OBJECTIVE To analyse the relationship between rheumatoid factor (RF) titre, smoking and HLA-DRB1 alleles coding a "shared epitope" (SE) in relation to anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) positivity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS RA patients (n = 658) attending rheumatology clinics in Cornwall, UK (cohort 1) were stratified according to RF and ACPA titre, and smoking pack years a...

BACKGROUND Respiratory failure (RF) is a serious complication following heart surgery. The profile of patients referred for cardiac surgery has changed during the last decade, making prior investigations of RF after cardiac surgery less relevant to the current population. This study was designed to analyze the incidence, predictors of RF, and early and late outcomes following this complication ...

In the renal proximal tubule, the activities of the basolateral Na(+)/HCO(3)(-) cotransporter (NBC) and the apical Na(+)/H(+) exchanger (NHE3) uniformly vary in parallel, suggesting that they are coordinately regulated. PKA-mediated inhibition of NHE3 is mediated by a PDZ motif-containing protein, the Na(+)/H(+) exchanger regulatory factor (NHE-RF). Given the common inhibition of these transpor...

The intestinal absorption process of vitamin B2 (riboflavin, RF) is carrier-mediated, and all three known human RF transporters, i.e., hRFVT-1, -2, and -3 (products of the SLC52A1, 2 & 3 genes, respectively) are expressed in the gut. We have previously shown that the intestinal RF uptake process is adaptively regulated by substrate level, but little is known about the molecular mechanism(s) inv...

Background: Immunopathological and inflammatory processes play important roles in the initiation and development of Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD). Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of several autoantibodies including rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (anti-Sm), anti-phosphatidylserine (anti-PS) and anti-car...

Traveling Wave Tubes (TWTs) consist of different elements. The most important element of TWT is the RF circuit. RF circuits in helix TWTs need a dielectric support to hold the helix; this support also has an effect in electromagnetic properties of RF circuits. A novel dielectric support is proposed to reduce the second harmonic of helix TWTs. The dielectric support in this structure consists of...

In this research work at The first compounds [C60- 2-(naftalin-1-ilmetil)-4,5-dihidro-1H-imidazol-C65-2X]+ (X=F,Cl,Br) were optimized. Then the calculation of natural bond orbitals was performed with the NBO technique. All calculations using Hartree- fock  the 6-31G * basis set using Gaussian 98 software and in gas phase has been done. The results showed that the energy levels of mol...

Due to urbanization and population increase, need for metro tunnels, has been considerably increased in urban areas. Estimating the surface settlement caused by tunnel excavation is an important task especially where the tunnels are excavated in urban areas or beneath important structures. Many models have been established for this purpose by extracting the relationship between the settlement a...

  Purpose: This study has for objective the assessment of the vigilance, mood states variations and the blood glucose levels, during a triangular effort progressive in trained athletes during Ramadan fasting (RF). Methods. Ten trained male athletes aged 21.8 ± 1.1 years are evaluated before (B.RF), during (1st, 2nd and 3th week) and after Ramadan fasting, in the blood-glucose, vigilance, and mo...