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.
The research seeks to identify the dimensions of creative thinking and its impact on the re-engineering of hotel service operations by analyzing the correlation and impact between research variables as well as comparing the research sample The importance of the research comes from the need to motivate managers the importance of creative thinking among workers in the researched hotels because it is an essential part in the re-engineering of hotel services. To achieve this a questionnaire was designed containing (33) items that include the independent research variables (creative thinking) and the accredited (re-engineering the hotel service) and distributed to a sample of (50) individuals represented by (Commissioner Director, Dep
... Show MoreThe condition of elevated concentrations of triglyceride in the blood is called hypertriglyceridemia, which triggers the onset of some physiological disorder. This study was carried out to find the correlation between body weight and hypertriglyceridemia. Out of 518 cases, 342 individuals were underweight, with body mass index (BMI) values of ≤18, while their mean serum triglyceride level was 172.4 ± 25.2mg/dl. In addition, 99 cases had normal BMI of >18, whereas 60 were overweight (BMI = 25-29), with mean serum triglyceride level of 182.3 ± 15.9. Also, 17 cases were obese (BMI >30), where the mean triglycerid
... Show MoreEstablishing complete and reliable coverage for a long time-span is a crucial issue in densely surveillance wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Many scheduling algorithms have been proposed to model the problem as a maximum disjoint set covers (DSC) problem. The goal of DSC based algorithms is to schedule sensors into several disjoint subsets. One subset is assigned to be active, whereas, all remaining subsets are set to sleep. An extension to the maximum disjoint set covers problem has also been addressed in literature to allow for more advance sensors to adjust their sensing range. The problem, then, is extended to finding maximum number of overlapped set covers. Unlike all related works which concern with the disc sensing model, the cont
... Show MoreThe study tagged ( the intellectual implications of the realistic Fine works of art) is a scientific effort to detect modest intellectual and artistic dimensions of the artwork realistic plastic , through some selected artistic productions of the painted work of art of the Iranian artist Ayman al - Maliki , with the result that the researcher collects materials to serve the scientific research topic which comes in three chapters.
First chapter included the general framework of the research (the promise of the research problem and its significance, objectives and limits and some of the terms contained therein).
Second chapter of this research was specified to the theoretical framework which included some of the topics that are dire
The 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 MoreAbstract
The research Compared two methods for estimating fourparametersof the compound exponential Weibull - Poisson distribution which are the maximum likelihood method and the Downhill Simplex algorithm. Depending on two data cases, the first one assumed the original data (Non-polluting), while the second one assumeddata contamination. Simulation experimentswere conducted for different sample sizes and initial values of parameters and under different levels of contamination. Downhill Simplex algorithm was found to be the best method for in the estimation of the parameters, the probability function and the reliability function of the compound distribution in cases of natural and contaminateddata.
... Show More
Gravity and magnetic data were used to study the deep crustal structures in Karbala and surrounding areas in central Iraq. The space window method was used to separate the residual from regional anomalies of gravity and magnetic data, the spaces of window are equal to 48,36 and 24 km. The Total Horizontal Derivative (THD) techniques and local wavenumber of gravity and magnetic are used to identify the faults and their trends with the basement rocks. The N45W, N45E, N-S and rarely E-W trends of faults are detected in the basement rock. It is believed that some of these faults extending from the basement to the uppermost layer of the sedimentary rocks.
Background: Prolapsed intervertebral disc is an important and common cause of low backache. MRI has now become universally accepted investigation for prolapsed intervertebral disc. We, however, regularly come across situations, when MRI shows diffuse disc bulges, even at multiple levels, which cannot be correlated clinically and when such cases are operated, no significant disc prolapse is found resulting in negative exploration.Objective: To evaluate the role of M.R.I. finding not only for diagnosis of disc herniation at lumbar region but also for localization the level of herniationMethods: A prospective study on seventy five symptomatic low backache and MRI confirmed prolapsed intervertebral disc patients at lumbo-sacral region were o
... Show MoreIn the present paper we introduce and study new classes of soft separation axioms in soft bitopological spaces, namely, soft (1,2)*-omega separation axioms and weak soft (1,2)*-omega separation axioms by using the concept of soft (1,2)*-omega open sets. The equivalent definitions and basic properties of these types of soft separation axioms also have been studied.