Chitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42 ng/ml, the TNF-a level which was 123.6 ng/ml, and the IL-1B level which was 204.365 pg/dl were significantly higher in patients compared to control 3.28 (1.58–4.99) ng/ml, 56.47 (9.38–77.01) ng/ml and 67.887 (15.493–122.689)pg/dl respectively. There was no correlation between serum YKL-40 and disease activity, while there were significant associations observed with TNF-α (r=0.5,p =0.0001) and IL-1β (r=0.41, p=0.001). YKL-40 indicating good levels of RA prediction at 2.47 ng/ml, sensitivity 87.9%, specificity 58.6%, accuracy 78.1%, PPV 80.9%, and NPV 70.8%. In conclusion, a higher level of serum YKL-40 is found in RA patients. The findings from our study suggest a strong association between YKL-40 and the proinflammatory biomarkers. As a result, these biomarkers together might play a role in RA pathogenesis, and YKL-40 may be used as a potential diagnostic biomarker for RA.
The continuous increase in population has led to the development of underground structures like tunnels to be of great importance due to several reasons. One of these reasons is that tunnels do not affect the living activities on the surface, nor they interfere with the existing traffic network. More importantly, they have a less environmental impact than conventional highways and railways. This paper focuses on using numerical analysis of circular tunnels in terms of their behavior during construction and the deformations that may occur due to overburden and seismic loads imposed on them. In this study, the input data are taken from an existing Cairo metro case study; results were found for the lateral and vertical displacements, the Peak
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of variation of influent raw water turbidity, bed composition, and filtration rate on the performance of mono (sand) and dual media (sand and anthracite) rapid gravity filters in response to the effluent filtered water turbidity and headloss development. In order to evaluate each filter pe1formance, sieve analysis was made to characterize both media and to determine the effective size and uniformity coefficient. Effluent filtered water turbidity and the headloss development was recorded with time during each experiment.
In this work 5-methylene-yl - (2-methy –oxazole-4-one) (1H) imidazole (1) were synthesized from the reaction of L-Histidine with acetic anhydride and which converted to the of 5-methylene-yl-(2-methyl 3-amino imidazole-4-one)-1H-imidazole (2) by reaction with hydrazine hydrate. Schiff bases (3-6) were synthesized from the reaction of compound (2) with different aromatic aldehyde. Reaction of compounds (3-6) with chloroacetyl chloride gives azetidinone one derivatives (7-10). These compounds were characterized by FT-IR and some of them with 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy.
Health and environmental factors as well as operational difficulties are major challenges facing the development of an anaerobic digestion process. Some of these problems relate to the use of sludge collected from primary and secondary clarifier units in wastewater treatment plants for laboratory purposes.
The present study addresses the preparation of sludge for laboratory purposes by using a mixture that consists of the digested sludge, which is less pathogenic, compared to the collected sludge from the primary or secondary clarifier, and food wastes. The sludge has been tested experimentally for 19 and 32 days under mesophilic conditions. The results show a steady methane production rate from the anaerobic dig
... Show MoreThis study investigated the feasibility of anaerobic co-digestion of giant reed (GR) inoculated with waste manure as a co-substrate for biogas production. The performance of co-digestion was evaluated in 4 anaerobic digesters operated in batch mode at different conditions. The effects of alkali pretreatment with NaOH (4% w/v) solution, inoculum type, and thermal condition were studied. The results demonstrated that the alkali-pretreatment of GR enhanced the biogas generation by about 15% at mesophilic conditions. Thermophilic conditions enhanced the biogas recovery from both alkali-free and alkali pretreated GR by 15% and 127%, respectively. The kinetic study of the co-digestion process of GR for biogas recovery suggeste
... Show MoreThis study aims to analyze spectra in real-time for λ Draconids, σ Hydrids, μ Virginid, and one sporadic meteor using spectroscopic chemical analysis and diagnose plasma parameters. Good-resolution spectroscopy and a CCD camera for meteor observation were used concurrently to examine the ablation spectra of these meteorites in situ. The Boltzmann and Lorentz methods were then used to determine the temperature and density of electrons, the length of Debye, and the frequency of plasma. Furthermore, spectra data can be analyzed and compared to data from other sources. Spectrum tests can be utilized to identify the chemical structure of meteorites' plasma.
Among a collection of ground beetles from Iraq the new species Acinopus euphraticus was designated and described here. The erection of this new species was mainly built on external features and the description of male genitalia.
Sixteen species of Armored Scale insects were recorded from Baghdad city during 2001-2005. Three of these are reported here for the first time Abgrallaspis cyanophylli (Signoret, 1869), Aonidiella citrina (Craw,1870) and Chrysomphalus aonidium (Linnaeus,1758). The other thirteen species were recorded earlier Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), Aonidiella orientalis (Newstead), Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morgan), Diaspidiotus ostreaeformis (Curtis), Diaspidiotu perniciosus (Comctock), Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret), Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman), Lepidosaphes conchiformis (Gmelin), Lepidosaphes ulmi (Linnaeus), Mercetaspis halli
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