Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized by chronic inflammationthat affects joints and cartilage. Bone complications such asRA-relatedosteoporosis are one of the most extra-articular manifestations. Many inflammatory mediators are released during RA disease pathophysiology; these mediators stimulate osteoclast genesis of bone by direct effects on RANKL and OPG. The study aimedto measure RANKL, OPG in RA patients treated with Etanercept only and other groups treated with Methotrexate onlyat baseline and after three months to evaluate bone state. An observational case-control prospective study was done on 30 RA patients who received MTX, 30 RA patients who received ETN, and 30 healthy,age-matched control groups. The level of RANKL and OPG was measured at baseline and after three months of therapy by immunoenzymatically assay (ELISA). The results were tabulated and statistically analyzed usingthe statistical package for social science. The result demonstrated that RANKL level had a positive correlation with age and disease duration in contrast to OPG level showed a negative correlation with age and duration of disease. In the patients group treated with MTX at baseline, the RANKL level was significantly higher (181.336±65.583) than post-therapy (166.097±69.229), while the OPG level at baseline significantly lower (594.398±133.238) than post therapy (614.499±150.879). In ETN treated patients, the level of RANKL in baseline was significantly higher than (231.247±73.134) RANKL level post-therapy (200.363±76.807), while OPG level in baseline waslower (463.263±96.392) than post therapy (503.608±107.692). The study demonstrated in baseline RANKL/OPG ratio significant higher (0.4340±0.234) than post therapy (0.3690±0.222). All RA patients had or were at high risk for osteoporosis.Both Etanarcept and methotrexate produce insignificant differences on OPG and RANKL levels, in the same time this biomarkers are not good indicators for bone state.
Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) process offers various advantages like the fabrication of the ceramic coatings and bodies with dense packing, good sinterability and homogenous microstructure. The variables namely (applied potential, deposition time and sintering temperature) affected the development of hydroxyapatite (HAP) coatings. The coating weight and thickness were found to increase with the increase in applied potential or coating time. Sintering temperature was found to affect in change phases of the metal, furthermore the firing shrinkage of the HAP coating on a constraining metal substrate leads to serve cracking. XRD Characterization indicates the formation of a contamination free phase pure, and the optical micrographs show th
... Show MoreTwo of the main advantages of segmental construction are economics, as well as the rapid construction technique. One of the forms of segmental construction, for structural elements, is the segmental beams that built-in short sections, which referred to segments. This research aims to exhibit a new technique for the fabrication of short-span segmental beams from wedge-shaped concrete segments and carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) in laminate form. The experimental campaign included eight short-span segmental beams. In this study, two selected parameters were considered. These parameters are; the number of layers of CFRP laminates and the adhesive material that used to bond segments to each other, forming short-span segmental be
... Show MoreIn this study, plain concrete simply supported beams subjected to two points loading were analyzed for the flexure. The numerical model of the beam was constructed in the meso-scale representation of concrete as a two phasic material (aggregate, and mortar). The fracture process of the concrete beams under loading was investigated in the laboratory as well as by the numerical models. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed for the treatment of the discontinuities that appeared during the fracture process in concrete. Finite element method with the feature standard/explicitlywas utilized for the numerical analysis. Aggregate particles were assumedof elliptic shape. Other properties such as grading and sizes of the aggr
... Show MoreThe main objective of this study is to introduce a systematic design procedure for short-span segmental beams following a sophisticated ACI 440.2R-17 design procedure. The general aspects of innovative short-span segmental beams are easy to fabricate, economical and rapidly placed in pre-specified positions. Short-span segmental beams fabricated from individual precast plain-concrete blocks and CFRP plates. Recently, experimental tests performed on short-span segmental beams, by the authors, investigated CFRP plate-bonding, CFRP plate cross-sectional area, the thickness of plate-bonding epoxy resin, surface-to-surface condition of concrete blocks, as well as, interface condition of the bonding surface. The experimental program comprises tes
... Show MoreThe current research aims to measure the job satisfaction of educational counselors in the general directorate of education of the second Rusafa in the ministry of education of Iraq. Moreover, it aims to identify the significant differences in job satisfaction according to the gender (Male-Female), the length of service (less than 15 years more than 15 years), and the relationship between these two variables. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher developed a scale to measure job satisfaction. This tool was applied to sample of (100) educational counselors selected randomly. The results showed that educational counselors have job satisfaction, in which males are more satisfied in their job than females. The results als
... Show MorePathology reports are necessary for specialists to make an appropriate diagnosis of diseases in general and blood diseases in particular. Therefore, specialists check blood cells and other blood details. Thus, to diagnose a disease, specialists must analyze the factors of the patient’s blood and medical history. Generally, doctors have tended to use intelligent agents to help them with CBC analysis. However, these agents need analytical tools to extract the parameters (CBC parameters) employed in the prediction of the development of life-threatening bacteremia and offer prognostic data. Therefore, this paper proposes an enhancement to the Rabin–Karp algorithm and then mixes it with the fuzzy ratio to make this algorithm suitable
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