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.
Organizations adopt a number of procedures and instructions in their field of activities in order to aid their resources development and energies to serve their entrepreneurial orientations. This calls for preparing a range of mechanisms to mitigate the strictness and complexity of procedures. The ambiguity and severe complexity of procedures means acknowledging the loss in energy and this in turn impedes the hopes while in the same time weakens the enthusiasm in these organizations and an impedes the possibility to achieve continues innovation, thereby losing opportunities to the level of surrender to the risks and assuming them to be unconquered obstacles.
There
... Show MoreBackground: Nutritional Rickets is a condition produced by an absence of Vitamin D, calcium or phosphate. It clues to relaxing and fading of the bones. Dental expression of children with rickets contains enamel hypoplasia and delayed tooth eruption. This study was conducted in order to assess caries experience (dmfs) and enamel defects among study and control groups, and to evaluate and compare the levels of selected salivary biomarkers between children with nutritional rickets and apparently healthy children. Material and methods: Assessment of caries according to WHO in 1987, and assessment of enamel defects according to enamel defect index EDI of WHO in 1997. In addition a stimulated saliva samples were collected according to Palone e
... Show MoreObjective(s): assessment of the health follow up and weight control for women with osteoporosis and find out the relationship between their health follow up and weight control and their socio-demographic characteristics.
Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted on women with osteoporosis for the period of September, 26th 2020 to Jun, 20th 2021. Non- probability (convenient) sample of (70) women with osteoporosis selected from (5) Private Clinics for Joints and Fractures in Baqubah City. A questionnaire was designed though extensive review of literatures and it consists of three parts: the first part includes women’s socio demographic characteristics, the second part inclu
... Show MoreObjectives: The study aimed to assess the level of pediatric nurses' knowledge toward children with Guillain-Barre
syndrome (GBS) and to find out the relationships between nurses' knowledge and their demographic data.
Methodology: A purposive “non probability” sample of (30) nurses was selected from medical neurological wards and
Respiratory Care Units of Children Welfare Pediatric Teaching Hospital, Child’s Center Pediatric Teaching Hospital,
AL-Kadhemia Teaching Hospital, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, and Neurological Science Hospital which has started
from March 5
th 2009 to April 30th 2009. The study instrument consists of two parts. The first part is concerned with
nurses' demographical characteristic and the
The methods used by the print media (press) is varied in conveying its messages and its orientations to the readers. But language takes the leading method among these methods, or a real competitor - so far - due to the characteristics and advantages of languages, including: ease, abbreviation, and development, etc.
In the midst of such events, political tensions, and what they carry of the global developments, and among which was the most important the fall of the former Iraqi regime in the spring of 2003, the press had the greatest share, and a large portion on the level of monitoring, analyzing, and interpreting the various consequences of the event. The interpreting of the news varies according to the evolving political trends
... Show MoreThe purpose of this work was to study the effects of the Nd:YAG laser on exposed dentinal
tubules of human extracted teeth using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Eighty 2.5mm-thick
slices were cut at the cementoenamel junction from 20 extracted human teeth with an electric saw. A
diamond bur was used to remove the cementum layer to expose the dentinal tubules. Each slice was
sectioned into four equal quadrants and the specimens were randomly divided into four groups (A to D ).
Groups B to D were lased for 2 mins using an Nd:YAG laser at 6 pulses per second at energy outputs of
80 , 100 and 120 mJ. Group A served as control. Under SEM observation, nonlased specimens showed
numerous exposed dentinal tubules. SEM o
Actual and effective organizational dynamic capabilities in the work environment contribute to a number of factors that contribute to the organization's ability to manage its human talents. Thus, the study sought to identify the level of contribution of organizational dynamic capabilities to human talent management based on their dimensions in the investigated organization by determining the level of relationship and impact between these variables. The presidency of Mosul University was chosen as a field for the current study, and data were collected by adopting the questionnaire form as the main tool for the study. The study used a deliberate sample of (42) administrative leaders in the investigated organization and adopte
... Show MoreThe recognition of the dynamic organizational capabilities in their actual and influential extent in the work environment achieves a set of positive data that can fall under the addition axes, particularly with regard to the organization's ability to manage human talents in them, so the researchers sought to identify the level of contribution of dynamic organizational capabilities in the management of human talents in terms of Keep them away in the research organization by indicating the level of relationship and impact between them. The presidency of Mosul University was chosen as a field for the current study, and data were collected by adopting the questionnaire form as the main tool for the study. The study used a deliberate
... Show MoreAn adaptive nonlinear neural controller to reduce the nonlinear flutter in 2-D wing is proposed in the paper. The nonlinearities in the system come from the quasi steady aerodynamic model and torsional spring in pitch direction. Time domain simulations are used to examine the dynamic aero elastic instabilities of the system (e.g. the onset of flutter and limit cycle oscillation, LCO). The structure of the controller consists of two models :the modified Elman neural network (MENN) and the feed forward multi-layer Perceptron (MLP). The MENN model is trained with off-line and on-line stages to guarantee that the outputs of the model accurately represent the plunge and pitch motion of the wing and this neural model acts as the identifier. Th
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