Two groups of chronic hepatitis B and C virus patients were divided into Pre-treated patients (25 CHB patients with positive HBs Ag for more than 6 months and 40 CHC patients), and post-treated patients [12 CHB patients (4, 6, and 2 were treated with lamivudine, IFN-? and combination of LMV + IFN-? respectively), and 27 patients for CHC (3, 13 and 11 patients were treated with Ribavirin, IFN-? and combination therapy (RBV+ IFN-?) respectively].These patients were followed up for 6 months. By using ELISA technique, levels of IL-6, IL-10, IFN-? and TNF-? were measured in vivo and in vitro (supernatant of PBMCs stimulated with PHA) and compared with healthy control. The mean level of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-? in CHB patients showed significant differences (P<0.05) between pre- and post-treated patients in vivo and in vitro, while there was no significant difference in IFN- ? between pre- and post-treated patients in vivo and in vitro. The difference between control and CHB patients was highly significant (P<0.0001) in IL-6 , IL-10 and TNF- ? levels in vivo and in vitro. In CHC patients the mean levels of IL-6, IL-10, IFN- ? and TNF- ? showed significant difference between pre- and post-treated patients in vivo and in vitro. There was highly significant difference (P<0.0001) between patients and control in IL-10 levels. Hence, these observations indicate the predominance of Th2 cytokine, which promote the persistency of the CHB and CHC virus.
An experimental study was carried out to improve the surface roughness quality of the stainless steel 420 using magnetic abrasive finishing method (MAF). Four independent operation parameters were studied (working gap, coil current, feed rate, and table stroke), and their effects on the MAF process were introduced. A rotating coil electromagnet was designed and implemented to use with plane surfaces. The magnetic abrasive powder used was formed from 33%Fe and 67% Quartz of (250µm mesh size). The lubricant type SAE 20W was used as a binder for the powder contents. Taguchi method was used for designing the experiments and the optimal values of the selected parameters were found. An empirical equation representing the r
... Show MoreA second-order sliding mode control is used for high-order uncertain plants using equivalent control approach to improve the performance of control systems. They combine backstepping with quasi-continuous controller and twisting controllers. This paper considers a two of the most popular controllers that are used to solve the nonlinearities problem which are the backstepping quasi-continuous control (BQCC) and backstepping twisting controllers to control the angular velocity of a hydraulic motor to improve tracking performance and robustness to uncertainties. For the system dynamics, a linear state feedback with suitable high gain was designed as the virtual controller, where steady state error can be made arbitrarily small according to the
... Show MoreSteel–concrete–steel (SCS) structural systems have economic and structural advantages over traditional reinforced concrete; thus, they have been widely used. The performance of concrete made from recycled rubber aggregate from scrap tires has been evaluated since the early 1990s. The use of rubberized concrete in structural construction remains necessary because of its high impact resistance, increases ductility, and produces a lightweight concrete; therefore, it adds such important properties to SCS members. In this research, the use of different concrete core materials in SCS was examined. Twelve SCS specimens were subjected to push-out monotonic loading for inspecting their mechanical performance. One specimen was constructed from co
... Show MoreDam break is series phenomenon that can result in fatal consequences and loss of properties. Unfortunately, the observed consequences can only be available after the dam breaks. Therefore, it is important to anticipate what will happen prior to dam break to issue suitable warning and locate the possible risk areas. This study attempts to simulate the case of dam break in Blue Nile at Roseires dam and see its consequences downstream. Roseires dam lies at a distance of 630 km south of Khartoum, Sennar dam lies at about 260 km downstream of Roseires dam. In this study hydraulic model is developed based of Hydraulic Engineering Centre (HEC), River Analysis System (RAS), and HEC- RAS. The HEC-RAS based model is calibrated and validated usi
... Show MoreThis study is aimed to Green-synthesize and characterize Al NPs from Clove (Syzygium aromaticum
L.) buds plant extract and to investigate their effect on isolated and characterized Salmonella enterica growth.
S. aromaticum buds aqueous extract was prepared from local market clove, then mixed with Aluminum nitrate
Al(NO3)3. 9 H2O, 99.9% in ¼ ratio for green-synthesizing of Al NPs. Color change was a primary confirmation
of Al NPs biosynthesis. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were identified and characterized by AFM, SEM,
EDX and UV–Visible spectrophotometer. AFM data recorded 122nm particles size and the surface roughness
RMs) of the pure S. aromaticum buds aqueous extract recorded 17.5nm particles s
In the era of the digital economy, public organizations need to consolidation the capabilities of entrepreneurial alertness to reduce the risks of sudden transformations and changes, and to find effective mechanisms to discover and invest in environmental opportunities proactively, as this concern has become a knowledge gap in public sector institutions, the current research aims to identify the role of digital competence in influencing on entrepreneurial alertness in the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), the descriptive analytical approach was used as a research method to describe and analyze the main research variables. digital competence as an explanatory variable includes three dimensions: digital infrastructure, digital integration, and d
... Show MoreThe steady state performance of the counter rotating floating ring Journal bearing is analyzed with isothermal finite bearing theory. The effect of different parameters affecting the performance of the bearing (namely speed ratio, clearance ratio and radii ratio), have been investigated. The load carrying capacity of the bearing increasing with decreasing the radii ratio (R2/R1) of the ring and clearance ratio (c1/c2), in the other hand, the coefficient of friction increases with increasing the clearance and radii ratios, while decreases with incre4asing the bearing to journal speed ratio (γ). It is shown during this work that different operating conditions are greatly enhanced the performance
... Show MoreAl Huweizah Marsh is considered as the largest marsh at the southern part of Iraq. About one third of the marsh is located within the Iranian territory. Iran began to construct earth dikes along the Iraqi-Iranian international borders to separate the Iranian part of the marsh. The electrical conductivity, EC, value was adopted to be the indicator for the water salinity within the marsh. A steady two-dimensional water quality routing model was implemented by using the RMA2 and RMA4 softwares within the SMS computer package to estimate the distribution of the
EC values within the marsh seasonally during the wet, moderate and dry water years. The EC distribution Patterns were estimated considering the expected two cases of the marsh futu