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.
Laser is a powerful device that has a wide range of applications in fields ranging from materials science and manufacturing to medicine and fibre optic communications. One remarkable
Recently, increasing material prices coupled with more acute environmental awareness and the implementation of regulation has driven a strong movement toward the adoption of sustainable construction technology. In the pavement industry, using low temperature asphalt mixes and recycled concrete aggregate are viewed as effective engineering solutions to address the challenges posed by climate change and sustainable development. However, to date, no research has investigated these two factors simultaneously for pavement material. This paper reports on initial work which attempts to address this shortcoming. At first, a novel treatment method is used to improve the quality of recycled concrete coarse aggregates. Thereafter, the treated recycled
... Show MoreIntroduction: Carrier-based gutta-percha is an effective method of root canal obturation creating a 3-dimensional filling; however, retrieval of the plastic carrier is relatively difficult, particularly with smaller sizes. The purpose of this study was to develop composite carriers consisting of polyethylene (PE), hydroxyapatite (HA), and strontium oxide (SrO) for carrier-based root canal obturation. Methods: Composite fibers of HA, PE, and SrO were fabricated in the shape of a carrier for delivering gutta-percha (GP) using a melt-extrusion process. The fibers were characterized using infrared spectroscopy and the thermal properties determined using differential scanning calorimetry. The elastic modulus and tensile strength tests were dete
... Show MoreThis article deals with the study of theories about verbal periphrasis as a grammatical construction; the aim of this point it offers good and valid guidelines to improve the linguistic description. The interest in the subject comes from its importance in the process of language teaching for the students of Spanish and to clarify this type of curriculum of this research we analyzed a literary text. From "Zurita"
Atmospheric transmission is disturbed by scintillation, where scintillation caused more beam divergence. In this work target image spot radius was calculated in presence of atmospheric scintillation. The calculation depend on few relevant equation based on atmospheric parameter (for Middle East), tracking range, expansion ratio of applied beam expander's, receiving unit lens F-number, and the laser wavelength besides photodetector parameter. At maximum target range Rmax =20 km, target image radius is at its maximum Rs=0.4 mm. As the range decreases spot radius decreases too, until the range reaches limit (4 km) at which target image spot radius at its minimum value (0.22 mm). Then as the range decreases, spot radius increases due to geom
... Show MoreIn this study a new antiseptic was formulated and tested to match the effectiveness against microorganisms. The formulation consisted of Povidone - Iodine (PVP-I) (10%), H2O2 (3%) and Aloe Vera gel (pure). Different ratios of these materials were prepared within the acceptable range of pH for an antiseptic (3-6). The prepared samples were tested. The In Vitro test was performed by using four bacteria, two were Gram-Positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) and two were Gram-Negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The new antiseptic showed 100% killing rate for E. coli, Ps. aeruginosa and S. aureus and 96.4667% killing rate for B. cereus. When the new antiseptic was compared with two common
... Show MoreIn the current worldwide health crisis produced by coronavirus disease (COVID-19), researchers and medical specialists began looking for new ways to tackle the epidemic. According to recent studies, Machine Learning (ML) has been effectively deployed in the health sector. Medical imaging sources (radiography and computed tomography) have aided in the development of artificial intelligence(AI) strategies to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, a classical machine learning approach for coronavirus detection from Computerized Tomography (CT) images was developed. In this study, the convolutional neural network (CNN) model for feature extraction and support vector machine (SVM) for the classification of axial
... Show MoreThe exponential growth of audio data shared over the internet and communication channels has raised significant concerns about the security and privacy of transmitted information. Due to high processing requirements, traditional encryption algorithms demand considerable computational effort for real-time audio encryption. To address these challenges, this paper presents a permutation for secure audio encryption using a combination of Tent and 1D logistic maps. The audio data is first shuffled using Tent map for the random permutation. The high random secret key with a length equal to the size of the audio data is then generated using a 1D logistic map. Finally, the Exclusive OR (XOR) operation is applied between the generated key and the sh
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