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.
In this research the results of applying Artificial Neural Networks with modified activation function to perform the online and offline identification of four Degrees of Freedom (4-DOF) Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) manipulator robot will be described. The proposed model of identification strategy consists of a feed-forward neural network with a modified activation function that operates in parallel with the SCARA robot model. Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) which have been trained online and offline have been used, without requiring any previous knowledge about the system to be identified. The activation function that is used in the hidden layer in FFNN is a modified version of the wavelet function. This approach ha
... Show MoreThe research is aimed at investigating how the New York Times framed the war against ISIS in its news coverage and which news sources it adopted while reporting on this war.
The research could be classified under descriptive researches. The survey methodology has been adopted and the content analysis has been used. The research sample consists of all the news stories the New York Times have published about the war against ISIS from 10/17/2016 to 4/16/2017 according to the comprehensive sampling method. The number of news stories that were analyzed was (155) news story. The research tool was (coding scheme).
The research has reached the following conclusions:
1. In its news coverage of the war against ISIS, the New York T
Background: Smoking is considering a major risk factor for development and progression of periodontal disease. Investigations regarding the association between smoking and periodontal disease have consistently demonstrated negative periodontal effects and greater probabilities of established periodontal disease among smokers in comparison with non smokers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of smoking on periodontal health status and on the salivary levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK), and to correlate the clinical parameters of periodontal health with the biochemical findings in smokers and non-smokers. Materials and methods: Unstimulated saliva sample was collected
... Show MoreIn view of the huge and speedy development of the information and communications technology sectores which cover all the life aspects. The traditional government started to adopt the Electronic Government Concept to deliver the information, services and product marketing to the beneficiaries through the Internet and Computer system. The E-government became inevitable necessity that should be applied in every country wishes to face the Modern technical development.
E-government is not on alternative of the traditional government but a supporter which can increase its efficiency by keeping away from the routine and Beaurucratic complexity, this will save the efforts, increase achievement and reduce costs, in addition to Provide Man
... Show MoreMH Hamzah, AF Abbas, International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education, 2022
Background: Oral carcinogenesis is a molecular and histological multistage process featuring genetic and phenotypic markers for each stage, which involves enhanced function of several oncogenes and/or the deactivation of tumor suppressor genes, resulting in the loss of cell cycle checkpoints. The progression towards malignancy includes sequential histopathological alterations ranging from hyperplasia through dysplasia to carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma. The p16 gene produces p16 protein, which in turn inhibits phosphorylation of retinoblastoma, p16 play a significant role in early carcinogenesis. Human papillomavirus is a well established heterogeneous virus and plays an important role in oral cancers. The aims of the study were to
... Show MoreThe liver is an important organ in the body that can be affected by many drugs and toxins. The hepatotoxins can cause oxidant stress that lead to activation of inflammatory cells and cause liver damage. Drug induced bile duct injuries are related to drug toxicity, multiple drugs have been known to cause the development of liver granulomas. Carbamazepine (CBZ) among other antiepileptic drugs is believed to cause hepatic injury. In this study we investigated the effect of (CBZ) 20mg/kg/day on female mice liver after 14 and 30 days of treatment. The histological findings showed that (CBZ) can cause histological alterations in the liver components such as bile duct proliferation, biliary hypertrophy, ductopenia, inflammatory cells infiltration
... Show MoreDuring the period from September 2013 till the end of July 2014 ,a total of 340 birds Passer domesticus were collected from Tikrit city . The study revealed the infection of birds with seven species of cestoda helminthes , belonging to the genus Raillietin . These species included R. tetragona , R. echinobothrida , R. cesticellus and R. ransomi with prevalence infection of 36.1% , 30.1% . 15.0 % and 1.8 % respectively . And the genus Choanotaenia . These species included C. infundibulum and C. passerine with pervatence infection of 15.0% and 0.6% respectively . And the genus Anonchotuenia . The species included A.globate with prevantence infection 1.2% .
... Show MoreOne of these plants utilized in traditional medicine is Lactuca seriolla Linn., which belongs to the Asteraceae family. It goes by a variety of common names in the world, including prickly lettuce, wild lettuce, jagged lettuce, and Kahu and khas. The work aimed to isolate and characterize some bioactive constituent(s) from the aerial part of Lactuca serriola utilizing Combiflash NEXTGEN and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Lactuca serriola (aerial part) was extracted with 80% ethanol, then fractionated with hexane. Then 250 mg of hexane extract was mixed with 4 g of silica gel and loaded in cartilage, then bounded to the gold column of combi flash using a solvent system comprised of ethyl acetat
... Show MoreWet granulation method was used instead of conventional pan coating or fluidized –bed coating technique to prepare enteric-coated diclofenac sodium granules, using ethanolic solution of EudragitTM L100 as coating, binding and granulating agent .Addition of PEG400 or di-n-butyl phthalate as a plasticizer was found to improve the enteric property of the coat.
Part of the resulted granules was filled in hard gelatin capsules (size 0), while the other part was compressed into tablets with and without disintegrant.
The release profile of these two dosage forms in 0.1N HCl (pH 1.2)for 2 hours, and in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) for 45 minutes as well as the release kinetic were compared with that of the en
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