Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were given rituximab induction therapy and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) maintenance therapy. RTX was indicated for refractory and relapsing SLE. Several investigations done before and after RTX treatment and in the last follow up (done one year after starting Rituximab). Those included protein in urine, serum creatinine, double stranded DNA, C3, C4, and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). Proteinuria decreased significantly after RTX treatment and in the last measurement (P=0.01 and P=0.001, respectively). Serum creatinine significantly decreased only in the last measurement (P=0.02). Double stranded DNA decreased remarkably after treatment (P=0.01) with a further decrease in the last measurement (P=0.006). C3 and C4 increased after treatment but the increase was significant only for C3 (P=0.002) and this increase continues till the last measurement (P=0.0006). Active urine sediments found in fifteen patients and disappeared after RTX treatment. Rituximab can be promising in treating lupus nephritis when used along with traditional immunosuppressants. It can reduce disease activity and improve renal function in such patients.
Background: The demand for better esthetic during orthodontic treatment has increased nowadays, so orthodontists starting using esthetic arch wires, brackets and ligatures.Tooth colored brackets were introduced in different types of materials. Sapphire ceramic brackets are one type of esthetic brackets and their color stability remains the main concern for the clinicians and patients at the same time. The present study design to evaluate the effect of three different staining materials (pepsi, black tea and cigarette smoke) on the stainability of sapphire ceramic brackets bonded with three types of light cure orthodontic adhesives which include: Resilience, Enlight and Transbond. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of three hundre
... Show MoreThe propaganda war is one of the most dangerous weapons used in various conditions of war and peace within any intellectual, political or military conflict to be targeted by multiple social groups and their effects on the intellectuals to change the viewpoints at the local and global level, including the use of technical treatment of the audio and visual medium, The impact of the psychological dimensions of the arms in the confrontation and spread terror in the ranks of the enemies and in the forefront of what Iraq faces in its battle against the And the use of it as a propaganda content contributes to the development of the spirit of tranquility and tranquility in the hearts of Iraqis and the return of the right to the owners “th
... Show MoreThe investment budget represents a stage of the investment decision in service units, and the preparation and implementation needs to be a complement of the same planning part, because the planning does not end with the development of the plan, but includes a follow-up implementation, so it has to be effective and efficient oversight of the estimates and procedures for disbursement of funds approved for investment projects, The problem with research in that local governments suffer from the presence of Allkaat and problems facing the implementation of the investment budget projects due to the adoption budget items which can not be measured the efficiency of the performance of these units of government by, and shortcomings in the control
... Show MoreAs a result of the entry of multinationals companies in Iraq for investing in the joint projects through conducting agreements and contracts for work on important and strategic projects to get the necessary funds and various experiences which characterize the foreign participant sides that Iraq currently needs them and because of the non-applying the accounting processing stipulated in the unified accounting system in addition to the absence of a local accounting bases as well as the default of the participant contracts on indicating the accounting methods about those projects which are considered one of the bases that enables auditors in the public sector to depend on it, thus the research paper deals with studying an
... Show MoreThis paper was conducted to identifying the body growth averages for the infants of the age (3-6) months and their relation with brest (natural ) or artificial feeding The results showed that the higher percentage was for the infants with the natural feeding in comparison with those of the artificial or mixed feeding. Also there was a clear increase in the average of the body growth for those with the natural feeding and such results were closer to the standard criterion. While the averages of body growth for those with the artificial or mixed feeding were low. In addition, it was clear that the averages of body growth of the i
... Show MoreTi6Al4V alloy is widely used in aerospace and medical applications. It is classified as a difficult to machine material due to its low thermal conductivity and high chemical reactivity. In this study, hybrid intelligent models have been developed to predict surface roughness when end milling Ti6Al4V alloy with a Physical Vapor Deposition PVD coated tool under dry cutting conditions. Back propagation neural network (BPNN) has been hybridized with two heuristic optimization techniques, namely: gravitational search algorithm (GSA) and genetic algorithm (GA). Taguchi method was used with an L27 orthogonal array to generate 27 experiment runs. Design expert software was used to do analysis of variances (ANOVA). The experimental data were
... Show MoreTo avoid the negative effects due to inflexibility of the domestic production inresponse to the increase in government consumption expenditure leads to more imports to meet the increase in domestic demand resulting from the increase in government consumption expenditure. Since the Iraqi economy economy yield unilateral depends on oil revenues to finance spending, and the fact government consumer spending is a progressive high flexibility the increase in overall revenues, while being a regressive flexibility is very low in the event of reduced public revenues, and therefore lead to a deficit in the current account position. And that caused the deficit for imbalance are the disruption of the
... Show MoreThe goal of this research to identify a set of criteria that can be measured on the basis of which the effectiveness of the application of the Balanced Scorecard in the Jordanian Public Institutions in order to identify the basic requirements to ensure the application of balanced performance measures. The study population consisted of the staff of the Public Institution for Social Security - Irbid of directors of departments and heads of departments and administrative staff, was the use of a random sample of (50) an employee and the employee. The questionnaire was used as a tool to collect data, and as a result of subjecting these standards for the field test and the use of statistical analysis tools to the results of the study c
... Show Moreinsulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) gene has been described in several studies as a candidate gene for growth. The present study attempts to identify associations between body weight traits and polymorphisms at 279 position of 5'UTR flanking region of IGF-1 gene in broiler chickens. Three hundred broiler chickens from two breeds (Cobb 500 and Hubbard F-15) were used in this study. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at 279 position of 5'UTR region of the IGF-1 gene was identified in 20.6 and 60.3% of Cobb 500 and Hubbard F-15, respectively, using the PCR-RFLP technique. Allele frequencies were 83.87 and 42.80% for the T allele and 16.13 and 57.20% for the C allele in Cobb500 and Hubbard-15 breeds, respectively. Genotype frequencies were
... Show MoreBackground: One of the most predominant periodontal diseases is the plaque induced gingivitis. For the past 20 years, super-oxidized solutions have be..