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

Background: Gingivitis is one of the most common and widely spread oral diseases in adolescents after dental caries occur in both developed and developing countries. Dental plaque is the main etiological factor of gingivitis. Another oral problem is enamel defect. The aim of this study was to estimate the oral hygiene (dental plaque), and determine the prevalence and severity of gingivitis and enamel defects among 16-17 years old secondary school female students in urban areas of Kirkuk city/Iraq. Materials and methods: A representative sample included in this study consisted of 750 secondary school female students distributed into 387 for the age sixteen and 363 for the age seventeen, they were selected randomly from different female secon

Inelastic magnetic electron scattering M1 at Ex =10.23 MeV form factors in Ca-48 have been investigated. The fp shell model space with four orbits and eight neutrons have been considered and FPD6 has been selected between 32 model space effective interactions to generates the model space vectors for the M1 transition with excitation energy Ex =10.23 MeV and for constructing OBDM. Discarded space (core and higher configuration orbits) has been included through the first order perturbation theory to couple the partice-hole pair of excitation in the calculation of the total M1 form factor and regarding the realistic interaction M3Y as a core polarization interaction with six sets of fitting parameters. Finally the theoretical calculations h

Background: Orofacial cleft is the most common craniofacial birth defect and the fourth most common congenital malformation in humans that have an effect on oral health in addition to nutrient intake affected in those children. This research aims to investigate gingival condition, dental caries experience and nutritional status among children with orofacial cleft and compare them with normal children. Materials and methods: The study group included 36 children with an age ranged (4-9) years of orofacial cleft. The control group included 37 children matched the control group in age and gender. Gingival condition measured by Gingival Index (Löe and Silness, 1963), while dental caries status was measured by (D1-4MFs/d1-4mfs) index according

Background: Water-pipe can be defined as a single or multi stemmed device that used to vaporize and smoke flavored tobacco whose smoke is passed via water vase before inhalation. Water-pipe smokers are at risk of exposure to many toxic chemicals that are not filtered by water, as well as risk of infectious diseases when the mouth piece of the water-pipe is shared. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of water pipe on the oral health. Materials and Methods: Sixty persons were included in this study aged between 22 and 23 years. Forty persons were coffee shop workers for at least five years, half of them were water-pipe smokers (active smokers) and the other weren’t smokers (passive smoker), the last group was the co

A field study was conducted in Al-Khalis district, Diyala Governorate in 2019 to test the sensitivity of three varieties of pepper to the population density of the whitefly B. tabaci, Anaheim pepper, Aleppo and local variety, and the results showed that the Anaheim variety was the most infested with the whitefly density 4.08 whitefly/ leaf and then the local variety 2.7 whitefly/ leaf. The lowest population density was 1.25 whitefly/ leaf of Aleppo variety. Variety Aleppo also recorded the lowest percentage of whitefly infection B. tabaci of 39.22%, but not have significant differences in the percentage of whitefly infestation, as it reached 53.64% and 54.85% for the Anaheim and local varieties, respectively. The resistance of variety Alepp

The downhole flow profiles of the wells with single production tubes and mixed flow from more than one layer can be complicated, making it challenging to obtain the average pressure of each layer independently.  Production log data can be used to monitor the impacts of pressure depletion over time and to determine average pressure with the use of Selective Inflow Performance (SIP). The SIP technique provides a method of determining the steady state of inflow relationship for each individual layer. The well flows at different stabilized surface rates, and for each rate, a production log is run throughout the producing interval to record both downhole flow rates and flowing pressure. PVT data can be used to convert measured in-situ r

This study examines traveling wave solutions of the SIS epidemic model with nonlocal dispersion and delay. The research shows that a key factor in determining whether traveling waves exist is the basic reproduction number R0. In particular, the system permits nontrivial traveling wave solutions for σ≥σ∗ for R0>1, whereas there are no such solutions for σ<σ∗. This is because there is a minimal wave speed σ∗>0. On the other hand, there are no traveling wave solutions when R0≤1. In conclusion, we provide several numerical simulations that illustrate the existence of TWS.