Background: Osteoarthritis is a complicated, chronic disorder of cartilage and bone, associated with homeostasis of bio-elements. The current study aims to assess the role of serum progranulin levels among Iraqi patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patients and Methods: The study encompassed 50 patients aged 52.50 ± 3.12 years (25 males and 25 females), admitted to the at the Baghdad Medical City through the period from November 2021 to March 2022. All individuals were identified by physicians in a Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic and the clinical data was collected along with the assess¬ment of biochemical parameters. Fasting serum glucose, lipid profile, calcium, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase, vitamin D3, and progranulin levels were determined. Results: All patients in this study had higher levels of serum glucose and dyslipidemia with significant increases (p < 0.05) in alkaline phosphatase and progranulin levels and considerable reduced (p < 0.05) in serum calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D3 as compared to healthy group. Additionally, hypovitaminosis D were appeared in all patients and progranulin levels were (56.30±8.50 ng/mL) vs. (40.45 ± 8.90 ng/mL) in control group with OR and CI= 1.54 (0.97-2.58). Conclusions: Inflammation has an integral role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Serum vitamin D3 level is considerably low in patients with knee osteoarthritis paralleled to healthy individuals. However, this study demonstrates increased progranulin levels in knee osteoarthritis patients and associates with vitamin D level, disease activity, and inflammation among those patients. Keywords: Knee osteoarthritis, Calcium, Magnesium, Alkaline phosphatase,Vitamin D3, Progranulin.
Background. Implant insertion in regions with poor bone quantity, such as the posterior maxilla, is potentially associated with an increased rate of implant failure. Calcium sulfate can be used as the coating material for commercially pure titanium (CpTi) and as the bone graft material around implants when bound to eggshell powder to enhance the bone quality and quantity of bone defect regions. This study performed a torque removal test to evaluate the effectiveness of eggshell powder as a bone substitute for filling bone defects around CpTi-coated implants coated with nanocrystalline calcium sulfate. Materials and Methods. Eighty screw implant designs were used in the tibiae of 20 white New Zealand rabbits. A total of uncoated 20 s
... Show MoreBackground: Generally, genetic disorders are a leading cause of spontaneous abortion, neonatal death, increased morbidity and mortality in children and adults as well. They a significant health care and psychosocial burden for the patient, the family, the healthcare system and the community as a whole. Chromosomal abnormalities occur much more frequently than is generally appreciated. It is estimated that approximately 1 of 200 newborn infants had some form of chromosomal abnormality. The figure is much higher in fetuses that do not survive to term. It is estimated that in 50% of first trimester abortions, the fetus has a chromosomal abnormality. Aim of the study: This study aims to shed some light on the results of chromosomal studies per
... Show MorePhotonic Crystal Fiber Interferometers (PCFIs) are widely used for sensing applications. This work presents the fabrication and the characterization of a relative humidity sensor based on a polymer-coated photonic crystal fiber that operates in a Mach- Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) transmission mode. The fabrication of the sensor involved splicing a short (1 cm) length of Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) between two single-mode fibers (SMF). It was then coated with a layer of agarose solution. Experimental results showed that a high humidity sensitivity of 29.37 pm/%RH was achieved within a measurement range of 27–95%RH. The sensor also showed good repeatability, small size, measurement accuracy and wide humidity range. The RH sensitivity o
... Show MoreThis article presents the simultaneous adsorption of bimetal Cu2+ and Zn2+ from an aqueous solution using activated carbon synthesized from a plum seed precursor by sulfuric acid and microwave activation: plum seeds chemically activated by 45% (w/w) sulfuric acid with 2:1 ratio for 4 h, then carbonized for 2 h at 700 °C and the product obtained activated in a microwave oven for 20 min at 700 W for final of activation. Plum seeds and activated carbon produced were characterized in terms of their physical and chemical composition using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurements, field emission scanning electr
The present study is to investigate the possibility of using wastes in the form of scrap iron (ZVI) and/ or aluminum ZVAI for the detention and immobilization of the chromium ions in simulated wastewater. Different batch equilibrium parameters such as contact time (0-250) min, sorbent dose (2-8 g ZVI/100 mL and 0.2-1 g ZVAI/100 mL), initial pH (3-6), initial pollutant concentration of 50 mg/L, and speed of agitation (0-250) rpm were investigated. Maximum contaminant removal efficiency corresponding to (96 %) at 250 min contact time, 1g ZVAI/ 6g ZVI sorbent mass ratio, pH 5.5, pollutant concentration of 50 mg/L initially, and 250 rpm agitation speed were obtained.
The best isotherm model for the batch single Cr(III) uptake by ZVI
... Show MoreNumerical study has been conducted to investigate the thermal performance enhancement of flat plate solar water collector by integrating the solar collector with metal foam blocks.The flow is assumed to be steady, incompressible and two dimensional in an inclined channel. The channel is provided with eight foam blocks manufactured form copper. The Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy model is utilized to simulate the flow in the porous medium and the Navier-Stokes equation in the fluid region. The energy equation is used with local thermal equilibrium (LTE) assumption to simulate the thermofield inside the porous medium. The current investigation covers a range of solar radiation intensity at 09:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 04:00
... Show MoreThis study describe the effect of temperature on the optical
properties of nickel(ii) phthalocyanine tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium
salt (NiPcTs) organic thin films which are prepared by spin coating
on indium tin oxide (ITO-glass). The optical absorption spectra of
these thin films are measured. Present studies reveal that the optical
band gap energies of NiPcTs thin films are dependent on the
annealing temperatures. The optical band gap decreases with increase
in annealing temperature, then increased when the temperature rising
to 473K. To enhance the results of Uv-Vis measurements and get
more accurate values of optical energy gaps; the Photoluminescence
spectra of as-deposited and annealed NiPcTs thin fi
Bearing capacity of soil is an important factor in designing shallow foundations. It is directly related to foundation dimensions and consequently its performance. The calculations for obtaining the bearing capacity of a soil needs many varying parameters, for example soil type, depth of foundation, unit weight of soil, etc. which makes these calculation very variable–parameter dependent. This paper presents the results of comparison between the theoretical equation stated by Terzaghi and the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) technique to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of the strip shallow footing on sandy soils. The results show a very good agreement between the theoretical solution and the ANN technique. Results revealed that us
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