Background A case-control study was performed to explore eight pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, namely interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1Ra (IL-1 receptor antagonist), IL-12, IL-17A, IL-31, IL-33, CXCL10 (C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10), and CXCL16, with the aim to understand their role in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) pathogenesis and evaluate their utility as markers to differentiate between diseased and healthy individuals. Among these cytokines, IL-31 and CXCL16 have not been well studied in AS. Patients and methods The study included 94 male patients with AS and 91 age-matched control males. Interleukin and chemokine levels were measured using ELISA kits. Results Serum levels of IL-17A, CXCL10, and CXCL16 were significantly ele

An experimental study was conducted on pressure drop of water flow through vertical cylindrical packed beds in turbulent region and the influence of the operating parameters on its behavior. The bed packing was made of spherical and non-spherical particles (spheres, Rasching rings and intalox saddle) with aspect ratio range 3.46  D/dp  8.486 obtaining bed porosities 0.396 0.84 and Reynolds number 1217  21758. The system is consisted of 5 cm inside diameter Perspex column, 50 cm long; distilled water was pumped through the bed with flow rate 875, 1000, 1125, 1250,1375 and 1500 l/h and inlet water temperature 20, 30, 40 and 50 ˚C. The packed bed system was monitored by using LabVIEW program, were the result

In this article, a continuous terminal sliding mode control algorithm is proposed for servo motor systems. A novel full-order terminal sliding mode surface is proposed based on the bilimit homogeneous property, such that the sliding motion is finite-time stable independent of the system’s initial condition. A new continuous terminal sliding mode control algorithm is proposed to guarantee that the system states reach the sliding surface in finitetime. Not only the robustness is guaranteed by the proposed controller but also the continuity makes the control algorithm more suitable for the servo mechanical systems. Finally, a numerical example is presented to depict the advantages of the proposed control algorithm. An application in the rota

Table tennis is considered one of the fast base sports that the player needs to have the speed of performance and awareness, especially in straight forward and back strikes, which is an important offensive skills, and the player success depends on his perception speed to the point of the fall of the ball in the arena of his competitor. But there is no way to measure cognitive processing speed. Therefore, the researchers sought to design a test that measures this ability to ensure its scientific evaluation, and then establish standard scores for this test for the players of the specialized school of table tennis, to help evaluate them objectively and move away from subjective estimates when evaluating and developing measuring instruments in

No country in the world has an ancient heritage of its own. It represents the product of the civilizations left behind by previous eras. It represents the development of urban life and its capital of the interest of its people in the field of construction and reconstruction. The urban heritage and its associated arts may seem to be a material heritage at first glance, but it is not free from the spiritual side. Therefore, the nations in different parts of the earth cherish it and care for it with all due diligence, because it mixes with its history, memories and emotions.
This research discusses the use of local environment materials in the production of urban fabric constituents. I

The current research deals with the dialectical relationship resulting from the conflict in the violent combination and construction of the living ( the actor)and the dead (the item) in the structure of the Sinography construction and the emergence of the theatrical play space , which can be summed up by the following question: what is the nature of the dialectical relationship between the living (the actor) and the dead( the item) in the Sinography creation, which limited the research in a central objective : to identify the controversy of the living (actor) and the dead (item) in the performance unit of the theatrical scene . The research, in its objective limits set forth in its methodological framework, analyzes this controversy in o

The research aims to measure the extent of the impact of Earnings quality in the continuity of the company for a sample of private commercial banks listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange. The research sample included (15) of the listed commercial banks that continue to issue their financial statements for the period from (2009-2018).The research relied on three main models of measurement and on four steps. The first step is to measure the Persistence (Earnings Quality) by Depending the sustainability model. While the second step included measuring the Predictability of accounting profits by deriving the square root of the disparity of the estimation error from the first model Persistence (Earnings Quality), and the third step included

The current research aims to identify: 1. The level of mathematical construct among the Department of Mathematics students in the colleges of education and basic education. 2. The level of effective mathematical operations in both sides of the brain at the Department of Mathematics students in the colleges of education and basic education. 3. The strength and direction of the correlation between the mathematical construct and effective mathematical operations on both sides of the brain at the Department of Mathematics students in the colleges of Education and Basic Education. To investigate the research objectives, the researcher formulated zero-main hypothesis for each aim and from the same hypothesis, three sub-zero hypotheses are deri