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

Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived mitral annular displacement (MAD) utilizes the speckle tracking technique to measure strain vectors, which provides accurate estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).Objectives: To validate the accuracy of mitral annular displacement (MAD), assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE), as a surrogate for determination of left ventricular systolic function in comparison to 2-Dimensions Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases.Methods : This cross-sectional study included patients who referred to outpatient department of Ibn Albitar Center for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad, Iraq, between October 2012 and April 2013. STE continuously tracked annular

The aim of this study is to evaluate oxidative stress in diabetes mellitus (DM) Type1 by the measurement of Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase (G-6-PD), an enzyme expressed in human RBCs, is important in the generation of reduced glutathione which is the key product in oxidative stress controls. The Study was carried on 80 samples of blood and serum of National Diabetes Center (NDC). The study groups under fasting conditions and they divided as:20 samples of diabetes mellitus patients without complications and 20 samples of diabetes mellitus with cardiovascular (CV) complications and 20 samples of diabetes mellitus with Nephropathy (Neph) complications compared with 20 control group with average age (13-67) years.. The results sh

Background: Hypothyroidism is the most abundant thyroid disorder worldwide. For decades, levothyroxine was the main effective pharmacological treatment for hypothyroidism. A variety of factors can influence levothyroxine dose, such as genetic variations. Studying the impact of genetic polymorphisms on the administration of medications was risen remarkably. Different genetic variations were investigated that might affect levothyroxine dose requirements, especially the deiodinase enzymes.  Deiodinase type 2 genetic polymorphisms’ impact on levothyroxine dose was studied in different populations.

Objective: To examine the association of the two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)s of deiodinase t

Background: Hypothyroidism is the most abundant thyroid disorder worldwide. For decades, levothyroxine was the main effective pharmacological treatment for hypothyroidism. A variety of factors can influence levothyroxine dose, such as genetic variations. Studying the impact of genetic polymorphisms on the administration of medications was risen remarkably. Different genetic variations were investigated that might affect levothyroxine dose requirements, especially the deiodinase enzymes.  Deiodinase type 2 genetic polymorphisms’ impact on levothyroxine dose was studied in different populations. Objective: To examine the association of the two single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)s of deiodinase type 2 (rs225013 and rs225014) and le

Background: Diabetes mellitus a major factor that has adverse effects on the vascular system and the heart. It causes an increase in cardiac muscle thickness, resulting in decreased compliance and increased peripheral arterial stiffness. This study aims to assess the left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular hemodynamic changes in diabetic patients measured by Doppler echocardiography. Patients and Methods: The study included 50 diabetic patients ranging in age between 25 and 80 years, (mean age: 54.1 ± 15.10, 19 males, 31 females) and 50 healthy subjects, aged 25 to 80 years (mean age: 48.52 ± 14.45, 11 males, 39 females). Doppler echocardiography was used to assess left ventricular function. The measurements included

Abstract Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a group of clinical and biological abnormalities included risk of insulin resistance , disorders in glucose metabolism , abdominal obesity and abnormal lipid profile these features confer a greater risk of cardiovascular diseases . Anyway, the co-occurrence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome potentiates the cardiovascular risk associated with each of the two conditions. The present study aimed to determine a relationship between prolactin level in type -2- diabetic Iraqi women and metabolic syndrome, as well to find a relationship between prolactin level and other studied biochemical markers. seventy menopausal diabetic women with metabolic syndrome with age in range (45-50) years were enrolled i

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of CVD. Saliva has a diagnostic properties aiding in the detection of systemic diseases. This study aimed to assess the association between salivary oxidative stress markers and the risk of vascular disease (VD) in T2DM patients. Materials and Methods: One hundred T2DM patients and fifty apparently healthy males were enrolled in this study. Saliva sample was collected for assessment of oxidative stress markers including: lipid peroxidation plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), uric acid (UA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels. Arterial stiffness index (ASI