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.
Abstract
The traffic jams taking place in the cities of the Republic of Iraq in general and the province of Diwaniyah especially, causes return to the large numbers of the modern vehicles that have been imported in the last ten years and the lack of omission for old vehicles in the province, resulting in the accumulation of a large number of vehicles that exceed the capacity of the city's streets, all these reasons combined led to traffic congestion clear at the time of the beginning of work in the morning, So researchers chose local area network of the main roads of the province of Diwaniyah, which is considered the most important in terms of traffic congestion, it was identified fuzzy numbers for
... Show MoreThis study aimed to developing the skills of critical reading for the tenth basic school female students through a training program using the reflective thinking method. The study sample consisted of (64) students. To achieve the objective of the study, the researcher uses the quasi-experiment approach consisting of a control group (32 students) and an experimental group (32 students). The researcher used three research inventories as follows: 1) A list of critical reading skills included (30) skills within three aspects (Recognition – Deduction – Evaluation and Judgment). 2) An executive program using reflective thinking for developing critical reading skills. 3) Achievement test to measure
... Show MorePorosity and pore structure are important characteristics of pharmaceutical tablets, since they influence the physical properties, such as mechanical strength, density and disintegration time. This paper is an attempt to investigate the pore structure of four different paracetamol tablets based on mercury porosimetry. The intrusion volumes of mercury were used to calculate the pore diameter, pore volume and pore size distribution. The result obtained indicate that the variation of the pore volume in the tablets followed the sequence:- S.D.I. Iraq? Pharmacare,Dubai-U.A.E.? Bron and Burk(UK) London?Lark Laboratories(India), while the variation of surface area followed the sequence:- S.D.I. Iraq? Lark Laboratories(India)? Pharmacare,Dubai-U.A
... Show MoreAn application of neural network technique was introduced in modeling the point efficiency of sieve tray, based on a
data bank of around 33l data points collected from the open literature.Two models proposed,using back-propagation
algorithm, the first model network consists: volumetric liquid flow rate (QL), F foctor for gas (FS), liquid density (pL),
gas density (pg), liquid viscosity (pL), gas viscosity (pg), hole diameter (dH), weir height (hw), pressure (P) and surface
tension between liquid phase and gas phase (o). In the second network, there are six parameters as dimensionless
group: Flowfactor (F), Reynolds number for liquid (ReL), Reynolds number for gas through hole (Reg), ratio of weir
height to hole diqmeter
This paper examines the mechanical properties of a composite material made of modified Iraqi gypsum (juss) reinforced with polypropylene fibers. The modified juss was prepared by adding two percentages of cement (5, 10) %. Two percentages of polypropylene fibers were used, to reinforce the modified juss (1, 2) %. The water/dry compound ratio used was equal to 0.53%. The composite was evaluated based on compressive strength, flexural strengths, absorption percentage, density, acoustic impedance, ultra - pulse velocity, longitudinal shrinkage and setting time tests. The results indicated that the inclusion of cement on to juss increases the compressive strength, absorption percentage, density, acoustic impedance, ultra - pulse velocit
... Show MoreInvestigation of the adsorption of acid fuchsin dye (AFD) on Zeolite 5A is carried out using batch scale experiments according to statistical design. Adsorption isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics were demonstrated. Results showed that the maximum removal efficiency was using zeolite at a temperature of 93.68751 mg/g. Experimental data was found to fit the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo second order kinetics with maximum removal of about 95%. Thermodynamic analysis showed an endothermic adsorption. Optimization was made for the most affecting operating variables and a model equation for the predicted efficiency was suggested.
This paper deals with the nonlinear large-angle bending dynamic analysis of curved beams which investigated by modeling wave’s transmission along curved members. The approach depends on the wave propagation in one-dimensional structural element using the method of characteristics. The method of characteristics (MOC) is found to be a suitable method for idealizing the wave propagation inside structural systems. Timoshenko’s beam theory, which includes transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia effects, is adopted in the analysis. Only geometrical non-linearity is considered in this study and the material is assumed to be linearly elastic. Different boundary conditions and loading cases are examined.
From the results obtai
... Show MorePathological blood clot in blood vessels, which often leads to cardiovascular diseases, are one of the most common causes of death in humans. Therefore, enzymatic therapy to degrade blood clots is vital. To achieve this goal, bromelain was immobilized and used for the biodegradation of blood clots. Bromelain was extracted from the pineapple fruit pulp (Ananas comosus) and purified by ion exchange chromatography after precipitation with ammonium sulphate (0-80 %), resulting in a yield of 70%, purification fold of 1.42, and a specific activity of 1175 U/mg. Bromelain was covalently immobilized on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), with an enzyme loading of 71.35%. The results of the characterization of free and immobilized
... Show MoreThe research consists of five chapters and aims to explore the administrative skills of leaders in physical education colleges and their relationship with administrative reform. The study sample included (deans, vice deans, and heads of departments) from physical education colleges for the academic year 2012-2013, with a total of 61 individuals. They were selected using the purposive sampling method, and the researcher distributed questionnaires to them, collecting 60 valid responses and excluding one due to its invalidity. After defining the concepts of administrative skills and administrative reform and redownloading relevant literature and previous studies, as well as consulting with a group of experts in management and psychology, the r
... Show MoreThe university press is an essential pillar in building an academic community to achieve its objectives in the service of society. Since the university press is a means of university media, which is issued by the departments or units of media in Iraqi universities as academic governmental-institutions, so it highlights the activities of the university and link them to its internal society in the first place as the university press is a mirror of the university and its voice is sincerely expressed. This research comes to know the extent of interest of the university press in various student issues.
In order to identify the problem of the research, the method of content analysis was adopted within the survey method
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