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 secondly, non-diabetic controls (11 male, 9 female) were selected from the patients attending Ibn AL-Haitham hospital for ophthalmology and a specialized center for endocrinology and diabetes. Venous blood samples of all participants were drawn after an overnight fast, and serum samples were stored at -20ºC until DKK-1 assay. Results: Serum DKK-1 showed significantly lower levels in diabetic patients with (6.1 ± 2 ng/mL) or without DR (14 ± 6.2 ng/mL) when compared to those of controls (34 ± 12.25 ng/mL) (p 0.05). Furthermore, serum DKK-1 levels were lower in the late stage of DR compared to the early stage 5.6 ± 1.7 and 7 ± 1.9 ng/mL, respectively. Furthermore, DPP-4 inhibitors cause a better increment in DKK-1 levels when compared to SU in the NDR group. Conclusions: Reduced serum levels of DKK-1 are related to the existence and worsening of DR and have the prospect to serve as an indicator for this condition.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to determine the effect of various levels of hump fat (HF) used in manufacturing of camel, beef and chicken sausage to understand the effect of (HF) on physicochemical composition sausage, Different levels of hump fat (5, 7, and 10 %) were used, physicochemical compositions like (moisture, protein, fat, Ash, water holding capacity, shrinkage, cooking loss and pH) were determined. Results of the study revealed that moisture content showed high significant differences (P≤0.01)among treatments groups, Camel sausage and beef sausage tended to have highest values while chicken sausage reported the lowest value. The study showed no significant difference (P≤0.05) among the
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the impact of managing performance's employees in building intellectual capital, Because employing the practice of managing the performance of employees may acquire familiar skills to improve their performance and reflect on the construction of intellectual capital in the surveyed area, Especially that the independent dimension represented by the management of the performance of employees is one of the important topics that has received attention in the world of management in general and human resource management in particular. While the adopted dimension was represented by Intellectual capital in the important practice of human resource management in the increasing of their knowledge, to
... Show MoreBackground: The association between diabetes and inflammatory dental diseases had been studied extensively for more than 50 years. A large evidence base suggests that diabetes is associated with an increased prevalence, extent and severity of gingivitis and periodontitis and loss of teeth. Many patients do not aware that they are diabetic.Objectives:The aim of the current study was to assess a fast, non-invasive, safe procedure to screen for diabetes and its severity in dental clinics and to assess the change in blood glucose level before and after tooth extraction during periodontalResults: there were no significant differences between the blood samples collected before tooth extraction from finger puncture method (FPB) and the gingival
... Show MoreTo study the site of placentae and the umbilical artery blood flow of different age groupsand relate that to the newborn baby and the mother. 117 placentae samples were investigatedusing ultrasound and 30 placentae samples were studied using Doppler ultrasound during theperiod from August 2007 to August 2008 for full term placentae of mothers aged 15- > 45 yearsold. By ultrasound; there was detection of good pe rcentage of the placental site to be on theposterior wall of the uterus in case of male babies, while it was anterior in case of female babiesand it was previa and fundal in females more than in the males. The Doppler ultrasound revealedthat the mother in any age group can conceive and have a healthy placenta because the readings ina
... Show MoreIn this study, ultraviolet (UV), ozone techniques with hydrogen peroxide oxidant were used to treat the wastewater which is produced from South Baghdad Power Station using lab-scale system. From UV-H2O2 experiments, it was shown that the optimum exposure time was 80 min. At this time, the highest removal percentages of oil, COD, and TOC were 84.69 %, 56.33 % and 50 % respectively. Effect of pH on the contaminants removing was studied in the range of (2-12). The best oil, COD, and TOC removal percentages (69.38 %, 70 % and 52 %) using H2O2/UV were at pH=12. H2O2/ozone experiments exhibited better performance compared to
... Show MoreDBN Rashid, 2012 - Cited by 2
Millions of pilgrims and visitors from numerous parts of the world flock to Karbala (one of the most prominent ideological and religious places in central Iraq) each year to visit the holy shrines in Karbala due to their sanctity. Many improvements have been made to the Two Holy Shrines (THS), the Shrines of Imam Husayn and Imam Abbas, and the area between them (ATHS), due to the high temperatures in this region and to improve pedestrian thermal comfort. Studies on improving outdoor thermal comfort in Karbala are scarce. Hence, this research aims to look into historical and current architectural changes and how they affect thermal comfort. On the hottest summer day, the ENVI-met software program was used to simulate the building des
... Show MoreMillions of pilgrims and visitors from numerous parts of the world flock to Karbala (one of the most prominent ideological and religious places in central Iraq) each year to visit the holy shrines in Karbala due to their sanctity. Many improvements have been made to the Two Holy Shrines (THS), the Shrines of Imam Husayn and Imam Abbas, and the area between them (ATHS), due to the high temperatures in this region and to improve pedestrian thermal comfort. Studies on improving outdoor thermal comfort in Karbala are scarce. Hence, this research aims to look into historical and current architectural changes and how they affect thermal comfort. On the hottest summer day, the ENVI-met software program was used to simulate the building des
... Show More