Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is an immunological disorder associated with chronic inflammatory process of several unspecific regions of gastrointestinal tract but frequently detected in the terminal Ilium and proximal colon or both. This disease frequently presented with various oral manifestations as a consequence of inflammatory process of the disease, nutritional deficiency or medications side effects. Several therapeutic approaches have been developed for CD management that are targeting the inflammatory process and directed at controlling the host immune response. Immunosuppressants such as Azathioprine and anti-TNF α agents as well as the combination of them have been widely used as an effective therapeutic modality with a better chance of achieving clinical remission and decrease the risk of future complications. Subjects, Materials, and Methods: Seventy-five subjects were incorporated in this study; fifty subjects presented with moderate to severe CD that were subdivided into two subgroups treated with different therapeutic modalities( Azathioprine monotherapy and Combination of anti TNF-α biological agent (Infliximab) plus Azathioprine), while other twenty-five were age and gender matched healthy control subjects. Body mass index (BMI) of all participants was determined by weight (kg)\ high (m2). Oral cavity of each patient was examined for the presence of oral manifestations. Blood and saliva samples were gained from each subject enrolled in this study and salivary flow rate (ml\min) was measured for those participants, then these samples were centrifuged and the supernatants frizzed for subsequent oxidative stress and antioxidants biomarkers assessment. Results: The means of BMI and salivary flow rate were significantly higher in combination treated group than Azathioprine treated group. Fungal infection was the main oral findings that observed among Crohn's patients on combination therapy compared with those on Azathioprine monotherapy. Assessment of oxidative stress and antioxidant activity revealed that the means of serum and saliva Malondialdehyde (MDA) were highly significantly higher in Azathioprine treated group than combination treated group, while Vitamin E (VE) level showed significant reduction in Azathioprine Crohn's group as compared to combination treated group. Significant negative linear correlation was found between MDA level in serum and saliva with duration of treatment, while highly significant positive correlation was detected between VE levels and duration of treatment. Conclusions: Oxidative stress was increased with reduced antioxidant level in both groups of Crohn's patients. Treatment with Combination therapy approved to be effective in controlling oxidative tissue damage and enhanced antioxidants system in Crohn's patients better than Azathioprine monotherapy. Fungal infection was the most predominant oral manifestations among Crohn's patients on combination therapy as a result of concomitant immunosuppressive effect that accounted for reduced immune response to opportunistic infections.
Fabrication of porous clay refractory insulating specimens from Iraqi kaolin with different percentage of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) waste crumbs additions were investigated. After mixing and forming by hand molding, the specimens was dried and fired at 1300 oC. The structural, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the refractory insulating products were measured. Maximum addition of EPS (1.25 wt%) lead to reduce the linear shrinkage to less than 1.7% and increased apparent porosity up to 50 %. As well as, the density, Modulus of rupture and thermal conductivity were reduced to 1.39 g/cm3, 4.1 MPa and 0.21 W/m.K, respectively. The final outcome, addition of EPS showed good results in the formation of pores without distorting the
... Show MoreRecovery of time-dependent thermal conductivity has been numerically investigated. The problem of identification in one-dimensional heat equation from Cauchy boundary data and mass/energy specification has been considered. The inverse problem recasted as a nonlinear optimization problem. The regularized least-squares functional is minimised through lsqnonlin routine from MATLAB to retrieve the unknown coefficient. We investigate the stability and accuracy for numerical solution for two examples with various noise level and regularization parameter.
Levan is an exopolysaccharide produced by various microorganisms and has a variety of applications. In this research, the aim was to demonstrate the biological activity of levan which produced from B. phenoliresistens KX139300. These were done via study the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antileishmanial activities in vitro. The antioxidant levan was shown 80.9% activity at 1250 µg/mL concentration. The efficient anti-inflammatory activity of 88% protein inhibition was noticed with levan concentration at 35 µg/mL. The cytotoxic activity of levan at 2500 µg/mL concentration showed a maximum cytotoxic effect on L20B cell line and promastigotes of Leishmani tropica. Levan has dose-dependent anticancer and antileishman
... Show MorePosible interference of vamin with the activity of several antibiotics against E. coli was evaluated in vitro. In MBS- glucose medium, significant growth delay was induced by 8 ug/ml of terramycin (oxytetracycline- polymyxin B) and bactrim (trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole), and by 16 ug/ml of refocin, lincomycin, and chloramphenicol. Rapid growth inhibition was induced by 32 ug/ml of all an- tibiotic tested separately. Significant inactivation of up to 64 ug/ml of licomycin and bactrim was in- duced by the addition of vamin at a concentration of 1:20 v/v of the medium. This effect was found to be due to the presence of specific amino acids in vamin. Among them is valine, leucine, isoleucine tyrosine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, cysteine, meth
... Show MoreBackground: The main aim of the present study is to qualify and quantify voids formation of root canals obturated with GuttaCore (GC) and experimental Hydroxyapatite polyethylene (HA/PE) as new carrier-based root canal fillings by using micro computed tomography scan. Materials and methods: In the present study, eight straight single-rooted human permanent premolar teeth are selected and disinfected, then stored in distilled water. The teeth decoronated leaving a root length of 12mm each. The root canals instrumented by using crown down technique and the apical diameter of the root canal prepared to a size # 30/0.04 for achieving standardized measurements. A 5mL of 17% EDTA used to remove the smear layer followed by 5mL of 2.5% NaOCl and r
... Show MoreThe analysis of rigid pavements is a complex mission for many reasons. First, the loading conditions include the repetition of parts of the applied loads (cyclic loads), which produce fatigue in the pavement materials. Additionally, the climatic conditions reveal an important role in the performance of the pavement since the expansion or contraction induced by temperature differences may significantly change the supporting conditions of the pavement. There is an extra difficulty because the pavement structure is made of completely different materials, such as concrete, steel, and soil, with problems related to their interfaces like contact or friction. Because of the problem's difficulty, the finite element simulation is
... Show MoreNon-biodegradability of rubber tires contributes to pollution and fire hazards in the natural environment. In this study, the flexural behavior of the Rubberized Reactive Powder Concrete (RRPC) beams that contained various proportions and sizes of scrap tire rubber was investigated and compared to the flexural behavior of the regular RPC. Fresh properties, hardened properties, load-deflection relation, first crack load, ultimate load, and crack width are studied and analyzed. Mixes were made using micro steel fiber of the straight type, and they had an aspect ratio of 65. Thirteen beams were tested under two loading points (Repeated loading) with small-scale beams (1100 mm, 150 mm, 100 mm) size.
The fine aggregate
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