Background: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease with unknown aetiology that may be associated with the defect in proliferation and differentiation of the keratinocytes related to inflammatory cell infiltration. According to published reports, it is universal in occurrence; its prevalence in different populations varies from 0.1% to 11.8%. Receiving Apremilast resulted in a strong reduction in interleukin 17 and interleukin 23, as well as reduced expression of other inflammatory cytokines and improvement of psoriatic lesions. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the impact of Apremilast on levels of IL-17, IL-23, and lipids in obese psoriatic patients. Methods: Thirty obese patients with psoriasis were included in this prospective interventional study to measure serum levels of lipid profile, IL-17, and IL-23, before and after receiving Apremilast treatment. A t-test was used to compare between means. Results: The mean age of the participants was 38 years. The most common age group was 30–40 years. The levels of IL-17 before the administration of Apremilast were 225.55 ± 7.70 pg/mL. After six months of treatment with Apremilast, a statistically significant reduction was seen, with the value decreasing to 183.41 ±2.33 pg/ml. IL-22 levels before the administration of Apremilast were measured to be 76.42 ± 4.03 pg/mL. After six months of treatment with Apremilast, these levels exhibited a non-significant decrease to 67.15 ± 5.40 pg/ml. Modest alterations were noted in the lipid profile. Conclusion: The use of Apremilast is effective in decreasing IL-17 levels, which have pro-inflammatory effects; this leads to improvement in psoriatic lesions. Moreover, receiving Apremilast in obese psoriatic individuals led to a reduction in TG levels and an elevation in HDL-C levels. Additionally, a rise in TC levels and LDL-C was seen.
Metallic nanoparticles are increasingly studied for their biomedical applications due to their unique physicochemical and catalytic properties. Here, a broccoli-mediated gold/platinum nanohybrid (Au@Pt NH) was synthesized using an ultrasound-assisted green method with an aqueous extract of Brassica oleracea var. italica for multifunctional biomedical evaluation. XRD and TEM confirmed a crystalline nanohybrid with an average crystallite size of 7.56 nm and a mean particle diameter of 13.08 ± 7.58 nm. The broccoli extract produced no inhibition zones, whereas Au@Pt NH inhibited Staphylococcus aureus (18 mm), Staphylococcus epidermidis (21 mm), Escherichia coli (18 mm), Klebsiella pneumoniae (20 mm), and Candida albicans (21 mm). In vivo,
... Show MoreThis study focused on the synthesis of novel polymers incorporating the 1,3,4-oxadiazole ring. Four polymers were specifically prepared by blending polymers (6-9) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in defined ratios, resulting in the formation of blended polymers (10-13). The synthesized polymers were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). The results showed that the structure aligned with the proposed synthetic polymers. Furthermore, the physical and thermal properties were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Additionally, the biological activity was examined against two s
... Show MoreRecently, increasing material prices coupled with more acute environmental awareness and the implementation of regulation has driven a strong movement toward the adoption of sustainable construction technology. In the pavement industry, using low temperature asphalt mixes and recycled concrete aggregate are viewed as effective engineering solutions to address the challenges posed by climate change and sustainable development. However, to date, no research has investigated these two factors simultaneously for pavement material. This paper reports on initial work which attempts to address this shortcoming. At first, a novel treatment method is used to improve the quality of recycled concrete coarse aggregates. Thereafter, the treated recycled
... Show MoreThe exponential growth of audio data shared over the internet and communication channels has raised significant concerns about the security and privacy of transmitted information. Due to high processing requirements, traditional encryption algorithms demand considerable computational effort for real-time audio encryption. To address these challenges, this paper presents a permutation for secure audio encryption using a combination of Tent and 1D logistic maps. The audio data is first shuffled using Tent map for the random permutation. The high random secret key with a length equal to the size of the audio data is then generated using a 1D logistic map. Finally, the Exclusive OR (XOR) operation is applied between the generated key and the sh
... Show MoreMethicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the principal nosocomial causative agents. This bacterium has the capability to resist wide range of antibiotics and it is responsible for many diseases like skin, nose and wounds infection. In this study, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR was applied with ten random primers to examine the molecular diversity among methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates in the hospitals and to investigate the genetic distance between them. 90 Isolates were collected from clinical specimens from Iraqi hospitals for a total of 90 isolates. Only 10 strains (11.11%) were found to be MRSA. From these 10 primers, only 9 gave clear amplification products. 91 fragment l
... Show MoreThis paper presents a computer simulation model of a thermally activated roof (TAR) to cool a room using cool water from a wet cooling tower. Modeling was achieved using a simplified 1-D resistance-capacitance thermal network (RC model) for an infinite slab. Heat transfer from the cooling pipe network was treated as 2-D heat flow. Only a limited number of nodes were required to obtain reliable results. The use of 6th order RC-thermal model produced a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved using MATLAB - R2012a. The computer program was written to cover all possible initial conditions, material properties, TAR system geometry and hourly solar radiation. The cool water supply was considered time
... Show MoreNH3 gas sensor was fabricated based on deposited of Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs-OH) suspension on filter paper substrates using suspension filtration method. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the MWCNTs film were characterized by XRD, AFM and FTIR techniques. XRD measurement confirmed that the structure of MWCNTs is not affected by the preparation method. The AFM images reflected highly ordered network in the form of a mat. The functional groups and types of bonding have appeared in the FTIR spectra. The fingerprint (C-C stretch) of MWCNTs appears in 1365 cm-1, and the backbone of CNTs observed at 1645 cm-1. A homemade sensi
... Show MoreThe ability of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to uptake three pharmaceuticals (diclofenac, mefenamic acid and metronidazole) from two types of soil (clay and sandy soil) was investigated in this study to explore the human exposure to these pharmaceuticals via the consumption of beans. A pot experiment was conducted with beans plants which were grown in two types of soil for six weeks under controlled conditions. During the experiment period, the soil pore water was collected weekly and the concentrations of the test compounds in soil pore water as well as in plant organs (roots, stems and leaves) were weekly determined.
The results showed that the studied pharmaceuticals were detected in all plant tissues; their concentration
Many oil and gas processes, including oil recovery, oil transportation, and petroleum processing, are negatively impacted by the precipitation and deposition of asphaltene. Screening methods for determining the stability of asphaltenes in crude oil have been developed due to the high cost of remediating asphaltene deposition in crude oil production and processing. The colloidal instability index, the Asphaltene-resin ratio, the De Boer plot, and the modified colloidal instability index were used to predict the stability of asphaltene in crude oil in this study. The screening approaches were investigated in detail, as done for the experimental results obtained from them. The factors regulating the asphaltene precipitation are different fr
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