Background: Rituximab is a chimeric IgG1 kappa immunoglobulin that has been genetically modified to incorporate human constant region sequences together with murine light- and heavy-chain variable region sequences. People use it to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain malignancies. Objective: The study aimed to assess the potential association between the serum levels of Factor I, CD59, interleukins (IL)-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ and the response to Rituximab treatment in Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the rheumatology center at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Ninety adult patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and are receiving Rituximab intravenous infusions were included. The enrolled patients were divided into a responder group (45 patients) and a non-responder group (45 patients). The response to Rituximab was assessed according to the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Results: The serum levels of Factor I and CD59 were significantly higher in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. In addition, the serum IL-6 and IFN-γ levels were significantly elevated in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. The estimated marker serum levels showed a strong, significant correlation with the 6-month change in DAS28. Conclusions: In Rituximab nonresponder RA patients, serum levels of Factor I, CD59, Factor H, IL-6, and IFN-γ are higher, and they have good potential to be used in the assessment of the response to Rituximab therapy.
Objective: To study the effect of epidural spinal injection over one year in case of spinal stenosis. Methodology: This prospective study included 566 patients with spinal stenosis seen at Al-Kindy Teaching and Al-Sader, Hospitals who were treated by local epidural steroid injection. They were followed up for at least five subsequent visits after seven days, one month, three months, six months, and one year to assess efficacy. Result: Mean age of patients was 49.5 years, with a predominance of females (65%). L4/L5 was the most involved level in the spinal stenosis (70%). Grade II stenosis accounted for (45.4%) of cases. The pairwise comparison revealed that there was significant decrease in proportions of patients with pain in day
... Show MoreObjective: The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting birth space interval in a sample of women.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study conducted in primary health centers in Al-Tahade and Al- Shak Omar in
Baghdad city. Data were collected by direct interview using questionnaire especially prepared for the study.
Sample size was (415) women in age group (20-40) years who were chosen randomly.
Results: Analysis of data shows highest rate of women (31.8%) had a birth space interval of (8-12) months
followed by (26.7%) had a birth space interval of (19-24) months, (20.2%) had a birth space interval of (>24)
months and (16.1%) had a birth space interval of (13-18) months respectively, while lower rate of w
The work includes synthesis and characterization of some new heterocyclic compounds, as flow: The compound (3) (5-(4-chlorophenyl) -2-hydrazinyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole was synthesized by using two methods; the first method includes the direct reaction between hydrazine hydrate 80% and 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-2- (ethylthio) 1,3,4-oxadiazole (1), the second method involves converting 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-amine (2) to diazonium salt then reducing this salt to compound (3) by stannous chloride. Compound (3) was used as starting material for synthesizing several fused heterocyclic compounds. The compound 6-(4- chlorophenyl)[1,2.4] triazolo [3,4,b][1,3,4] oxadiazole-3-(2H) thione (compound 4) was synthesized from the reaction of compo
... Show MoreThis paper describes the transport of Alkaloids through Rotating Discs Contactor (RDC) using n-decane as a liquid membrane. The transport of Pelletierine Alkaloid from a source phase through bulk liquid membrane to the receiving phase has been investigated. The general behaviour of Pertraction process indicates that% Extraction of pelletierine Alkaloid increased with increase in the number of stages and the agitation speed but high agitation speed was not favoured due to the increased risk of droplet formation during the operation. The pH of source and receiving phases were also investigated. The effect of organic solvent membrane on the extraction of Pelletierine was evaluated using ndecane, n-hexane and methyl cyclohexane. The results sho
... Show MoreTwo- dimensional numerical simulations are carried out to study the elements of observing a Dirac point source and a Dirac binary system. The essential features of this simulation are demonstrated in terms of the point spread function and the modulation transfer function. Two mathematical equations have been extracted to present, firstly the relationship between the radius of optical telescope and the distance between the central frequency and cut-off frequency of the optical telescope, secondly the relationship between the radius of the optical telescope and the average frequency components of the modulation transfer function.
An experimental model is used to simulate the loss of soil lateral confinement due to excavation nearby an individual axially loaded pile. The effects of various parameters, such as the horizontal distance of excavation, depth of excavation and pile slenderness ratios are investigated. The experimental analysis results showed the effect of excavation is more remarkable as the horizontal distance of excavation becomes closer to the pile than half pile length. The effect of excavation diminishes gradually as the horizontal distance increases beyond that distance for all the investigated pile slenderness ratios and depths of excavation. The pile head deflection, settlement and bending moments along pile increase with decreasing horizontal d
... Show MoreTraffic management at road intersections is a complex requirement that has been an important topic of research and discussion. Solutions have been primarily focused on using vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Key issues in VANETs are high mobility, restriction of road setup, frequent topology variations, failed network links, and timely communication of data, which make the routing of packets to a particular destination problematic. To address these issues, a new dependable routing algorithm is proposed, which utilizes a wireless communication system between vehicles in urban vehicular networks. This routing is position-based, known as the maximum distance on-demand routing algorithm (MDORA). It aims to find an optimal route on a hop-by-ho
... Show More