with RA and 12 healthy subjects as control. The bacterial isolates were isolated and identified in collected sputum by biochemical tests and Vitec 2 system. Results: In the present study, thirty-one patients with RA were compared with 12 healthy subjects. Eight patients with RA were not infected with pathogenic bacteria (RA-NIPB) (25.8%). Twenty-three RA patients were infected with pathogenic bacteria (RA-IPB) (74.19%). From 23 RA-IPB, 10 RA patients were infected with Staphylococcus aureus, 6 RA patients were infected with Klebsiella pneumonia, 4 RA patients were infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae, and 3 RA patients were infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. No pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the sputum of a healthy subjects. There was no significant difference between RA-NIPB and RA-IPB in terms of the level of disease activity score DAS28. Conclusion: The current study showed that patients with RA have a higher incidence of being infected with pathogenic bacteria than the healthy control group. No significant effect of bacterial species infection on the level of DAS28. The present study is the pioneer study that showed no effect of bacterial respiratory infections and different RA treatments on RA disease activity.
The biosorption of lead (II) and chromium (III) onto dead anaerobic biomass (DAB) in single and binary systems has been studied using fixed bed adsorber. A general rate multi- component model (GRM) has been utilized to predict the fixed bed breakthrough curves for single and dual- component system. This model considers both external and internal mass transfer resistances as well as axial dispersion with non-liner multi-component isotherm (Langmuir model). The effects of important parameters, such as flow rate, initial concentration and bed height on the behavior of breakthrough curves have been studied. The equilibrium isotherm model parameters such as maximum uptake capacities for lead (II) and chromium (III) were found to be 35.12 and
... Show MoreObjectives: To compare early pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, multiple pregnancy, and congenital anomalies, among women who conceived following ovulation induction with letrozole or clomiphene citrate. Methods: A prospective comparative observational study was conducted at Al-Elwiya Maternity Teaching Hospital and a private clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, from March 2023 to December 2024. One hundred infertile women aged 21–35 years who conceived after ovulation induction with either letrozole (5 mg/day) or clomiphene citrate (100 mg/day) for five days (cycle days 3–7) were enrolled. Participants were followed through early pregnancy with serial sonography at 6, 8–11, and 18–20 weeks of gestation. Data
... Show MoreObjective: The descriptive study was used to evaluate nursing staff performance in cardiac care units at teaching
and non teaching hospitals in kirkuk city: A comparative study.
Methodology: A descriptive study was used to evaluate nursing staff performance in cardiac care units. The study
was conducted from December 29th
, 2013 up to the 27th of Apr. 2014. A non-probability (purposive) sample of
(44) nurses who work in cardiac care unit at Azady teaching Hospital and Kirkuk general Hospital was evaluated by
a questionnaire which consisted of two parts; the first part is concerned with the demographic characteristics of
the nurses and the second part concerned Observation check list for evaluation nursing staff Perfo
The effects of nutrients and physical conditions on phytase production were investigated with a recently isolated strain of Aspergillus tubingensis SKA under solid state fermentation on wheat bran. The nutrient factors investigated included carbon source, nitrogen source, phosphate source and concentration, metal ions (salts) and the physical parameters investigated included inoculum size, pH, temperature and fermentation duration. Our investigations revealed that optimal productivity of phytase was achieved using wheat bran supplemented with: 1.5% glucose. 0.5% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% sodium phytate. Additionally, optimal physical conditions were 1 × 105 spore/g substrate, initial pH of 5.0, temperature of fermentation 30˚C and fermentation dura
... Show MoreIn the present study, magnet silica-coated Ag2WO4/Ag2S nanocomposites (FOSOAWAS) were fabricated via a multistep method to address the drawbacks related to single photocatalysts (pure Ag2WO4 and pure Ag2S) and to clarify the significant influence of semiconductor heterojunction on the enhancement of visible-light-driven organic degradation. Different techniques were performed to investigate the elemental composition, morphology, magnetic and photoelectrochemical properties of the fabricated FOSOAWAS photocatalyst. The FOSOAWAS photocatalyst (1 g/L) exhibited excellent photodegradation efficiency (99.5%) against Congo red dye (CR = 20 ppm) after 140 min of visible-light illumination. This result confirmed the ability of the heterojunction be
... Show MorePurpose Heavy metals are toxic pollutants released into the environment as a result of different industrial activities. Biosorption of heavy metals from aqueous solutions is a new technology for the treatment of industrial wastewater. The aim of the present research is to highlight the basic biosorption theory to heavy metal removal. Materials and methods Heterogeneous cultures mostly dried anaerobic bacteria, yeast (fungi), and protozoa were used as low-cost material to remove metallic cations Pb(II), Cr(III), and Cd(II) from synthetic wastewater. Competitive biosorption of these metals was studied. Results The main biosorption mechanisms were complexation and physical adsorption onto natural active functional groups. It is observed that
... Show MoreThe increasing use of antiseptic compounds creates selective pressure cause emergence of antiseptic resistance among Staphylococcus aureus .Resistance mechanism of antiseptic is driven mainly by multi drug resistant (MDR) efflux protein.Sixty five isolates of S.aureuswere collected from different clinical sources and subjected to 11 antibiotics most of them are recognized by efflux systems as extruded substrates. Range of efflux activity was estimated using cartwheel method. Simultaneous discrimination of antiseptic coding genes (qacA/B, smr and norA)as well as nuc and mecA genes among multidrug resistantS.aureus(MRSA) isolates was preformed using multiplex PCR assay
... Show MoreThis study uses an environmentally friendly and low-cost synthesis method to manufacture zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) by using zinc sulfate. Eucalyptus leaf extract is an effective chelating and capping agent for synthesizing ZnO NPs. The structure, morphology, thermal behavior, chemical composition, and optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles were studied utilizing FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDAX, AFM, and Zeta potential analysis. The FE-SEM pictures confirmed that the ZnO NPs with a size range of (22-37) nm were crystalline and spherical. Two methods were used to prepare ZnO NPs. The first method involved calcining the resulting ZnO NPs, while the second method did not. The prepared ZnO NPs were used as adsorbents for removing acid black 210
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