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.
The drying process is considered an effective technique for preserving foods and agricultural products from spoilage. Moreover, the drying process lessens the products' weight, volume, and packaging, which prompts a reduction in the products' transportation costs. The drying technique with solar energy represents an ancient method, still alluring due to solar energy abundance and cost‐effectiveness. In this article, the previous manuscripts concerned with studying and analyzing indirect solar dryer systems that utilize innovative solar air heaters (SAHs) are reviewed. The results and conclusions are discussed intensively to clarify the significance of utilizing this type of drying technique. The ef
Image classification is the process of finding common features in images from various classes and applying them to categorize and label them. The main problem of the image classification process is the abundance of images, the high complexity of the data, and the shortage of labeled data, presenting the key obstacles in image classification. The cornerstone of image classification is evaluating the convolutional features retrieved from deep learning models and training them with machine learning classifiers. This study proposes a new approach of “hybrid learning” by combining deep learning with machine learning for image classification based on convolutional feature extraction using the VGG-16 deep learning model and seven class
... Show MoreThis research is aimed at identifying the communicative habits and the impact of the content on the communicative process, especially the youth audience, which is one of the most important categories to which the advertisement is directed, as young people face life with passion and aspiration that make then responsive to all the influences used by the media in designing advertisements which use all the techniques and methocls to attract young people, such as relying on drama , artistic tricks, musical phrases and advertising slogans that respond to the desire of young people in entertainment.
The research aims to identify the reflection of television advertising and its impact on the development of the cognitive abilities of universi
Huge efforts are being made to control the spread and impacts of the coronavirus pandemic using vaccines. However, willingness to be vaccinated depends on factors beyond the availability of vaccines. The aim of this study was three-folded: to assess children’s rates of COVID-19 Vaccination as reported by parents, to explore parents’ attitudes towards children’s COVID-19 vaccination, and to examine the factors associated with parents’ hesitancy towards children’s vaccination in several countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR).
This study was undertaken to introduce a fast, accurate, selective, simple and environment-friendly colorimetric method to determine iron (II) concentration in different lipstick brands imported or manufactured locally in Baghdad, Iraq. The samples were collected from 500-Iraqi dinars stores to establish routine tests using the spectrophotometric method and compared with a new microfluidic paper-based analytical device (µPAD) platform as an alternative to cost-effective conventional instrumentation such as Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). This method depends on the reaction between iron (II) with iron(II) selective chelator 1, 10-phenanthroline(phen) in the presence of reducing agent hydroxylamine (HOA) and sodium acetate (NaOAc) b
... Show MoreObjective: Loranthus europaeus is a parasitic plant that lives on the branches of trees. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of two different extracts on chronic inflammation induced by cotton pellets in rats. Methods: Loranthus seed was extracted by maceration with absolute methanol, in which dry Loranthus seeds were triturated in a mortar and macerated with 500 mL of methanol. After 24 h, the mixture was filtered, and the residue was re-extracted. The filtrates were combined and dried under vacuum. The mixture was mixed with 100 mL of distilled water and fractionated by petroleum ether and ethyl acetate using 70 mL × 3 times each. The organic fractions were dried, filtered, and evaporated to dryness.
... Show MoreBackground: Despite the fact that asthma is a long-term disease that may be treated, many people are unable to control their symptoms due to a lack of knowledge about their condition. The study's purpose was to find out if a pharmacist intervention improved asthma management because of this.
Objective: this study designed to assess the effect of pharmaceutical care on pulmonary functions test.
Method: The study was completed in three months. The patients who were enrolled were divided into two groups: Group 1 consists of 23 asthma patients who were randomly assigned to receive conventional therapy for chronic bronchial asthma based on disease stage and se
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