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.
KE Sharquie, HR Al-Hamamy, AA Noaimi, KA Ali, Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 2015 - Cited by 3
Breast cancer has got much attention in the recent years as it is a one of the complex diseases that can threaten people lives. It can be determined from the levels of secreted proteins in the blood. In this project, we developed a method of finding a threshold to classify the probability of being affected by it in a population based on the levels of the related proteins in relatively small case-control samples. We applied our method to simulated and real data. The results showed that the method we used was accurate in estimating the probability of being diseased in both simulation and real data. Moreover, we were able to calculate the sensitivity and specificity under the null hypothesis of our research question of being diseased o
... Show MoreRelationship between thyroid dysfunction and periodontal disease has been mediated through an immune response. Cytokines are implicated in the initiation, consequences of immune response and a crucial role in the pathogenesis of thyroid disease, directly target thyroid follicular cells; and in the development and progression of periodontitis. This study aimed to detect cytokines levels which known to be associated with periodontitis in serum and saliva, to test the hypothesis that hypothyroidism influences the levels of biomarkers of periodontitis. Samples were collected from sixty patients with hypothyroid age ranged (20-64) years, thirty of patients were without periodontitis (group I) and 30 with periodontal disease (II); moreover, 30 su
... Show More: Cervical malignancy positioned as the fourth most prevalent disease among women around the world. HPVs especially HPV16 are the causative agent of cervical cancer, responsible of about 5% of all human cancers worldwide. Some researchers found that the fibronectin is repressed by the papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 E7 oncoprotein in both HPV-positive nontumorigenic and tumorigenic cell lines, while others found that the HPV oncoprotein increase the levels of fibronectin. The aim is to study the effect of HPV infection on Fibronectin expression and their correlation onthe development of Cervicalcancinoma. The current retrospective study enrolled paraffinized blocks of two groups. The research included 30 cervical carcinomatous tissues as well
... Show MoreThis study aims at identifying the reality of alternative assessment for teachers of the first cycle of the basic education in the Sultanate of Oman with respect to the degree of teachers' use of alternative assessment strategies, level of self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies, and attitude towards alternative assessment, and their relationship with other variables. To achieve the aims of the study, a descriptive research approach was utilized. A 5-point self-rated questionnaire was developed. It consists of three sections: Actual use of alternative assessment strategies (21 items), self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies (21 items), and attitude towards alternative assessment (27 items). The psychometric proper
... Show MoreAbstract
Nephrotoxicity is defined as rapid deterioration in kidney functions. It arises from direct exposure to drugs or their metabolites. Methotrexate is a famous chemotherapeutic drug with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. A high-dose methotrexate-induced renal dysfunction can be life threatening. Cyanocobalamin, one of the forms of vitamin B12, acts as a coenzyme in the conversion of homocysteine to methionine in the cytosol, and the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA in the mitochondrion. This study is designed to examine the effect of cyanocobalamin in two different doses each co-administered with methotrexate at 20 mg/kg induced nephrotoxicity in rat
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to investigate the genetic variability of 26 rice genotypes and evaluation at two locations in Sulaimani governorate, Gaba and Chawtan which were completely different in their environmental condition during the season of 2019. The performances of the genotypes were analyzed at both locations as well as the average of both. Simple coefficients of correlation were used to assess the grain yield components and their relationships. Path analysis was used to determine the direct and indirect effects of such components on grain yield plant-1. The genotypes were grouped based on the agro-morphological features using cluster analysis. Almost all of the traits at both locat
... Show MoreGeotechnical characterization of the sites has been investigated with the collection of borehole data from different sources. Using the data, grain size distribution curves have been developed to understand the particle size distribution of the alluvium present. These curves were further used for preliminary assessment of liquefiable areas. From geotechnical characterization, it has been observed that the soil profile in the two sites is dominated by sand and silty sand.Seed and Idriss (1971) approachhas been usedevaluatethe liquefaction potentialbydeterminationof the relation between the maximum ground acceleration (a max/g) valuesdue to an earthquake and the relative density of a sand deposit in the field. The results reveal that
... Show MoreThe current research attempts to examine the relationship between social-psychological conflict and their relation to family upbringing approaches among the adolescents of intermediate stage according to sex and economical level. To do this, the researcher prepared a questionnaire to measure social-psychological conflict that consisted of (32) item divided on four dimensions, and also she prepared a questionnaire to measure family upbringing approaches which composed of (28) item divided on four dimensions. The sample was (260) male and female student from intermediate stage chosen randomly. The results revealed that there were significant differences between social-psychological conflict which went to male, there was a negative correlat
... Show More