Background: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory, systemic rheumatic condition that mostly affects the axial skeleton. Tenascin-C (TN-C) is a hexameric glycoprotein of considerable size, upregulated in many inflammatory conditions, while Interleukin-17 (IL-17) a cytokine that plays an important role in SpA symptoms. Objective: to investigate the upregulation between the serum levels of TN-C and IL-17 in Iraqi axSpA patients and the disease characteristics. Patients and Methods: Seventy-four axSpA patients and 28 matched controls were studied. Fifty-four patients received a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) and 20 did not. Serum TN-C and IL-17 concentrations were determined using the ELISA technique. The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) was assessed. For statistical tests, Chi Square, Mann Whitney, Independent Samples T, and Pearson's correlation tests are used. Results: Patients mean age was 35.6±0.9 years, 65 males and 9 females, and disease duration was 5.18±0.6 years. 47.4% were smokers, 47% had inflammatory low back pain, and HLA-B27 was present in 91%. BASDAI mean was 6.1±0.4 in non-TNFi and 2.6±0.3 in those on TNFi. The serum TN-C concentration was significantly increased in patients, especially those on non-TNFi (79±9.6 pg/mL) compared to those on TNFi (69.1±3.2 pg/mL) and control (53±3.9 pg/mL) (p=0.003). Serum IL-17 was significantly elevated in those receiving TNFi (877.9±257 pg/mL) compared to non-TNFi (487.2±234 pg/mL) and control (182.4±36.6 pg/mL) (p=0.033). The TN-C significantly correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r=0.27, p=0.02) and with hemoglobin (Hb) concentration (r=0.26, p=0.02). TN-C and IL-17 were non-significantly related (r=0.14, p=0.2). Conclusions: axSpA Patients demonstrated high levels of serum TN-C, particularly in those not receiving TNFi, and high IL-17 levels in those receiving TNFi, suggesting that there is an association with tissue injury from the disease and stimulation of immunological and resident tissue cells. Patients who had not received TNFi showed significantly higher disease activity than others.
The behavior and shear strength of full-scale (T-section) reinforced concrete deep beams, designed according to the strut-and-tie approach of ACI Code-19 specifications, with various large web openings were investigated in this paper. A total of 7 deep beam specimens with identical shear span-to-depth ratios have been tested under mid-span concentrated load applied monotonically until beam failure. The main variables studied were the effects of width and depth of the web openings on deep beam performance. Experimental data results were calibrated with the strut-and-tie approach, adopted by ACI 318-19 code for the design of deep beams. The provided strut-and-tie design model in ACI 318-19 code provision was assessed and found to be u
... Show MoreCommercial graphite (CGT) powder was used as an adsorbent surface for cationic dye, Janus green (JG), from aqueous solutions. This study aims to highlight the practical significance of using inexpensive CGT as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of JG dye from industrial wastewater. CGT was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The adsorption process was investigated by examining parameters like the weight of the adsorbent, contact time, and temperature. Pseudo-second-order kinetic (PSO), pseudo-first-order, and intraparticle diffusion were used for analyzing the kinetic data. JG dye's adsorption kinetics fit the PSO kinetic model well (R2= 0.999). Furthermo
... Show MoreThe present work focuses on examining the strategy of cognitive trips and the Arabic language teachers’ training needs of such a strategy when teaching Arabic language courses in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom. To achieve the objective of the study, and check whether this strategy is used in lesson planning, lesson teaching, or lesson assessment, a descriptive approach and a questionnaire have been adopted. The researchers used a number of statistical tools, and chose a purposive sample, which consists of (58) Arabic language teachers from Saudi Arabia Kingdom. Results have shown that the training needs of Arabic language teachers for implemining the strategy of cognitive journeys while teaching Arabic language courses came in the following
... Show MoreContracting companies play a prominent role today in economic activity, due to their contribution to the implementation of major construction projects which together constitute the infrastructure of society. Most construction projects also suffer from exceeding the time and cost specified and planned for the completion of the project, and this comes for several reasons, including the work environment, country conditions, The method of managing project costs and the techniques used in its implementation Accordingly, the concepts of lean construction came, which help in addressing the causes of waste, both in time and cost, in addition to the fact that project management needs techniques that are useful in controlling the control and manag
... Show MoreThe importance of research is to be considered by highlighting the tax policy in Iraq which extended for successive measurement of the amount of tax receipts for respective periods, the research problem represents security, economic and political issues that Iraq suffered which were very difficult since Nineties of the last century until now that led to a lake of clarity in tax policy trends, volatility in it and finally reflected on the tax revenues increase or decrease. One of the main recommendations of the research is: (The necessity to develop a deliberate strategy for tax policy in Iraq which should take into account financial, economic, and social goals in appropriate way).
The research aims to identify the concept of financing structure and what are the determinants that affect it and the goals achieved by financing in commercial banks in addition to the sources upon which the financing structure depends consisting of internal financing sources and external financing sources and their connection to the profits of commercial banks. Baghdad, Khaleeji Commercial Bank) registered in the Iraq Stock Exchange during the period for the years (2011-2020) published in the Iraq Stock Exchange from and the research relied on financial analysis tools to analyze the independent variable the following financing structure (the ratio of equity to total assets, the ratio of deposits to Total liabilities, the ratio of loans
... Show MoreIn light of the increasing importance of interim financial statements they provided these lists of information that enables users of accounting information to make wise investment decisions and predict the company's activities in light of changes the updated rather than wait until the end of the year and accessing information provided by the annual financial statements. In light of this research has come to the most important set of conclusions the adoption of interim financial information has been audited by the external auditor to the availability of basic qualitative characteristics in the accounting information contained in the (appropriate and timely manner, reliability and comparability) and this in turn leads to the impact on reli
... Show MoreThe implicit is the narrative technique used to give indirect hidden messages. To read between the lines means to understand the implicit meaning that is not directly indicated. This technique is expressed in two forms: the hypothesis and the implications of linguistic and non-linguistic rules. Nathalie Sarraute’s "Pour un oui ou pour un non" states this narrative method through her character’s verbal and non-verbal dialogue. The present paper discusses the implicit method and shows the reason behind which the author uses it in her play "Pour un oui ou pour un non".
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