The present study aimed to assess the potential impact of serum concentration of undercarboxylated osteocalcin (the active form of osteocalcin) and fibroblast growth factor-23 on the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in type 2 diabetics with carotid artery calcification and the possible association with metabolic changes in relation to glucose and minerals homeostasis.

This study included 52 men with carotid artery calcification type 2 diabetes mellitus. These patients were categorized; as follows: group A includes 30 patients who had cardiovascular disease and group B includes 22 patients who had no cardiovascular disease. These groups were compared with 25 apparently healthy control (Group C). 

It has been shown

The primary goal of in-situ load testing is to evaluate the safety and performance of a structural system under particular loading conditions. Advancements in building techniques, analytical tools, and monitoring instruments are prompting the evaluation of the appropriate loading value, loading process, and examination criteria. The procedure for testing reinforced concrete (RC) structures on-site, as outlined in the ACI Building Code, involves conducting a 24-h load test and applying specific evaluation criteria. This article detailed a retrofitting project for an RC slab-beams system by utilizing carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets to strengthen the structure following a fire incident. The RC structure showed indicators of deter

The aim of the current study was to develop a nanostructured double-layer for hydrophobic molecules delivery system. The developed double-layer consisted of polyethylene glycol-based polymeric (PEG) followed by gelatin sub coating of the core hydrophobic molecules containing sodium citrate. The polymeric composition ratio of PEG and the amount of the sub coating gelatin were optimized using the two-level fractional method. The nanoparticles were characterized using AFM and FT-IR techniques. The size of these nano capsules was in the range of 39-76 nm depending on drug loading concentration. The drug was effectively loaded into PEG-Gelatin nanoparticles (≈47%). The hydrophobic molecules-release characteristics in terms of controlled-releas

The art of batik is one of the ancient arts that has a long history in East Asian countries, especially in Indonesia, where it was considered a traditional craft with which many Indonesian tribes lived. This art began to move to other continents and develops and progresses due to the artist’s connection to the surrounding technological and intellectual development, as art became more outgoing and liberated, it helped the artist to create and innovate in his designs. In this research, he focuses on modern performance methods through which print paintings can be produced through design elements, especially calligraphy, to create aesthetic and creative effects in the productive work. The current research aims to identify the various perfo

Mangrove landscaping in the Segara Anakan Lagoon (SAL) is an adaptation pattern of mangrove ecosystems to live and grow in unstable areas. This research aimed to develop a mangrove landscape to mitigate the impacts of ocean waves, currents, and inundation due to climate change. The study was conducted in SAL and Cilacap Coast (CC) using the environmental properties and climate change data. The data obtained were analyzed using mapping and trendline analyses. The results showed that mangrove landscaping in Segara Anakan had four zones with Nypa frutican, Rhizophora styllosa, Aegiceras corniculatum, Rhizophora apiculata, Avicennia marina, Sonneratia alba identified as the best adaptation of mangrove species. Climate change give a high impa

Background: Antimicrobial prescribing patterns have an important role in the emergence of resistance, and community pharmacists have a substantial influence on this issue. Objective: To assess community pharmacists' behaviors and attitudes toward antimicrobial dispensing, determine their proportions and categories, and examine the underlying rationales for this practice. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey of community pharmacists in Iraq was conducted from June to August 2023, using a self-administered validated questionnaire. The attitudes, practices, and motivations driving the distribution of antimicrobials without a prescription (AWP) were explored in three areas. Results: A sizable proportion (61.6%) of respondents rejected

 This paper adapted the neural network for the estimating of the direction of arrival (DOA). It uses an unsupervised adaptive neural network with GHA algorithm to extract the principal components that in turn, are used by Capon method to estimate the DOA, where by the PCA neural network we take signal subspace only and use it in Capon (i.e. we will ignore the noise subspace, and take the signal subspace only).

In this manuscript, the effect of substituting strontium with barium on the structural properties of Tl_0.8Ni_0.2Sr_2-xBr_xCa₂Cu₃O_9-δcompound with x= 0, 0.2, 0.4, have been studied. Samples were prepared using solid state reaction technique, suitable oxides alternatives of Pb₂O₃, CaO, BaO and CuO with 99.99% purity as raw materials and then mixed. They were prepared in the form of discs with a diameter of 1.5 cm and a thickness of (0.2-0.3) cm under pressures 7 tons / cm², and the samples were sintered at a constant temperature o

order to increase the level of security, as this system encrypts the secret image before sending it through the internet to the recipient (by the Blowfish method). As The Blowfish method is known for its efficient security; nevertheless, the encrypting time is long. In this research we try to apply the smoothing filter on the secret image which decreases its size and consequently the encrypting and decrypting time are decreased. The secret image is hidden after encrypting it into another image called the cover image, by the use of one of these two methods" Two-LSB" or" Hiding most bits in blue pixels". Eventually we compare the results of the two methods to determine which one is better to be used according to the PSNR measurs

This study investigates the phonotactics of English obstruent clusters in the word-final position from a markedness theory perspective among Iraqi EFL College Students whose native language, Arabic, prefers only two-member word-final obstruent cluster as a maximum. The markedness of clusters is measured depending on Iraqi EFL College Students’ utilization of the simplification strategies. This study tries to answer whether or not word-final obstruent clusters are marked or unmarked for Iraqi EFL College Students, and whether or not the markedness of the obstruent cluster increases as to its length. In order to answer these questions, a test has been distributed among 60 Iraqi EFL Fourth-Year College students, Department of English, Colleg