Background Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disorder with rising prevalence. Early detection of structural damage is difficult. Consequently, there is a pressing demand for reliable biomarkers that enable an earlier diagnosis of osteoarthritis. The aim is to investigate the level of serum fibulin-3 in patients with primary knee osteoarthritis and its correlation with disease severity. Subjects and methods A case–control study was conducted at the Baqubah Teaching Hospital from November 2023 to January 2024. One hundred twenty persons participated in this study (eighty females with the diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis in its early and late stages, and forty age-matched, apparently healthy control. Serum fibulin-3, ESR, CRP, and calcium levels were measured for all participants. Ethical approval was obtained. SPSS was used for data analysis. Results Patients with osteoarthritis had considerably higher serum levels of fibulin-3. In patients with late-stage knee osteoarthritis, this rise was greater than in earlier stages. Serum fibulin and ESR are positively correlated. Fibulin’s area under the curve is 0.830 for diagnosis and 0.709 for differentiating between osteoarthritis’s early and late stages. Conclusion Serum levels of fibulin-3 can act as diagnostic markers for OA and may be useful in determining the severity of knee osteoarthritis.
This research deals with the study of top soil electrical conductive regions located within Baghdad City. The research included measuring the dissolved soil material extraction Electrical Conductivity (EC) with an aqueous solution for the top (0-30 cm) soil layer of the study area. As the electrical conductivity values increase by increasing the amount of dissolved salts in principle, we can consider that the aim of this research is to predict the amount and distribution of (soil contamination with salts) which is represented by the (Salt Index), this factor calculated for each soil representative sample taken from the region with a depth of (30 cm). Laboratory (EC) test values measured by the use of solutions (EC) digital meter for the ex
... Show MoreIn this paper, we investigate the basic characteristics of "magnetron sputtering plasma" using the target V2O5. The "magnetron sputtering plasma" is produced using "radio frequency (RF)" power supply and Argon gas. The intensity of the light emission from atoms and radicals in the plasma measured by using "optical emission spectrophotometer", and the appeared peaks in all patterns match the standard lines from NIST database and employed are to estimate the plasma parameters, of computes electron temperature and the electrons density. The characteristics of V2O5 sputtering plasma at multiple discharge provisos are studied at the "radio frequency" (RF) power ranging from 75 - 150 Wat
... Show MoreReliability analysis methods are used to evaluate the safety of reinforced concrete structures by evaluating the limit state function 𝑔(𝑋𝑖). For implicit limit state function and nonlinear analysis , an advanced reliability analysis methods are needed. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) can be used in this case however, as the number of input variables increases, the time required for MCS also increases, making it a time consuming method especially for complex problems with implicit performance functions. In such cases, MCS-based FORM (First Order Reliability Method) and Artificial Neural Network-based FORM (ANN FORM) have been proposed as alternatives. However, it is important to note that both MCS-FORM and ANN-FORM can also be time-con
... Show MoreMaximum power point tracking (MPPT) is used in photovoltaic (PV) systems to enhance efficiency and maximize the output power of PV module, regardless the variation of temperature, irradiation, and the electrical characteristics of the load. A new MPPT system has been presented in this research, consisting of a synchronous DC-DC step-down Buck converter controlled by an Arduino microcontroller based unit. The MPPT process with Perturb and Observe method is performed with a DC-DC converter circuit to overcome the problem of voltage mismatch between the PV modules and the loads. The proposing system has high efficiency, lower cost and can be easily modified to handle more energy sources. The test results indicate that the u
... Show MoreTitanium dioxide TiO2 has been widely utilized in cleaning and sterilizing material for many clinical tools sanitary ware, food tableware and cooking and items for use in hospitals. Titanium dioxide TiO2 non toxicity and long term physical and chemical stability. It has been widely used decomposition of organic compounds and microbial organisms such as cancer cell, viruses and bacteria as well as its potential application in sterilization of medical devices. The aim of the study the effect of titanium dioxide TiO2 on some Gram negative bacteria and study their effects on some virulence factors and chromosomal DNA.In this study, we obtained (E. coli ? Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris ? Pseudomonas aeruginosa ? Klebsiella pneumonia and Ac
... Show MoreA laboratory experiment was conducted in the labs of Seeds Testing and Certification Department, Ministry of Agriculture in 2017 to improve germination and seedling growth in primed sorghum seeds by different concentrations and soaking durations of acids of gibberellic (GA3)(distilled water, 75, 150 and 300 mg l-1), salicylic (SA)(distilled water, 40, 70 and 100 mg l-1) and soaking duration (SD)(12 and 24 h). Factorial experiment in completely randomized design was applied with four r replications. The results showed the superiority of the two soaking treatments with GA3 (300 mg l-1) and SA (70 mg l-1) at germination ratio, radicle and plumule lengths, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index (81.3%, 2.7 cm, 8.9 cm, 0.081 mg and 984) a
... Show MoreIrinotecan (CPT-11) is a semisynthetic derivative of the antineoplastic agent camptothecin used in a wide range as an anti-cancer agent in many solid tumors because of its cytotoxic effect through the interaction with the topoisomerase I enzyme. The major limiting factors for irinotecan treatment are its association with potentially life-threatening toxicities including neutropenia and acute or delayed-type diarrhea, results from distinct interindividual and interethnic variability due to gene polymorphism.
This is a cross sectional pharmacogentics study was conducted on 25 cancer patients to estimate the prevalence of UGT1A1*93 and ABCC5 allele single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in Iraqi cancer patients treated with irinotecan
... Show MoreObjective: Detection the level of YKL-40 biochemical marker and vitamin D level in sera of Iraqi uterine cancer
females' patients.
Methodology: This study included 90 female volunteers, 30 of them were healthy volunteers who were
considered as a control group, while sixty serum samples were collected from women patients suffering from
uterine tumors (30 malignant and 30 fibroid benign tumors), benign cases were considered as a disease
control group for malignant tumors. The average age of those females was 30-75 years, which matched the
control group. All the samples were collected from Azady hospital in Kirkuk and the gynecologic department at
Medical City in Baghdad during October /2012 to May /2013. All the serum
Background: Obesity is an evolving major health problem in both developed and developing countries. Traditional obesity indices as body mass index, waist circumference, waist-hip-ratio are well known measures to identify obese subjects, however, neck circumference as an index of upper-body obesity was found to be a simple and time-saving screening measure that can be used to identify obesity and the likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetic patients.
Aim: to investigate the relationship of neck circumference (NC) to obesity and metabolic syndrome in Iraqi subjects with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: The study group included 90 type 2 diabetic subjects (48 men and 42 women) aged 30-68 years. The subjects were those w