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 research ptesents a proposed method to compare or determine the linear equivalence of the key-stream from linear or nonlinear key-stream
RM Abbas, AA Abdulhameed, AI Salahaldin, International Conference on Geotechnical Engineering, 2010

It 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
... Show MoreThe characterization and design of this study of new liquid crystals with a V shape compounds containing thiazolidine-2,4-dione and 1,3-phenylene as a core unite with mesophase properties were reported. Preparation and characterization of chloroacetic acid, water, and thiourea to produce thiazolidine-2,4-dione [I] in the presence of strong hydrochloric acid. The 4-hydreoxybenzaldehyde and n-alkyl bromide were reacted with potassium hydroxide to create the n-alkoxy benzaldehyde., then the compound [I] reacted with [II]n in presence of piperidine to produce compounds [III]n. Also, converted resorcinol to a corresponding compound [IV] by refl
... Show MoreIn this work we investigate and calculate theoretically the variation in a number of optoelectronic properties of AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wire laser, with emphasis on the effect of wire radius on the confinement factor, density of states and gain factor have been calculated. It is found that there exist a critical wire radius (rc) under which the confinement of carriers are very weak. Whereas, above rc the confinement factor and hence the gain increase with increasing the wire radius.
Non-thermal argon plasma needle at atmospheric pressure was
constructed. The experimental setup was based on a simple and low
cost electric component that generates a sufficiently high electric
field at the electrodes to ionize the argon gas which flow at
atmospheric pressure. A high AC power supply was used with 1.1
kV and 19.57 kHz. Non-thermal Argon plasma used on blood
samples to show the ability of non-thermal plasma to promote blood
coagulation. Three tests have been done to show the ability of plasma
to coagulate both normal and anti-coagulant blood. Each blood
sample has been treated for varying time from 20sec. to 180sec. at
different distances. The results of the current study showed that the
co
To verify the influence of magnetic flux on the characteristics of SAE 10W-30 gasoline engine oil when the engine oil is exposed to different magnetic fluxes 0, 6, 9, and 13 Volt. The following oil characteristics were measured: viscosity at 40 and 100 °C, and total acid number (TAN) mg KOH/g. The research was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications for each treatment under the 5% probability level to compare the means of the treatments. The results of the experiment showed that there were significant differences in the studied properties when the engine oil was exposed to the above magnetic fluxes and, inversely, especially the magnetic flux of 13 Volt, which led to a decrease in the viscosity of the oils at
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