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.
A sense of job security for divorced female teachers is one of the basic and very important requirements for enjoying the mental health that a person needs in order to be positive, balanced and productive. job security is one of the important things that workers must feel not only to ensure interaction and harmony between them and officials, but to ensure their satisfaction and increasing their motivation towards work, as job security is one of the most important indicators of job satisfaction and optimism in life, and it leads to the experience of psychological reassurance, which affects the building of individuals' personalities, the development of their intellectual competence and the identification of their psychological characteristic
... Show MoreThe current study is concerned with investigating the difficulties that Iraqi EFL learners of English may face when translating English collective nouns. Such collective nouns as committee, government, , jury , Parliament , etc. are considered singular when the concept of the unity as a group is emphasized , but when the concept of the individuals or numbers is emphasized they are treated as plural. A sample of twenty undergraduate students have been selected randomly to translate certain English collective nouns in some selected political texts in order to find out the difficulties they might face in rendering them into Arabic. It is hypothesized that most of the testees have used the singular form rather than the plural ignoring the
... Show MoreEichhornia, or water hyacinth represents a serious threat to potable water basins. This problem is materialized majorly in consuming large amounts of water and dissolved Oxygen that is necessary for aquatic life, and minorly in hindering water streams. Even there are limited trials to overcome such pests, none of them presents an acceptable solution economically and logically. Chlorine is a well-known biocide and broadly used in water industry. It could give a possible method to fight such weed. To investigate that, concentration-time plot should be introduced similar to any other microorganisms; especially, bacteria in water. In this work, various doses of Chlorine along various time
Constitute the relationship between the director and actor mainstay chock done to show art in film and television , both of which occupy what a big role in the mission accomplishment . The leadership of the director of the artwork in various joints require two features two important ( creativity and administration ) , The capabilities director of creative serves as an added intellectual and aesthetic saturated sensation that leaves its impact on all the technical elements involved in done. Either trait administration and leadership it is what requires multiple skills in dealing on according to technical standards and moral and humanitarian allow the transfer of ideas , concepts and visions to those elements to embody and implement the ki
... Show MoreIn some cases, surgeons need to navigate through the computer system for reconfirmation patients’ details and unfortunately surgeons unable to manage both computer system and operation at the same time. In this paper we propose a solution for this problem especially designed for heart surgeon, by introducing voice activation system with 3D visualization of Angiographic images, 2D visualization of Echocardiography processed video and selected patient’s details. In this study, the processing, approximation of the 3D angiography and the visualization of the 2D echocardiography video with voice recognition control are the most challenging work. The work involve with predicting 3D coronary three from 2D angiography image and also image enhan
... Show MoreBuzurgan oil Field which is located in south of Iraq has been producing oil for five decades that caused production to drop in many oil wells. This paper provides a technical and economical comparison between the ESP and gas lift in one oil well (Bu-16) to help enhancing production and maximize revenue. Prosper software was used to build, match and design the artificial lift method for the selected well, also to predict the well behavior at different water cut values and its effect on artificial lift method efficiency. The validity of software model was confirmed by matching, where the error difference value between actual and calculated data was (-1.77%).
The ESP results showed the durability of ESP regarding th
... Show MoreThe unemployment is considered from the most danger problems that our society face them in current time & in the near future , because it makes prodigality for element of human being , particularly age of youth who have ability to work & producing , that resulted in negative effects forecast to dire consequences social and economical dangers . In the same time as will be stated in our explanation in the following in our research , because the unemployment has ability to help to prepare good environment to grow crime , actions of violence that mostly are main cause to decrease living level of majority of citizens & in increasing numbers who became under poverty , the unemployment is economical problem as it is psycholo
... Show MoreIn This paper, we have been approximated Grűnwald-Letnikov Derivative of a function having m continuous derivatives by Bernstein Chlodowsky polynomials with proving its best approximation. As well as we have been solved Bagley-Torvik equation and Fokker–Planck equation where the derivative is in Grűnwald-Letnikov sense.