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

  To enlighten the extent of crude oil pollution effects on some anatomical characteristics of olive plant (Olea europaea ). Two years - old seedlings were chosen to grow under 5 levels of pollution (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, liter/ plant). The experiment has been conducted in the experimental field of Natural History Research Center and Museum, University of Baghdad. It was designed as CRD experiment. Testing wood specimens were prepared after 2.5 years of growth. Fiber length, width, wall thickness, and wood specific gravity were measured. Results showed that olive plants could not resist the highest level ( 3 liters / plant ) of pollution .Fiber length was the most  affected property by treatment. All fiber dimensions wer

The toxicity effect of some heavy metals (Lead, Cadmium, Copper, and Zinc) on the growth of alga Scenedesmus dimorphus which belongs to the Division of Chlorophyta was studied and depended on the total cell number . The growth rate and doubling time were also calculated accordingly in present of absent of the the heavy metals . There were differences in toxic effects of the metals (p<0.05) . The growth was decreased gradually with alga when exposured to Lead at 15,20 and 25 mg/l in comparison with the control , mean while 30 mg/l caused an acute decrease in growth . Treating the alga with 0.05,0.1,0.5 mg/l concentration of Cadmium the number of cells decreased while at 1 mg/l the effect was more pronounced . As for Copper the conc

An experiment was conducted in the green garden of Department of Biology/ in College of Education for Pure Sciences Ibn-Al-Haitham/ Baghdad University for the grouth season (2012-2013) to study the effect of three concentrations of gibberellic acid (0, 50, 100) ppm and three concentrations of proline (0, 25, 50) ppm on micronutrients content (Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn) and Copper (Cu) ppm) in addition to total chlorophyll content (µg. cm-2) for the green part of peas plant (Pisum sativum), pots of (8 kg) soil were used, the experiment was conducted according to complete randomized design (CRD) and three replicates, whereby the experiment included (27) pots, the significant variations were compared between means using least s

       Thin films of pure yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃) and doped with cerium oxide (CeO₂) were prepared by the chemical spray pyrolysis(CSP)method. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the prepared films were investigated. The analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) thin films revealed that the undoped and doped Y₂O₃  were amorphous with a broad hump around 27^o and narrow humps around 48^o and 62^o for all samples. Except for the Y₂O₃:6wt.%CeO₂ thin film, all had signal preferential orientation along the (100) plane at 2θ=12.71^o which belongs to CeO₂, Field emission scanning electron mic

Background:Ovulation constitutes a central event in ovarian physiology, and ovulatory dysfunction which is a relevant cause of female infertility. Mammalian ovulation is comparable to aninflammatory reaction since many of the molecules responsible for inducing the inflammatorycascade including PGs, leukotrienes and various cytokines have been describedin the ovary.
Objectives:This study was designed to compare between the effects of some NSAIDs(aspirin,diclofenac sodium and meloxicam)on the ovulatory process and the reproductive tract of female mice.
Materials and methods:Twenty four female mice were subdivided into 4groups (6 animals/group).The first received distilled water serve as control group, the second receivedaspirin (7.5

The analysis of the classic principal components are sensitive to the outliers where they are calculated from the characteristic values and characteristic vectors of correlation matrix or variance Non-Robust, which yields an incorrect results in the case of these data contains the outliers values. In order to treat this problem, we resort to use the robust methods where there are many robust methods Will be touched to some of them.

   The robust measurement estimators include the measurement of direct robust estimators for characteristic values by using characteristic vectors without relying on robust estimators for the   variance and covariance matrices. Also the analysis of the princ

Introduction: This study was performed to compare the effect of Fractional CO2 laser or Q switched Nd:YAG laser of surface treatment on the shear bond strength of zirconia-porcelain interface. Methods: Fractional CO2 laser at 30 W, 2 ms, time interval 1 ms, distance between spots 0.3 mm, and number of scans is (4) or Q switched Nd:YAG laser at 30 J/mm2 and 10 Hz were used to assess the shear bond strength of zirconia to porcelain. Pre-sintered zirconia specimens were divided into three groups (n = 10) according to the surface treatment technique used: (a) untreated (Control) group; (b) CO2 group; (c) Nd:YAG group. All samples were then sintered and veneered with porcelain according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Surface morph