Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a prevalent chronic microvascular diabetic complication. As inflammation plays a vital role in the development and progress of DN the macrophages migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a proinflammatory multifunctional cytokine approved to play a critical function in inflammatory responses in various pathologic situations like DN. This study aimed To assess serum levels of MIF in a sample of Iraqi diabetic patients with nephropathy supporting its validity as a marker for predicting nephropathy in T2DM patients. In addition, to evaluate the nephroprotective effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in terms of their influence on MIF levels. This is a case-control study involving ninety subjects that have been divided into three groups: twenty apparently healthy control group and seventy patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus divided into two equal groups according to the presence of diabetic nephropathy that has been further divided into two groups according to the use of ACE inhibitors or not. Serum MIF, urea, creatinine, RBS, HbA1c, BMI, eGFR, and urinary albumin to creatinine ratio have been measured for each subject. Serum MIF’s highest levels were observed in the diabetic nephropathy patients (24.9 ng/ml) followed by the diabetics (14. 1 ng/ml) with the lowest level observed in the control group (4.8 ng/ml). There was a significant relation between MIF levels and ACE inhibitors (p-value <0.05) with reduced MIF levels in ACE inhibitors users. The ROC curve showed that MIF has a good performance in disease prediction. These findings support the reliability of MIF as a biomarker for the prediction of diabetic nephropathy and the possible reducing effect of ACE inhibitors on MIF levels.
This paper is devoted to investigate the effect of internal curing technique on the properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC). In this study, SCC is produced by using silica fume (SF) as partial replacement by weight of cement with percentage of (5%), sand is partially replaced by volume with saturated fine lightweight aggregate (LWA) which is thermostone chips as internal curing material in three percentages of (5%, 10% and 15%) for SCC, two external curing conditions water and air. The experimental work was divided into three parts: in the first part, the workability tests of fresh SCC were conducted. The second part included conducting compressive strength test and modulus of rupture test at ages of (7, 28 and 90). The third part i
... Show MoreThe main objectives of this research is to extract essential oil from: orange ( citrus sinensis), lemon( citrus limon) and mandarin( citrus reticulata) peels by two methods: steam distillation (SD) and microwave assisted steam distillation (MASD), study the effect of extraction conditions (weight of the sample, extraction time, and microwave power, citrus peel type) on oil yield and compare the results of the two methods, the resulting essential oil was analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC).
Essential oils are highly concentrated substances used for their flavor and therapeutic or odoriferous properties, in a wide selection of products such as foods, medicines and cosmetics. Extracti
... Show MoreIn this study, the modified Rayleigh-Ritz method and Fourier series are used to determine the thermal buckling behavior of laminated composite thin plates with a general elastic boundary condition applied to in-plane uniform temperature distribution depending upon classical laminated plate theory(CLPT). A generalized procedure solution is developed for the Rayleigh-Ritz method combined with the synthetic spring technique. The transverse displacement of the orthotropic rectangular plates is not a different term as a new shape expansion of trigonometric series. In this solution approach, the plate transverse deflection and rotation due to bending are developed into principle Fourier series with a sufficient smoothness auxi
... Show MoreCoated sand (CS) filter media was investigated to remove phenol and 4-nitrophenol from aqueous solutions in batch experiments. Local sand was subjected to surface modification as impregnated with iron. The influence of process variables represented by solution pH value, contact time, initial concentration and adsorbent dosage on removal efficiency of phenol and 4-nitrophenol onto CS was studied. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the adsorption process, and it was found that the Langmuir isotherm effectively fits the experimental data for the adsorbates better than the Freundlich model with the CS highest adsorption capacity of 0.45 mg/g for 4-nitrophenol and 0.25 mg/g for phenol. The CS was found to adsorb 85% of 4-nitrophenol and
... Show MoreThe preparation of the title compound, C26H25N, was achieved by the condensation of an ethanolic mixture of benzaldehyde, cyclohexanone and ammonium acetate in a 2:1:1 molar ratio. There are two crystallographically independent molecules in the asymmetric unit. The two cyclohexyl rings adopt an
The problem of water scarcity is becoming common in many parts of the world, to overcome part of this problem proper management of water and an efficient irrigation system are needed. Irrigation with a buried vertical ceramic pipe is known as a very effective in the management of irrigation water. The two- dimensional transient flow of water from a buried vertical ceramic pipe through homogenous porous media is simulated numerically using the HYDRUS/2D software. Different values of pipe lengths and hydraulic conductivity were selected. In addition, different values of initial volumetric soil water content were assumed in this simulation as initial conditions. Different value
... Show MoreTo assess the total hip replacement patients’ knowledge of home – care regarding pain management, medication therapy, wound care, mobility limitation and complications may occur in the post hip replacement surgery, and to assess relationship between some variables such as, age level of education, sex & marital status with home- care knowledge. A descriptive study was used to assess the hip-replacement patient home-knowledge, a purposive sampling of (60) hip-replaced –patients were selected from Gazy Alhariri Hospital (central of surgical profession ) and Alwasity Hospital ( plastic surgery) , the questionnaire obtains two parts , part one, which included socio-demographical characteristics of the samp
... Show MoreThe nuclear ground-state structure of some Nickel (58-66Ni) isotopes has been investigated within the framework of the mean field approach using the self-consist Hartree-Fock calculations (HF) including the effective interactions of Skyrme. The Skyrme parameterizations SKM, SKM*, SI, SIII, SKO, SKE, SLY4, SKxs15, SKxs20 and SKxs25 have been utilized with HF method to study the nuclear ground state charge, mass, neutron and proton densities with the corresponding root mean square radii, charge form factors, binding energies and neutron skin thickness. The deduced results led to specifying one set or more of Skyrme parameterizations that used to achieve the best agreement with the available experimental
... Show MoreTitanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) samples were nitrided in low pressure (1.3, 3 mbar) dc-glow discharge plasmas of nitrogen. The treating time was 5, 10 and 15 hour and the temperatures range of the samples during the nitriding process was close to 800oC. The obtained microstructures of the nitride layers were studied by x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. The ε –Ti2N, ζ-Ti3N3-x and η-Ti3N2-x.phases were formed and addition to the solid solution of nitrogen in titanium, α (Ti,N). Micro hardness measurements exhibit an increment for the Ti-alloy specimens which nitrided at 800oC for 10 and 15h.Corrosion measurements were obtained for the Ti-6Al-4V alloy in Ringer solution after plasma nitriding. The clear improving in the corrosion r
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