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 present study aimed to determine the serum sex hormone levels among Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) patients before and after 3 months of oral administration of 5-α reductase inhibitor(finasteride). Forty BPH patients and 40 healthy men from Amara city were involved in this study, their ages were between 40-59 year. They were all subjected to direct estimation of hormones by MinVidas method including Testosterone (T), Estradiol (E2), Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing Hormone (LH), Prolactin (PRL), and Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) before and after 3 months of treatment with 5α-reductase inhibitor (finasteride) (the healthy individuals didn’t take finasteride).The results showed that T level was significantly lo
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. Arylesterase, the activity of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), is mainly contributed in the biotransformation of clopidogrel to its active thiol form. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the arylesterase activities in CAD patients. The effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the antioxidant activity of arylesterase was also monitored by determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after reciving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in our study
... Show MoreBackground: Cardiomyopathy (CM) is a cardiac muscle disorder that can lead to heart failure (HF). It has several phenotypes, including dilated, hypertrophic, and restricted. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a crucial part in the development and advancement of CM. Objective: This study aimed to measure the concentration of certain cytokines [Interleukin- 1β (IL-1β), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α)] in the serum of Iraqi patients with CM. Materials and Methods: Sixty CM patients and 30 healthy individuals with age ranged from 40 to 70 years old were enrolled in this study through their presence at Iraqi Center for Heart Diseases, Ghazy Al-Hariri Hospital for Surgical Specialties in the Medical City in Baghdad. The st
... Show MoreBackground: The iron deficiency anemia along with hyperphosphatemia are the main complications of dialysis patients. Traditional iron supplement has been failed to correct iron deficiency anemia, therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of new phosphate binder, ferric citrate, in a sample of Iraqi patients with end stage renal disease on maintenance hemodialysis. Method: Prospective, randomized, open label, active controlled trial was conducted in one center for dialysis in Babylon governance. Patients were randomized to receive ferric citrate with dose of 6 g/d and calcium carbonate with dose of 3 g/d for eight weeks. Hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and count o
... Show MoreDoxorubicin (DOX) is an efficient antineoplastic agent with a broad antitumor spectrum; however, doxorubicin-associated cardiotoxic adverse effect through oxidative damage and apoptosis limits its clinical application. Cafestol (Caf) is a naturally occurring diterpene in unfiltered coffee with unique antioxidant, antimutagenic, and anti-inflammatory activities by activating the Nrf2 pathway. The present study aimed to investigate the potential chemoprotective effect of cafestol on DOX-induced cardiotoxicity in rats. Wistar albino rats of both sexes were administered cafestol (5 mg/kg/day) for 14 consecutive days by oral gavage alone or with doxorubicin which was injected as a single dose (15 mg/kg intraperitoneally at day 14) to i
... Show MoreThe present paper addresses cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using airlift photobioreactor that sparged with 5% CO 2 /air. The experimental data were compared with that obtained from bioreactor aerated with air and unsparged bioreactor. The results showed that the concentration of biomass is 0.36 g l -1 in sparged bioreactor with CO2/air, while, the concentration of biomass reached to 0.069 g l -1 in the unsparged bioreactor. They showed also that aerated ioreactor.with CO2/air gives more biomass production even the bioreactor was aerated with air. This study proved that application of sparging system for ultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using either CO2/air mixture or air has a significant
... Show MoreAtenolol was used with povidone iodine to prove the efficiency, reliability and repeatability of the long distance chasing photometer (NAG-ADF-300-2) using continuous flow injection analysis. The method is based on reaction between atenolol and povidone iodine in an aqueous medium. Optimum parameters was studied to increase the sensitivity development of method. Calibration graph was linear in the range of 2-19 mmol/L for cell A and 5-19 mmol/L for cell B. Limit of detection 146.4848 ng/55 µL and 2.6600 µg/200 µL respectively to cell A and cell B. Correlation coefficient (r) 0.9957 for cell A and 0.9974 for cell. Relative standard deviation (RSD %) was lower than 1%, (n=8) for the determination of
... Show MoreElevated Interleukin-13 (IL-13) may play an important role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19, yet, the attenuated response did not notice across all severe cases. Susceptibility to asthma in specific populations is associated with several SNPs of multifunctional cytokines, such as IL-13, IL-31 and IL-33. This prospective case-control study is designed to investigate the extent of genetic susceptibility in subsets of Iraqi patients with COVID-19 by targeting the variants of interleukin IL-13rs20541 polymorphism in relation to disease susceptibility and severity of clinical presentation. One hundred samples were obtained from the throat, nasopharyngeal and nasal swabs enrolled in this study. Eighty samples of the throat, nasopharyngeal and
... Show MoreSchiff base (methyl 6-(2- (4-hydroxyphenyl) -2- (1-phenyl ethyl ideneamino) acetamido) -3, 3-dimethyl-7-oxo-4-thia-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0] heptane-2-carboxylate)Co(II), Ni(II), Cu (II), Zn (II), and Hg(II)] ions were employed to make certain complexes. Metal analysis M percent, elemental chemical analysis (C.H.N.S), and other standard physico-chemical methods were used. Magnetic susceptibility, conductometric measurements, FT-IR and UV-visible Spectra were used to identified. Theoretical treatment of the generated complexes in the gas phase was performed using the (hyperchem-8.07) program for molecular mechanics and semi-empirical computations. The (PM3) approach was used to determine the heat of formation (ΔH˚f), binding energy (ΔEb), an
... Show MoreChoosing antimicrobials is a common dilemma when the expected rate of bacterial resistance is high. The observed resistance values in unequal groups of isolates tested for different antimicrobials can be misleading. This can affect the decision to recommend one antibiotic over the other. We analyzed recalled data with the statistical consideration of unequal sample groups. Data was collected concerning children suspected to have typhoid fever at Al Alwyia Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. The study period extended from September 2021 to September 2022. A novel algorithm was developed to compare the drug sensitivity among unequal numbers of Salmonella typhi (S. Typhi) isolates tested with different antibacterials.
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