It was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 females) were enrolled in the study. They were under therapy, which was a single weekly subcutaneous dose of 25 mg of etanercept (Enbrel) for a period of 3-5 years. The results of gene expression (2-??Ct) revealed an increased expression of IL4 mRNA (Mean ± SEM: 8.247 ± 2.442), especially female patients compared to male patients (11.545 ± 3.928 vs. 3.537 ± 1.530; p = 0.03). The expression was also subjected to variations that were related to clinical and laboratory findings. With respect to IL4 gene SNP, allele and genotype frequencies showed no significant differences between RA patients and controls. In addition, the SNP genotypes had no effect on IL4 gene expression. In conclusion, an up-regulation of IL4 gene expression was observed in RA patients, and it was more pronounced in female than male patients by approximately four folds, while no association between the IL4 SNP alleles or genotypes and RA was observed.
The thermoelectric power as a function of temperature for the Iron-Manganese-Aluminum, Fe-Mn-Al, alloys for manganese concentrations 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, 0.10 and 0.20 have been investigated in the temperature range 300 K. to 500 K. these results showed that the thermoelectric power coefficient in hot probe measurements showed that the electrons are the majority charge carriers in these alloys.
This paper presents the theoretical and experimental results of drilling high density
polyethylene sheet with thickness of 1 mm using millisecond Nd:YAG pulsed laser. Effects of laser
parameters including laser energy, pulse duration and peak power were investigated. To describe and
understand the mechanism of the drilling process Comsol multiphysics package version 4.3b was used to
simulate the process. Both of the computational and experimental results indicated that the drilling
process has been carried out successfully and there are two phases introduced in the drilling process,
vaporization and melting. Each portion of these phases depend on the laser parameters used in the
drilling process
This work was conducted to study the extraction of eucalyptus oil from natural plants (Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves) using water distillation method by Clevenger apparatus. The effects of main operating parameters were studied: time to reach equilibrium, temperature (70 to100°C), solvent to solid ratio (4:1 to 8:1 (v/w)), agitation speed (0 to 900 rpm), and particle size (0.5 to 2.5 cm) of the fresh leaves, to find the best processing conditions for achieving maximum oil yield. The results showed that the agitation speed of 900 rpm, temperature 100° C, with solvent to solid ratio 5:1 (v/w) of particle size 0.5 cm for 160 minute give the highest percentage of oil (46.25 wt.%). The extracted oil was examined by HPLC.
In this paper a dynamic behavior and control of a jacketed continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is developed using different control strategies, conventional feedback control (PI and PID), and neural network (NARMA-L2, and NN Predictive) control. The dynamic model for CSTR process is described by a first order lag system with dead time.
The optimum tuning of control parameters are found by two different methods; Frequency Analysis Curve method (Bode diagram) and Process Reaction Curve using the mean of Square Error (MSE) method. It is found that the Process Reaction Curve method is better than the Frequency Analysis Curve method and PID feedback controller is better than PI feedback controller.
The results s
... Show MoreThis work deals with separation of the aromatic hydrocarbons benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) from reformate. The separation was examined using adsorption by molecular sieve zeolite 13X in a fixed bed process. The concentration of aromatic hydrocarbons in the influent and effluent streams was measured using gas chromatography. The effect of flow rate and bed length of adsorbent on the adsorption of multicomponent hydrocarbons and adsorption capacity of molecular sieve was studied. The tendency of aromatic hydrocarbons adsorption from reformate is in the order: benzene >toluene>xylenes.
This research describes the design & implementation of frequency synthesizer using single loop Phase lock loop with the following specifications: Frequency range (1.5 – 2.75) GHz,Step size (1 MHz), Switching time 36.4 µs, & phase noise @10 kHz = -92dBc & spurious -100 dBc
The development in I.C. technology provide the simplicity in the design of frequency synthesizer because it implements the phase frequency detector(PFD) , prescalar & reference divider in single chip. Therefore our system consists of a single chip contains (low phase noise PFD, charge pump, prescalar & reference divider), voltage controlled oscillator , loop filter & reference oscillator. The single chip
... Show MoreThe dried fruit peel of pomegranate in Punicaceae family was fractionated chromatographically on Sephadex-LH-20 column .Gallic acid (trihydroxybenzoic acid) and its related galloyl esters such as gallotannin(i.e. β-penta-O-galloyl–D-glucose) were obtained homogenously. Different concentrations of gallic acid and gallotannin were used to determine their inhibitory effect on human serum cholinesterase. The enzyme activity was measured according to the method reported by the WHO .The inhibitory effect of these compounds on the activity of human serum cholinesterase have been studied in vitro .The inhibitory effect was remarkably clear with increasing concentration of gallic acid .Whereas galloyl ester showed n
... Show MoreThe study dealt with measuring the impact of the availability of each of the content elements of the interaction, electronic services, and information on the evaluation of the users of the government website for its effectiveness in terms of the site’s functions and for measuring the site’s ability to present the organization’s tasks to customer groups.
Authority is concerned with measuring the confidence of customers in the content of the site, and in the organization as a whole. Validity is related to measuring the effectiveness of employing the site’s content to achieve the goal of its creation and in communicating with customers. Availability It is for measuring the ease of use of the site. The relevance, which means
... Show MoreIt has become necessary to change from a traditional system to an automated system in production processes, because it has high advantages. The most important of them is improving and increasing production. But there is still a need to improve and develop the work of these systems.
The objective of this work is to study time reduction by combining multiple sequences of operations into one process. To carry out this work, the pneumatic system is designed to decrease\ increase the time of the sequence that performs a pick and place process through optimizing the sequences based on the obstacle dimensions. Three axes are represented using pneumatic cylinders that move according to the sequence used. The system is implemented and con
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