Background: Osteoporosis is an extra-articular complication of rheumatoid arthritis that results in increased risk of fractures and associated morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Objective: To evaluate changes in bone mineral density in a sample of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients on biological (anti tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha) and non-biological agent disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Patients and Methods: A cross sectional study enrolled 60 RA patients diagnosed by rheumatologist according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (2010 ACR/EULAR) classification criteria for RA. Thirty patient on biological agent (anti TNF alpha) and 30 patient on non-biological agent (D

The hydrodynamics of a co-current down flow bubble column has been investigated with air – water system. A Perspex bubble column of 5cm in diameter and 1.5m height is used as a test contactor using nozzles of 7, 8 and 9 mm diameter for air-water distributing. The column is provided with three electro-resistivity needle probes for bubble detection.
Experimental work is carried out with air flow rates from 0.09 to 0.45 m3/hr and liquid flow rates from 0.65 to 1.1m3/hr in order to study the effects of superficial gas velocity, nozzle diameter and liquid flow rate on the characteristics of hydrodynamic interactions viz. gas hold up, bubble diameter and bubble velocity by using two technical methods, direct height measurements for air-wa

This research was carried out to study the effect of plants on the wetted area for two soil types in Iraq and predict an equation to determine the wetted radius and depth for two different soil types cultivated with different types of plants, the wetting patterns for the soils were predicted at every thirty minute for a total irrigation time equal to 3 hr. Five defferent discharges of emitter and five initial volumetric soil moisture contents were used ranged between field capacity and wilting point were utilized to simulate the wetting patterns. The simulation of the water flow from a single point emitter was completed by utilized HYDRUS-2D/3D software, version 2.05. Two methods were used in developing equations to predict the domains o

Abstract
Objectives: The study aims to: (1) Find out the relationship among participants’ age, body mass index (BMI), and Health Belief Model (HBM) related to colorectal examinations among graduate students. (2) Investigate the differences in Health Belief Model constructs between the groups of age, gender, marital status, and education level among graduate students.
Methodology: A descriptive correlational study design which conducted in the College of Fine Arts – University of Baghdad. A convenience sample of 80 graduate students were included in this study. The data were collected by using a self-reported questionnaire which consisted of two parts (I) socio-demographic characteristics (II) Colorectal Cancer Screening Beliefs

This paper aims to identify the approaches used in assessment the credit applications by Iraqi banks, as well as which approach is most used. It also attempted to link these approaches with reduction of credit default and banks’ efficiency particularly for the Gulf Commercial Bank. The paper found that the Gulf Bank widely relies on the method of Judgment Approach for assessment the credit applications in order to select the best of them with low risk of default. In addition, the paper found that the method of Judgment Approach was very important for the Gulf Bank and it driven in reduction the ratio of credit default as percentage of total credit. However, it is important to say that the adoption of statistical approaches for

This paper presents a comprehensive numerical analysis of the improvement in bearing capacity and settlement performance of hexagonal shallow footings with inclined skirts. Various numerical analyses were conducted using PLAXIS 3D to investigate the influence of skirt length-to-footing width (L/B) ratios and skirt inclination angles (θ) on hexagonal footings in loose sand. The models showed very good agreement with experimental data reported in previous studies, with an R² value of 0.996 and a maximum error of less than 4.31%. It was concluded that the inclusion of inclined skirts has a positive effect on bearing capacity, increasing it by up to approximately 2.97 times compared to non-inclined configurations, while significantly

Aluminum oxide thin films were prepared by dc reactive sputtering technique using different mixing ratios of argon and oxygen gases (90:10, 70:30, 50:50, 30:70, and 10:90). These films were characterized to introduce their crystalline structures, surface morphology, and elemental composition. A progressive transition occurs from a predominantly amorphous to a highly crystalline Al2O3 film as the oxygen content in the Ar:O2 gas mixture is increased. Increasing the oxygen content leads to a progressive decrease in surface roughness, resulting in smoother and more uniform films with finer granular features. The oxygen-rich environments yield the smoothest surfaces, while argon-rich environments result in significantly rougher surfaces. These f