Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were given rituximab induction therapy and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) maintenance therapy. RTX was indicated for refractory and relapsing SLE. Several investigations done before and after RTX treatment and in the last follow up (done one year after starting Rituximab). Those included protein in urine, serum creatinine, double stranded DNA, C3, C4, and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). Proteinuria decreased significantly after RTX treatment and in the last measurement (P=0.01 and P=0.001, respectively). Serum creatinine significantly decreased only in the last measurement (P=0.02). Double stranded DNA decreased remarkably after treatment (P=0.01) with a further decrease in the last measurement (P=0.006). C3 and C4 increased after treatment but the increase was significant only for C3 (P=0.002) and this increase continues till the last measurement (P=0.0006). Active urine sediments found in fifteen patients and disappeared after RTX treatment. Rituximab can be promising in treating lupus nephritis when used along with traditional immunosuppressants. It can reduce disease activity and improve renal function in such patients.
Wohlfahrtia longicorpuris sp. nov., from Iraq described, illustrated and distinguished from related species. The adults were reared from larvae collected from ulcer of a human face. Wohlfahrtia Brauer and Bergenstam is one of most important genus,which contains 19 species (Pape, 1998), some of these produce myiasis in mammals (Verves,1985).Taxonomic revision of this genus has been carried out by the following authors: Rohdendrof (1956), Zumpt (1965) and Pape (1996).
This paper includes a comparison between denoising techniques by using statistical approach, principal component analysis with local pixel grouping (PCA-LPG), this procedure is iterated second time to further improve the denoising performance, and other enhancement filters were used. Like adaptive Wiener low pass-filter to a grayscale image that has been degraded by constant power additive noise, based on statistics estimated from a local neighborhood of each pixel. Performs Median filter of the input noisy image, each output pixel contains the Median value in the M-by-N neighborhood around the corresponding pixel in the input image, Gaussian low pass-filter and Order-statistic filter also be used.
Experimental results shows LPG-
... Show MoreAverage interstellar extinction curves for Galaxy and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) over the range of wavelengths (1100 A0 – 3200 A0) were obtained from observations via IUE satellite. The two extinctions of our galaxy and LMC are normalized to Av=0 and E (B-V)=1, to meat standard criteria. It is found that the differences between the two extinction curves appeared obviously at the middle and far ultraviolet regions due to the presence of different populations of small grains, which have very little contribution at longer wavelengths. Using new IUE-Reduction techniques lead to more accurate result.
In this paper a system is designed on an FPGA using a Nios II soft-core processor, to detect the colour of a specific surface and moving a robot arm accordingly. The surface being detected is bounded by a starting mark and an ending mark, to define the region of interest. The surface is also divided into sections as rows and columns and each section can have any colour. Such a system has so many uses like for example warehouses or even in stores where their storing areas can be divided to sections and each section is coloured and a robot arm collects objects from these sections according to the section’s colour also the robot arm can organize objects in sections according to the section’s colour.
This paper includes a comparison between denoising techniques by using statistical approach, principal component analysis with local pixel grouping (PCA-LPG), this procedure is iterated second time to further improve the denoising performance, and other enhancement filters were used. Like adaptive Wiener low pass-filter to a grayscale image that has been degraded by constant power additive noise, based on statistics estimated from a local neighborhood of each pixel. Performs Median filter of the input noisy image, each output pixel contains the Median value in the M-by-N neighborhood around the corresponding pixel in the input image, Gaussian low pass-filter and Order-statistic filter also be used. Experimental results shows LPG-PCA method
... Show MoreGeographic information system (GIS) is utilized in a variety of tasks such as, resource management, urban planning, emergency planning in case of accident, and rapid response etc. The aim of this study is to produce a digital map with the aid of GIS and a survey data. A survey data is conducted with Total Station technique on sanitary planning positions. The campus of Baghdad University is chosen to test the execution and accuracy of the results for sewer manholes locations. During the field survey, Total Station (Nikon Nivo) is used to identify the 3-D coordinates for each location. Finally, Geographical Information System (GIS) are utilized to present the digital map of the network sewer pipe line to the end users. Although Geographic Inf
... Show MoreAllah legislated marriage and made it dwelling, fellowship and mercy between
the two couples, Prophet Moh'd (peace of Allah and blessing be upon him) ordered a
husband to look after his wife, treat her with full charity and make love with here
every kindly. On the other hand, he ordered a wife to obey her husband and respect
him deeply, nevertheless, some obstacles may sometimes be appeared within the life
of their marriage, this may be caused by either a husband or a wife. This problem is
called lifely disobedience (AL-Noshooz).
In the other words, this means that a wife begins to hate her husband, refuse his orders
and not obey him.
In brief, they hate each other which leads to some marks appear in their
m
The dyes Azo have a lengthy history and are a vital part of our daily lives. There are numerous potentials uses for these substances and their derivatives in various industries and environmental and biological research. In this study conversion of various azo compounds into other derivatives, complexes, and polymers was accomplished. This review included examining the chemistry reactions, synthesis, and applications of azo dye ligands and their complexes, mentioned spectral, analytical, thermal, and morphology methods of investigation, and confirmed by mass fragment mechanisms for some azo dyes and metal complexes. One of the aims of this review is to explain the role of these azo dye derivatives and the effect of metal complexes on leather
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to identify the extent of the direct and indirect relationship of the population growth of the cities as a result of the urbanization process witnessed by the Arab region for the urban development of the city structures and their formative structures, changing the planning criteria of some cities and the extent of their changes in spatial and temporal dimensions and their relation to the standards of the western cities. In changing the concept of the modern Arab city, such as the emergence of new functional uses affecting the change in the pattern of formal formations of its urban fabric associated with its ancient morphology and distinctive human nature. The research seeks to identify the extent to which plann
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