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.
Chickenpox is a viral disease caused by a virus called varicella zoster (VZ). Chickenpox cases were counted in Al-Dora city (southern Baghdad). Data of disease was obtained from the records of Bilat Al-Shuhadaa health center at the period from January to July 2012. Diagnosis of cases was achieved by the physicians of the health center. Studied risk factors were including the gender, address, school and age. Total of cases recorded was 73cases (66.9 per 100,000) populations for seven months. Males reported cases were 48 (65.7%) while female’s cases were 25(34.3%). The highest reported cases were signed in Al-Mhdia-1 sector (24.6%).Also highest reported cases were signed in Al-Mhdia primary school (17.8%). Most VZ cases were reported in
... Show MoreFacing the receiver (critic) problematic understanding of modern art done, which turned positive professional image to symbolic language, which gave it authenticity previous Arts advantage, and this latest progress in critical reading contemporary and several mechanisms for analyzing literary texts and plastic, including textural fabric. And we suffer from the absence of cash the recipient culture (learner), so the current search goal focused on detecting structural mechanisms formative (Goldman) reading done modern art and its role in raising criticism knowledge (learner). Defining the theoretical framework of chapter II by discussing it; the first episode dealt with the textural fabric, while the latter was accomplished Studio talk, an
... Show More:Electron transfer (El) through molecular frameworks is. ce.ntral
to a wide range of chemical, physical , an biological processes. Atheoretical calculation ·investigation of (ED between dihydroxy antimony (V) tetraP.henylporphine cation (Sb''(TP.P)(04)2] and halid cr,Br·,r ,and SCN- is presented . These Calculations &re is fiting on experrnental studies Showing that the rate of Electron Transfer. The theoretical Calculation are based ·an a eontinm: m theory. The tran:sferr ng  
... Show MoreWith occurrence of any financial crises, regardless at global or regional levels such as the great economic crises during 1929 – 1933 and the Asian financial crises at the end of twentieth century as well as the current global financial crises that started during second half 2008, we acknowledge that there are some critics loudly articulated accusing accountants and auditors for disparences, and they are numerical partner of financial manipulation as well as corrupted administrators with the company's administrators that they are difficulty. At this point, many suggestions and recommendation for upgrading the accounting system has been made.  
... Show MoreTotal Quality Assurance Concept have appeared in Higher Education Institutions as a result of the continuous criticism for the lower quality of the outputs of these institutions and their inappropriacy to the needs of the job market. The faculty, i.e. teaching staff member, is one of the most important output for his/her responsibility to achieve the stated goals in higher education. This represents a problem that may influence the construction of society which has to limit his tasks, responsibilities, and competencies that should be found in a faculty, and evaluating his teaching profession in light of the prerequisites of the century to become an input to achieve quality assurance in Higher Education. Therefore, the present study aims
... Show MoreIn this study tungsten oxide and graphene oxide (GO-WO2.89) were successfully combined using the ultra-sonication method and embedded with polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) to prepare novel low-fouling membranes for ultrafiltration applications. The properties of the modified membranes and performance were investigated using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle (CA), water permeation flux, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection. It was found that the modified PPSU membrane fabricated from 0.1 wt.% of GO-WO2.89 possessed the best characteristics, with a 40.82° contact angle and 92.94% porosity. The permeation flux of the best membrane was the highest. The pure water permeation f
... Show MoreThe contemporary development applications on scientific areas of acyclic and cyclic Schiff bases and their complexes.
Due to the huge variety of 5G services, Network slicing is promising mechanism for dividing the physical network resources in to multiple logical network slices according to the requirements of each user. Highly accurate and fast traffic classification algorithm is required to ensure better Quality of Service (QoS) and effective network slicing. Fine-grained resource allocation can be realized by Software Defined Networking (SDN) with centralized controlling of network resources. However, the relevant research activities have concentrated on the deep learning systems which consume enormous computation and storage requirements of SDN controller that results in limitations of speed and accuracy of traffic classification mechanism. To fill thi
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