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 s

This research deals with the most famous existing definitions of public relations, in an attempt to achieve a definition that will be added to the other existing and widespread definitions, especially that big developments have taken place in the concept of public relations and their idiomatic use.

In addition, many definitions of public relations have been restricted to some limited descriptions, therefore many of the descriptions given to the public relations are basically definitions as well as characteristics of the public relations.

This research aims at setting and formulating the definitions of public relations, it also deals with its credibility in achieving its significance in order to reach a new definition that

Automatic Programming Assessment (APA) has been gaining lots of attention among researchers mainly to support automated grading and marking of students’ programming assignments or exercises systematically. APA is commonly identified as a method that can enhance accuracy, efficiency and consistency as well as providing instant feedback on students’ programming solutions. In achieving APA, test data generation process is very important so as to perform a dynamic testing on students’ assignment. In software testing field, many researches that focus on test data generation have demonstrated the successful of adoption of Meta-Heuristic Search Techniques (MHST) so as to enhance the procedure of deriving adequate test data for efficient t

This research involves the preparation of new ligands 1,1,2,2- tetrakis (sodium acetate thio)ethylene(L1) and 1,1,2- tris(sodiumacetatethio) ethylene(L2), through the reaction of disodium thioglycolate) with tetra chloro ethylene or tri chloro ethylene in (1:4) or (1:3) moler ratio . Homodinucliar complexes of general formlu [M2(L1)] and [M2(L2)ClH2O] , when M= Co(II), Ni(II), Cu (II) and Zn(II) also mono nuclear complexes of general formula [M(L2)] . The prepared complexes were characterized using spectral method (UV/Visible/ IR) , metal content analysis , magnetic and atomic measurements . The spectral and magnetic measurement indicats that some complexes have tetrahedral or square planar complexes environtment .

This paper presents a comparison study on thermal performance conic cut twist tape inserts in laminar flow of nanofluids through a constant heat fluxed tube. Three tape configurations, namely, quadrant cut twisted tape (QCT), parabolic half cut twisted tape (PCT), and triangular cut twisted (VCT) of twist ratioy= 2.93 and cut depthde= 0.5 cm were used with 1% and 2% volume concentration of SiO₂/water and TiO

The impact of a Schiff base namely 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)benzenethiol  to corrode mild steel in 1 M HCl  resolved was evaluated using different weight loss technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).different weight measurements to expand that the 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene) amino) benzenethiol  inhibits  the corrosion of mild steel through adsorbing  of  top for mild steel and block the active locality. The inhibitive impacts of 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)benzenethiol  increase with increasing concentration and decrease with increasing temperature. SEM to checking revealed that the alloy surface was quite unaffected and formed protective film on its surface. The investigated

Random throwing of industrial waste has a significant impact on the environment unless it takes into account the conditions of engineered destroying and/or re-used. Taking the advantage of re-using waste materials in engineering projects represents a well-planned project in order to resolve a lot of engineering problems for some difficult soils. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability and effects of Rubber Shreds (RS) from scrap torn belts towards improving the shear strength of soft clay. A direct shear tests were conducted on soft clay-RS mixture. The following parameters were investigated to study the influence of RS content, water content, normal stress, and dilation ratio. From experimental test results it was fou

The invention relates to a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) for determining a measuring position of a probe. The AACMM isdepends on the robotkinematics (forward and reverse) in their measurementprinciple, i.e., using the AACMM links and joint angles todetermine the exact workspace or part coordinates. Hence, themeasurements are obtained using an AACMM will be extremely accurate and precise since that ismerely dependent on rigid structural parameters and the only source of measurement error is due to human operators. In this paper, a new AACMM design was proposed. The new AACMM design addresses common issues such as solving the complex kinematics, overcoming the workspace limitation, avoiding singularity, and eliminating the effects of

In this work, laboratory experiments were carried out to verify direct contact membrane distillation system’s performance in highly saline water desalination. The study included the investigation of various operating conditions, like feed flow rate, temperature and concentration of NaCl solution and their impact on the permeation flux were discussed. 16 cm² of a flat sheet membrane module with commercial poly-tetra-fluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane, which has 0.22 μm pore size, 96 µm thickness and 78% average porosity, was used. A high salt rejection factor was obtained greater than 99.9%, and the permeation flux up to 17.27 kg/m².h was achieved at 65°C for hot feed side and 20°C for cold side stream.

In this paper, Touchard polynomials (TPs) are presented for solving Linear Volterra integral equations of the second kind (LVIEs-2k) and the first kind (LVIEs-1k) besides, the singular kernel type of this equation. Illustrative examples show the efficiency of the presented method, and the approximate numerical (AN) solutions are compared with one another method in some examples. All calculations and graphs are performed by program MATLAB2018b.