Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disorder with various clinical types. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is significantly elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of MS patients compared with that of healthy controls. The aim of this study is to evaluate serum levels of GFAP in relation to disease activity in relapsing-remitting MS patients and to compare them with those of healthy controls. Method: This study involved 58 MS patients of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) type, 22 in an active stage of the disease and 36 in remission, and 50 healthy individuals as age- and sex-matched controls. Blood samples were taken from the patients at the MS Clinic of the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, and the serum levels of GFAP were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Mean GFAP serum levels in 22 patients presenting in the active state of the disease (6.47±3.39 ng/ml) and 36 cases in remission were (5.33±2.82 ng/ml) (p=0.074) were determined as indicated. When RRMS patients (n=58) were compared with the healthy controls (n=50, 1.89±1.21), the difference in serum levels of GFAP was statistically significant (p<0.001). The area under the curve of the serum measures of GFAP obtained through the receiver operating characteristics was 0.903, which was also statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: GFAP biomarker is an indicator of disease activity in RRMS patients, and its serum level may correlate with the state of remission or exacerbation.
In this research, a numerical simulation was conducted to study the behavior of the scouring pattern and the effect of spacing between bridge piers at specified hydraulic conditions such as velocity, depth of flow, and the sediment effective diameter. Moreover, the cross-section shape of piers and their effect on the scouring depth around bridge piers was studied, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), ANSYS (Fluent) software. A comparison of the simulation results obtained with previous laboratory investigations was done to verify the validity of the numerical model. Generally, the scour pattern using the CFD software gave good agreement with the experimental study. A reversed pro
Teachers should have acceptable ratios of multiple intelligences. Knowing their most dominate intelligence, teachers will be capable of understanding and considering the multiple intelligences of their students. Accordingly, they will be able to use Gardner’s theory as an effective approach of teaching for all kinds of learners and not limited to a specific type of students especially those who have high ratios of verbal-linguistic and logic-mathematical intelligences
Background: Tooth eruption is a localized process in the jaws which exhibits precise timing and bilateral symmetry. Develop within the jaws and their eruption is a complex infancy process during which they move through bone to their functional positions within the oral cavity. For species with more than one set of teeth, eruption of the second set also accomplishes. The key to the successful clinical management of tooth eruption consists of understanding that this process consists largely of the local regulation of alveolar bone metabolism to produce bone resorption in the direction of eruption and shift and formation of bone at the opposite side.The amniotic sac contains a considerable quantity of stem cells. These amniotic stem cells are
... Show MoreMassive multiple-input multiple-output (massive-MIMO) is considered as the key technology to meet the huge demands of data rates in the future wireless communications networks. However, for massive-MIMO systems to realize their maximum potential gain, sufficiently accurate downlink (DL) channel state information (CSI) with low overhead to meet the short coherence time (CT) is required. Therefore, this article aims to overcome the technical challenge of DL CSI estimation in a frequency-division-duplex (FDD) massive-MIMO with short CT considering five different physical correlation models. To this end, the statistical structure of the massive-MIMO channel, which is captured by the physical correlation is exploited to find sufficiently
... Show MoreThe purpose of current study is to analyze the computer textbooks content for intermediate stage in Iraq according to the theory of multiple intelligence. By answering the following question “what is the percentage of availability of multiple intelligence in the content of the computer textbooks on intermediate stage (grade I, II) for the academic year (2017-2018)? The researcher followed the descriptive analytical research approach (content analysis), and adopted an explicit idea for registration. The research tool was prepared according the Gardner’s classification of multiple intelligence. It has proven validity and reliability. The study found the percentage of multiple intelligence in the content of computer textbooks for the in
... Show MoreIn this paper, a theoretical investigation was suggested to study underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) system based on multiple input–multiple output (MIMO) technique. The modulation schemes such as RZ-OOK, NRZ-OOK, 32-PPM and 4-QAM applied under different coastal water types. MIMO technique enabled the system to transmit data rate with longer distance link. The performance of the proposed system examined by BER and data rate as a metrics. Several impairments such as the types of water by the attenuation of coastal water and the distance link were taken into account for the transmission of the optical signal to appreciate the reliability of the MIMO technique. The theore
Priority of road maintenance can be viewed as a process influenced by decision-makers with varying decision-making power. Each decision-maker may have their view and judgment depending on their function and responsibilities. Therefore, determining the priority of road maintenance can be thought of as a process of MCDM. Regarding the priority of road maintenance, this is a difficult MCDM problem involving uncertainty, qualitative criteria, and possible causal relationships between choice criteria. This paper aims to examine the applicability of multiple MCDM techniques, which are used for assessing the priority of road maintenance, by adapting them to this sector. Priority of road maintenance problems subject to internal
... Show MoreBackground: Cystinosis is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease with high morbidity and mortality. It is caused by mutations in the CTNS gene that encodes the cystine transporter, cystinosin, which leads to lysosomal cystine accumulation. It is the major cause of inherited Fanconi syndrome, and should be suspected in young children with failure to thrive and signs of renal proximal tubular damage. The diagnosis can be missed in infants, because not all signs of renal Fanconi syndrome are present during the first months of life. Elevated white blood cell cystine content is the cornerstone of the diagnosis. Since chitotriosidase (CHIT1 or chitinase-1) is mainly produced by activated macrophages both in normal and inflammator
... Show MoreBiomarkers such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) have a role in the pathogenesis of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to explore the differences between serum levels of such biomarkers in severe and non-severe COVID-19 cases and compare them with normal people and to evaluate the sociodemographic variables and chronic diseases effect on the severity of COVID-19. The study included 160 subjects, divided into two groups, a case group of 80 patients, and a control group of 80 normal persons. The case group was divided into two subgroups: 40 severe COVID-19 patients and 40 patients with non-severe disease. Blood IL-6 was asses
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the multiple intelligences in the fourth students’ acquisition of the literary processes of Arabic grammar and to identify the differences in multiple intelligence according to gender (males - females). The study was determined for students of the fourth literary preparatory Al-Hakim Preparatory (for males) and Rabat Preparatory (for females) of the Second Karkh Education Directorate, topics from the Arabic grammar subject (past tense, present tense, imperative, subject, and object) for the first semester of the academic year 2019-2020. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences at the significance level (0.05) between the average scores of the students who were tau
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