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.
Background: Lowering the amount of iodinated contrast material and tube voltage may increase pulmonary artery opacification and thrombus identification without compromising picture quality.
Objectives: To explore the efficiency of using lower tube voltage and a lower contrast medium dose for conducting computed tomography for pulmonary angiography (CTPA) aiming to increase its accuracy in detecting pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE).
Subjects and Methods:100 patients scheduled for CTPA with a preoperative diagnosis of PTE were grouped into two: group A, (50 patients) got 1 mL/kg at 120 kV and group B, (50 patients) received 0.5 mL/kg at 80 kV.The tec
... Show MoreIn this work, the mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number and half value layer parameters were calculated for silicate (SiO2) mixed with various levels of lead oxide and iron oxide as reinforced materials. SiO2 was used with different concentrations of PbO and Fe2O3 (25, 50 and 75 weight %). The glass system was prepared by the melt-quenching method. The attenuation parameters were calculated at photon energies varying from 1keV to 100MeV using the XCOM program (version 3.1). In addition, the mass attenuation coefficient and half value layer parameters for selected glass samples were experimentally determined at photon energies 0.662 and 1.28 MeV emitted from radioactive sources 137Cs and 22Na respe
... Show MoreThe current research aimed to identify the tasks performed by the internal auditors when developing a business continuity plan to face the COVID-19 crisis. It also aims to identify the recovery and resuming plan to the business environment. The research followed the descriptive survey to find out the views of 34 internal auditors at various functional levels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Spreadsheets (Excel) were used to analyze the data collected by a questionnaire which composed of 43 statements, covering the tasks that the internal auditors can perform to face the COVID-19 crisis. Results revealed that the tasks performed by the internal auditors when developing a business continuity plan to face the COVID-19 crisis is to en
... Show MoreGas and downhole water sink-assisted gravity drainage (GDWS-AGD) is a new process of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in oil reservoirs underlain by large bottom aquifers. The process is capital intensive as it requires the construction of dual-completed wells for oil production and water drainage and additional multiple vertical gas-injection wells. The costs could be substantially reduced by eliminating the gas-injection wells and using triple-completed multi-functional wells. These wells are dubbed triple-completion-GDWS-AGD (TC-GDWS-AGD). In this work, we design and optimize the TC-GDWS-AGD oil recovery process in a fictitious oil reservoir (Punq-S3) that emulates a real North Sea oil field. The design aims at maximum oil recovery us
... Show MoreThe study sheds lights on the simple verbal formulas with its particular time suffixes as found in the Turgut Özakman’s play These Crazy Turks.
The introduction of the study sheds light on the life of the author and playwright, as well as traces the different types of the verbal formulas in Turkish language.
Oh Those Young is one of the most significant products of the Turkish literature of the young and Children where the literary messages of the playwright are addressed in a simple comic sarcastic style. Hence, the play, that has been studied and acted by many students and academics, drives its importance from this particular course of action.
... Show MoreThe majority of the environmental outputs from gas refineries are oily wastewater. This research reveals a novel combination of response surface methodology and artificial neural network to optimize and model oil content concentration in the oily wastewater. Response surface methodology based on central composite design shows a highly significant linear model with P value <0.0001 and determination coefficient R2 equal to 0.747, R adjusted was 0.706, and R predicted 0.643. In addition from analysis of variance flow highly effective parameters from other and optimization results verification revealed minimum oily content with 8.5 ± 0.7 ppm when initial oil content 991 ppm, tempe
Several problems have emerged as a result of urban expansion or the connection of urban areas with rural areas. This process has led to the urbanization of rural areas, and to have overlapping edges and margins of areas, which were outside the basic design of the city. Accordingly, the present research assumes that the accelerating growth of Baghdad population has contributed significantly to the process of unplanned urbanization. Thus, the study aims to examine the factors that have led to an increase of urban sprawl at the expense of the agricultural land. The study has thus adopted the descriptive, analytical, and historical approaches relying on the simple linear regression method to predict the phenomenon of urban expansion and its
... Show MoreIt is a common Knowledge that adverbs in Turkish languages can modify verbs, adjectives, nouns or other adverbs. Moreover, adverbs can determine the meanings of nouns and verbs in a sentence as far as time, place, manner, quantity and interrogative are concerned. The present study debates adverbs’ functions in Namiq Kamal’s play Vatan yahut Silistre.
The study sheds light on the author’s use of the adverbs to describe the required theatrical actions of the play and to convey his reflections and thoughts easily to the auidence. One of the main hindrances encountered in conducting the study is the shortage of the upto date academic resources necessary for
... Show MoreThe study aimed to explore the relationship between future anxiety and life orientation of male and female nurses, working in government hospitals of Gaza Strip governorates. The study sample consisted of 228 nurses (131 male nurses and97 female nurses. To achieve the study objectives , the researcher used the future anxiety scale, prepared by the researcher, and life orientation scale prepared by Scheier and Craver (1985 ) and translated into Arabic by Bader Al-Ansari . The results indicated that the level of future anxiety among nurses working at government hospitals was (64.85%), a high percentage, whereas life orientation was (65.96%), a low percentage. Additionally , the results showed that the Pearson correlation coefficient betwee
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