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.
This paper presents a computer simulation model of a thermally activated roof (TAR) to cool a room using cool water from a wet cooling tower. Modeling was achieved using a simplified 1-D resistance-capacitance thermal network (RC model) for an infinite slab. Heat transfer from the cooling pipe network was treated as 2-D heat flow. Only a limited number of nodes were required to obtain reliable results. The use of 6th order RC-thermal model produced a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved using MATLAB - R2012a. The computer program was written to cover all possible initial conditions, material properties, TAR system geometry and hourly solar radiation. The cool water supply was considered time
... Show MoreThe role of relaxation program for reducing anxiety of patients in dental clinic
Shiranish formation has been divided into two microfacies units: 1 - Many biowackestone facies and 2 - maly packstone using planktonic foraminifera and other carbonate components in the rock cutting and core slides. Microfacies reflect marin deep shelf margin in the lower part of the formation, the upper part was deeper. The thickness of the formation is determined, depending on addition to the presence of echinoderm framents debris and spines. This is in disagreement with the 195 ft thickness reported by the Oil Exploration Company The age of the formation is estimated depending on the recognized biostratigraphic zone using the index fossils to be Upper - Middle Mastrichtion.
Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths from gynecological malignancies. Angiogenesis is considered essential for tumor growth and the development of metastases. VEGF and IL?8 are potent angiostimulatory molecules and their expression has been demonstrated in many solid tumors, including ovarian cancer.VEGF and IL-8 concentrations were measured by ELISA test (HumanVEGF,IL-8). Bioassay ELISA/ US Biological / USA).The median VEGF and IL-8 levels were significantly higher in the sera of ovarian cancer patients than in those with benign tumors and in healthy controls.Pretreatment VEGF and IL-8 serum levels might be regarded as an additional tool in the differentiation of ovarian tumors.
The study aimed to identify the level of health awareness and health education among mothers zones, urban and rural areas as well as to identify the differences between them and to achieve this study was conducted on a sample of (121) or been Akhittarhn randomly, aged (20 - 43 years) and applied them to a questionnaire to measure the health awareness, which formed from a group of paragraphs, and after the collection of data was treated using the statistical software (SAS), where research showed many of the results are:
1/ Reached the age group ranging between (20-30 years), the highest rate for the present, where was (40.51%), while in the countryside matched by age group (31-40 years old) in terms of (54.76%)./ It turns out that the
The current study aims to investigate the effect of the interaction between the use of the improve strategy in teaching mathematics and the level of academic achievement on the acquisition of algebraic concepts and habits of mind among tenth-grade students in Oman. The study adopted the experimental method, based on a quasi-experimental design with two groups: experimental and control groups and pre-post-measurement. The study sample consisted of (28) 10th-grade students as an experimental group and 26 of 10th-grade students as a control group in Al-Tufail bin Amr School in South Al Batinah. The differences in the pretest and posttest gains were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, ANCOVA, t-test, effect size (eta-square), and two-wa
... Show MoreThis paper describes the development of a simple spectrophotometric determination of bismuth III with 4-(2-pyridylazo) resorcinol (PAR) in aqueous solution in the presence of cetypyridinium chloride surfactant at pH 5 which exhibits maximum absorption at 532 nm. Beer's law is obeyed over the range 5-200 µg/25 mL. i.e. 0.2-8 ppm with a molar absorptivity of 3×104 l.mol-1.cm-1 and Sandell's sensitivity index of 0.0069 µg.cm-2. The method has been applied successfully in the determination of Bi (III) in waters and veterinary preparation.
Transition metal complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) with 2-(4-antipyrine azo)-4-nitroaniline derived from 4-aminoantipyrine and 4-nitroaniline were synthesized. Characterization of these compounds has been done on the basis of elemental analysis, electronic data, FT-IR, UV-Vis and 1HNMR, as well as magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements. The nature of the complexes formed were studied following the mole ratio and continuous variation methods, Beer's law obeyed over a concentration range (1×10-4 - 3×10-4 M). High molar absorbtivity of the complex solutions were observed. From the analytical data, the stoichiometry of the complexes has been found to be 1:2 (metal:ligand). On the basis of physicochemical data octa
... Show Moreالوصف The synthesis of 2 (N-phenyl dithio carboxamid) benzothiazol Ligand (L) from reaction of 2-Mercaptobenzothiozol with phenylisothiocyanate using ratio 1: 1. The ligand was characterized by elemental analysis (CHN),'H-NMR, IR and UV-Vis. The complexes with bivalent ions (Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg) have been prepared and characterized. The structural diagnosis was established using IR, UV–Visible spectro photometer, molar conductivity, atomic absorption and molar ratio with selected metal ions (Ni2+, Cu2+). The complexes of (Ni, Cu) gave octahedral structural while the complexes of (Zn, Cd, Hg) gave tetrahedral structural. The study of biological activity of the ligand (L) and its complexes (Ni, Cu, Hg) in two deferent concentration (
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