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.
Different frequency distributions models were fitted to the monthly data of raw water Turbidity at water treatment plants (WTPs) along Tigris River in Baghdad. Eight water treatment plants in Baghdad were selected, with raw water turbidity data for the period (2008-2014). The frequency distribution models used in this study are the Normal, Log-normal, Weibull, Exponential and two parameters Gamma type. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the goodness of fit. The data for years (2008-2011) were used for building the models. The best fitted distributions were Log-Normal (LN) for Al-Karkh, Al-Wathbah, Al-Qadisiya, Al- Dawrah and, Al-Rashid WTPs. Gamma distribution fitted well for East Tigris and Al-Karamah WTPs. As for Al-
... Show MoreDifferent frequency distributions models were fitted to the monthly data of raw water Turbidity at water treatment plants (WTPs) along Tigris River in Baghdad. Eight water treatment plants in Baghdad were selected, with raw water turbidity data for the period (2008-2014). The frequency distribution models used in this study are the Normal, Log-normal, Weibull, Exponential and two parameters Gamma type. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the goodness of fit. The data for years (2008-2011) were used for building the models. The best fitted distributions were Log-Normal (LN) for Al-Karkh, Al-Wathbah, Al-Qadisiya, Al-Dawrah and, Al-Rashid WTPs. Gamma distribution fitted well for East Tigris and Al-Karamah
... Show MoreThe Security Council has an active role in addressing international crises and dealing with their causes. The Libyan crisis is one of the most important real tests of the Security Council and its role in maintaining international peace and security, as the Council has proven so far an ineffective role in resolving the crisis and dealing withtheir causes, which has prolonged its duration and increased its complexities and dangerous repercussions, perhaps the most prominent of which is the threat of the recently achieved cease-fire and the formation of a new transitional government led by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, the growing significant obstacles facing the political process, foremost of which is the continued presence of foreign forces , m
... Show MoreThis study deals with the intellectual representations whose intellectual systems are incarnated in the Jewish personality, which is considered one of the complex intellectual systems that has caused controversy throughout the ages because of the ambiguity due to the religious and psychological factors that were reflected directly and strongly on the intellectual structure of the Jewish community in general and the Jewish - Zionist personality in particular, in an attempt (to create new dimensions embodied by intellectual representations of a human nature embodied by what that - peaceful - religiously oppressed - psychologically and socially isolated character presents, because of the curse of the peoples of the world that was a cause fo
... Show MoreBrowse Iraqi academic journals and research papers
The research presents the reliability. It is defined as the probability of accomplishing any part of the system within a specified time and under the same circumstances. On the theoretical side, the reliability, the reliability function, and the cumulative function of failure are studied within the one-parameter Raleigh distribution. This research aims to discover many factors that are missed the reliability evaluation which causes constant interruptions of the machines in addition to the problems of data. The problem of the research is that there are many methods for estimating the reliability function but no one has suitable qualifications for most of these methods in the data such
This paper study two stratified quantile regression models of the marginal and the conditional varieties. We estimate the quantile functions of these models by using two nonparametric methods of smoothing spline (B-spline) and kernel regression (Nadaraya-Watson). The estimates can be obtained by solve nonparametric quantile regression problem which means minimizing the quantile regression objective functions and using the approach of varying coefficient models. The main goal is discussing the comparison between the estimators of the two nonparametric methods and adopting the best one between them
The response of the combustor’s liner to the air-flow that passes through it is the key reason for the combustion chambers noise, hence the instabilities of those chambers that decreases the mechanical efficiency of such sections, by increased its mechanical vibrations, which increases the failure rate created during originating of the cracks spreading by the shakes producing by the series of high-level frequencies. Accordingly, any work debating the impact of the context of liners in the combustion chamber can provide grasping for the combustion noise generated by the undesirable vibrations, and benefits the industrial firms to design an ideal production procedure which increases the lifespan of the combustor. The goal of this wo
... Show MoreThe response of the combustor’s liner to the air-flow that passes through it is the key reason for the combustion chambers noise, hence the instabilities of those chambers that decreases the mechanical efficiency of such sections, by increased its mechanical vibrations, which increases the failure rate created during originating of the cracks spreading by the shakes producing by the series of high-level frequencies. Accordingly, any work debating the impact of the context of liners in the combustion chamber can provide grasping for the combustion noise generated by the undesirable vibrations, and benefits the industrial firms to design an ideal production procedure which increases the lifespan of the combustor. The goal of this work is
... Show MoreAcquires Find importance of the overall quality and e-marketing management have become important factors in evaluating the performance of banks, which are related to the life of the community intimately, so it is important that the banks applying comprehensive quality and e-marketing management requirements in order to maintain their performance and determine their level, as well as the manifest importance of research in part, practical linking the requirements of total quality management and banking performance on the one hand and between the e-marketing and performance banking on the other hand, through the provision of scientific bases that can be based on the banks in question, as it kicks off the research problem in that mos
... Show More