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.
Although a great deal of works has been done on the area of capital structure and dividend policy, there is still insufficient knowledge of how these policies affect stock prices. This shortcoming may have been originated from the separation between both policies when investigating their effect on stock prices. Based on this point, this research adopts a new technique (completely randomized design), to combine the effect of capital structure and dividend policy on stock prices rather than separating between them. The study used panel based regression analysis depending on the sample of 30 service and industrial Jordanian firms for the period of 2001-2010. The result of test hypotheses found the following; 1) dividend payout has a
... Show MoreIn the present study, a novel ligand (L) made of 2-hydroxynaphthaldehyde and 3-hydrazone-1,3-dihydro-indole-2-one(3-[(3-hydroxynaphthalen-2-yl-ethylidene)-hydrazono]-1,3-dihydro-indol-2-one). The ligand was characterized by FTIR, UV-vis, mass, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and CHN elemental analysis. New complexes of this ligand were created by treating methanol and a drop of DMF solution of the produced ligand with the hydrated metal salts of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) in a molar ratio of 2:1 (L:M). As a result, complexes have been emerged and identified FTIR, UV-vis, C.H.N., chloride-containing, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility, and atomic absorption. The characterization result for each complex indicated complexes wi
... Show MoreThe current study aims to show the importance of plant products as mosquitocides against Culex quinquefasciatus. Castor oil Nanoemulsions were subedit in various ratios including castor oil, ethanol, tween 80, and deionized water by using ultrasonication. Thermodynamic, centrifugation, PH, assay which improved that the formula of 10 ml of castor oil, ethanol 5ml, tween 80 (14 ml) and deionized water 71ml was more stable than other formulas. The stable formula of castor oil nanoemulsion was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Nanoemulsion droplets were spherical in shape and were found to have a Z-average diameter of 87.4nm. A concentration of ca
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This research aims to assess the practice of physical activities by people with intellectual disabilities and its challenges during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from their families' point of view. The research sample consisted of (87) individuals from families with intellectual disabilities in the Makkah region. The sample was selected by the simple random method where the researcher used the descriptive analytical approach. A questionnaire of (32) items was used as the research tool to collect data. The findings of the study showed that the assessment level of practicing physical activities by people with intellectual disabilities was low. The public facilities dimension ranked first with a moder
... Show MoreObjective(s): The study aims to evaluating the quality of nursing care provided to children under five years to compare between quality related to type of health sectors; to determine the quality of nursing care and to compare between such care in Baquba Health Care Sector I and II.
Methodology: A descriptive study is carried out for the period from December 15th 2019 to May 1st 2020. A purposive "non- probability" sample, of (60) staff nurse and (60) children is selected. An adopted questionnaire has been selected for the study which consists of three parts. The first part is nurses’ socio-demographic characteristic; the second part is ch
... Show MoreThe study has tackled three important variables on the strategic and organizational level, that are : (Administrative skill, strategic Entrepreneurship and organizational flexibility). Through the statistical analysis is, the research hers have sought to identify the relation among them. The study has been applied on a sample of (44) private banks in Iraq. A questionnaire, which has been designed according to a number of international standards, has been used. It's made of (29) items that cover the three variables to test their hypotheses. A number of statistical tools have been used A number of conclusion have been reached and recommendations have also been suggested.
this paper consists of three sections, Section one deals with the most important difficulties and characteristics of English subordinate clauses whereas section two tackles the difficulties faced by the Iraqi EFL students at the third year in the Department of English, College of languages, University of Baghdad in recognizing and producing the subordinate clauses submitting them to a test consisting of two questions (recognition and production). Finally, some pedagogical recommendation of the findings can be found in section four.
The research aims at evaluating the illustrations images and determining the availability of good image standards in the illustrations images of the content of the second intermediate stage computer's book for the academic year (2019-2020) as seen by computer teachers. The sample was randomly selected, (30) teachers who are actually teaching the subject in schools within the geographical area of the province of Baghdad (Karkh III). To achieve this goal, ten standards were identified: scientific accuracy, suitability for the level of students, image clarity, image freshness, quality of coloring, suitability of its location of the subject, Matching their content glimpsed, The subject matter is appropriate in terms of area, matching its tit
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