Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory condition that requires effective treatment. Genetic variability, particularly in the Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene, may influence patients’ response to biological therapies such as etanercept. This study evaluated the association of four TNF-α gene polymorphisms (rs361525 G/A, rs673 G/A, rs1800629 G/A, and rs1800750 G/A) with serum TNF-α levels and response to etanercept in Iraqi patients with psoriasis. A retrospective study was conducted on 80 patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis who received etanercept for at least six months. Patients were categorised as responders (≥ 75% PASI reduction) or non-responders (≤ 50% PASI reduction). Genotyping was performed using PCR and Sanger sequencing. A significant association was observed between the rs673 G/A polymorphism and etanercept response: the GA genotype was predominantly present in responders and showed a negative association with non-response (phi = -0.318, p = 0.007), whereas the GG genotype demonstrated a positive association (phi = 0.411, p = 0.0007). Non-responders had significantly higher post-treatment serum TNF-α levels compared with responders. These findings suggest that the rs673 G/A polymorphism and TNF-α levels may be associated with etanercept response. However, larger studies are needed to validate these associations before clinical implementation.
A total of 37 Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates, isolated from corneal scraping of patients with bacterial keratitis and 20 isolates from healthy eyes (as control) (all isolates, isolated from, Ibn Al- Haietham eye hospital / Baghdad), were tested for slime production, 52.63% of all isolates were positive-slime production (23 isolates from patients and 7 isolates from controls). It was found that positive-slime producing S. epidermidis were exhibited a high resistance to antibiotics as compared to negative-slime producing isolates.
In this paper, a simple fast lossless image compression method is introduced for compressing medical images, it is based on integrates multiresolution coding along with polynomial approximation of linear based to decompose image signal followed by efficient coding. The test results indicate that the suggested method can lead to promising performance due to flexibility in overcoming the limitations or restrictions of the model order length and extra overhead information required compared to traditional predictive coding techniques.
In the present work, a D.C. magnetron sputtering system was
designed and fabricated. This chamber of this system includes two
coaxial cylinders made from copper .the inner one used as a cathode
while the outer one used as a node. The magnetic coils located on
the outer cylinder (anode) .The profile of magnetic field for various
coil current (from 2Amp to 14Amp) are shown. The effect of
different magnetic field on the Cu thin films thickness at constant
pressure of 7x10-5mbar is investigated. The result shown that, the
electrical behavior of the discharge strongly depends on the values
of the magnetic field and shows an optimum value at which the
power absorbed by the plasma is maximum. Furthermore, the
pl
Background: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of a new orthodontic bonding system (Beauty Ortho Bond) involving the shear bond strength in dry and wet environments, and adhesion remnant index (ARI) scores evaluation in regard to other bonding systems (Heliosit and Resilience Orthodontic Adhesives). Materials and methods: Sixty defect free extracted premolars were randomly divided into six groups of 10 teeth each, mounted in acrylic resin, three groups for a dry environment and three for a wet one. Shear bond strength test was performed with a cross head speed of 0.5 mm/min, while surfaces of enamel and bracket-adhesive-enamel surfaces were examined with stereomicroscope For ARI scores evaluation. Data were analyz
... Show MoreTo verify the influence of magnetic flux on the characteristics of SAE 10W-30 gasoline engine oil when the engine oil is exposed to different magnetic fluxes 0, 6, 9, and 13 Volt. The following oil characteristics were measured: viscosity at 40 and 100 °C, and total acid number (TAN) mg KOH/g. The research was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications for each treatment under the 5% probability level to compare the means of the treatments. The results of the experiment showed that there were significant differences in the studied properties when the engine oil was exposed to the above magnetic fluxes and, inversely, especially the magnetic flux of 13 Volt,
A piezoelectric cantilever beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This article introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester that increases the generated power without changing the resonance frequency of the harvester: the attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the efficient operation frequency. Five set-ups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle: theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffened harve
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