Objectives: Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) is WNT/b-catenin pathway antagonist which plays a detrimental role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). This research aimed to assess serum DKK-1 levels in diabetic patients who have and have not developed DR and, compare them with the control subjects finding out whether we can use it as an indicator for DR early diagnosis and to find out which one of the widely used two groups of antidiabetic treatments had the greater effect on this biomarker and hence on the progression of DR. Methods: The study participants were divided into two subgroups: First, 70 patients (36 male, 34 female) with type 2 diabetes mellitus, among them 35 patients diagnosed with DR and 35 with no evidence of DR, and s

The fuzzy assignment models (FAMs) have been explored by various literature to access classical values, which are more precise in our real-life accomplishment. The novelty of this paper contributed positively to a unique application of pentagonal fuzzy numbers for the evaluation of FAMs. The new method namely Pascal's triangle graded mean (PT-GM) has presented a new algorithm in accessing the critical path to solve the assignment problems (AP) based on the fuzzy objective function of minimising total cost. The results obtained have been compared to the existing methods such as, the centroid formula (CF) and centroid formula integration (CFI). It has been demonstrated that operational efficiency of this conducted method is exquisitely develo

An experimental study was carried out for an evaporative cooling system in order to investigate the effect of using an aluminum pad coated with fabric polyester. In the present work, it was considered to use a new different type of cooling medium and test its performance during the change in the wet-bulb temperature and dry-bulb temperature of the supply air outside of the pad, the relative humidity of the supply air, the amount of air supplied (300-600) CFM and also the change of the amount of circulated water (1.75, 2.5, 4.5) liter per minute. A decrease in the WBT of the air was obtained, whereas the WBT of the air entering the pad was 26.5 . In contrast, the WBT of the outside air had reached 23  even though eva

Financial crisis is one of the topics that have attracted the interest of researchers in recently. The research focused on the issue of the crisis of the Asian Tigers and the mortgage crisis and comparing them in terms of causes and repercussions. It may meet most of the financial crises in many of its causes, factors, roots and results in the advanced and the developing countries. This crisis has its own pattern and its causes and nature and it is characterized by a crisis of cash liquidity and the collapse of many banks and declare bankruptcy and a sharp decline in stock prices and indices of the stock market and so far the common denominators among the causes but does not mean this There are differences between the financial c

Linguistic research according to modern curricula:
   It is one of the important matters that occupy the ideas of those concerned with linguistic studies, whether Arabic or otherwise. Recent years have witnessed the advancement of this methodological approach, and books and studies in Arabic have been written on important, multifaceted issues, of grammatical and linguistic origins, and their balance with new developments and ideas attracted mostly from Western studies.
    The comparative approach - as they call it - is one of the modern approaches that is based on balancing a language with other sisters belonging to its family, to reach similarities and differences between them, and to know the c

Background and Objective: Public demand for procedures to rejuvenate photodamaged facial skin have stimulated the use of fractional CO2 laser as a precise and predictable treatment modality. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of fractional CO2 laser system for reducing periorbital rhytids.

Materials and Methods: twenty seven subjects with mild periocular wrinkles, and photoaged skin of the face were prospectively treated two to three times (according to clinical response) in the periorbital area with a fractional CO2 laser device equipped with a scanning hand piece. Improvements in eyelid wrinkles was evaluated clinically and photographically. Subjects also scored satisfaction and