Objective: Atorvastatin therapy is now recommended for reduction of cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM), based on convincing evidence of reductions in mortality and vascular events in major clinical outcome trials. The aim is to evaluate the effects of atorvastatin on proinflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-6), HbA1c andleptin in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Sixty fivenewly diagnosed T2DM patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups; group I treated with metformin only; in group II atorvastatin was added with metformin. Twenty healthy subjects were enrolled as control group. While maintaining their usual eating habits, fasting blood samples were collected at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment. Results: HbA1c levelswere decreased significantlyonly in group I compared with baseline value; while serum levels of leptin, TNF-α and IL-6 were decreased significantly in both groups compared to baseline values. Conclusion: Atorvastatin is effective in reducing leptin and pro-inflammatory cytokines levels but associated with an increased risk of worsening HbA1c in patients with T2DM.
An optical video communication system is designed and constructed using pulse frequency modulation (PFM) technique. In this work PFM pulses are generated at the transmitter using voltage control oscillator (VCO) of width 50 ns for each pulse. Double frequency, equal width and narrow pulses are produced in the receiver be for demodulation. The use of the frequency doubling technique in such a system results in a narrow transmission bandwidth (25 ns) and high receiver sensitivity.
This manuscript presents several applications for solving special kinds of ordinary and partial differential equations using iteration methods such as Adomian decomposition method (ADM), Variation iterative method (VIM) and Taylor series method. These methods can be applied as well as to solve nonperturbed problems and 3rd order parabolic PDEs with variable coefficient. Moreover, we compare the results using ADM, VIM and Taylor series method. These methods are a commination of the two initial conditions.
This paper examines the change in planning pattern In Lebanon, which relies on vehicles as a semi-single mode of transport, and directing it towards re-shaping the city and introducing concepts of "smooth or flexible" mobility in its schemes; the concept of a "compact city" with an infrastructure based on a flexible mobility culture. Taking into consideration environmental, economical and health risks of the existing model, the paper focuses on the four foundations of the concepts of "city based on culture flexible mobility, "and provides a SWOT analysis to encourage for a shift in the planning methodology.
A competitive adsorption of Cu2+, Ni2+, and Cd2+ ions from a synthetic wastewater onto nanomaterial was studied.(Fe3O4) nanoparticles obtained from US Research Nanomaterials, Inc., Houston, TX 77084, (USA), was used as nanosorbent. Experimental parameters included pH, initial metal concentrations, and temperature were studied for nanosorbent. The uptake capacity 11.5, 6.07 and 11.1 mg/g for Cu2+, Ni2+and Cd2+, respectively, onto nanosorbent . The optimum pH values was 6 and the contact time was 50 min. for Cu2+, Ni2+and Cd2+, respectively. The equilibrium isotherm for
... Show MoreMulti-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were functionalized by hexylamine (HA) in a promising, cost-effective, rapid and microwave-assisted approach. In order to decrease defects and remove acid-treatment stage, functionalization of MWCNTs with HA was carried out in the presence of diazonium reaction. Surface functionality groups and morphology of chemically-functionalized MWCNTS were characterized by FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (DTG), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To reach a promising dispersibility in oil media, MWCNTs were functionalized with HA. While the cylindrical structures of MWCNTs were remained reasonably intact, characterization results consistently confirmed the sidewall-functionalization o
... Show Moren Segmented Optical Telescope (NGST) with hexagonal segment of spherical primary mirror can provide a 3 arc minutes field of view. Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT) in the 100m dimension would have such unprecedented scientific effectiveness that their construction would constitute a milestone comparable to that of the invention of the telescope itself and provide a truly revolutionary insight into the universe. The scientific case and the conceptual feasibility of giant filled aperture telescopes was our interested. Investigating the requirements of these imply for possible technical options in the case of a 100m telescope. For this telescope the considerable interest is the correction of the optical aberrations for the coming wavefront, th
... Show MoreThis study aims to encapsulate atenolol within floating alginate-ethylcellulose beads as an oral controlled-release delivery system using aqueous colloidal polymer dispersion (ACPD) method.To optimize drug entrapment efficiency and dissolution behavior of the prepared beads, different parameters of drug: polymer ratio, polymer mixture ratio, and gelling agent concentration were involved.The prepared beads were investigated with respect to their buoyancy, encapsulation efficiency, and dissolution behavior in the media: 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2), acetate buffer (pH 4.6) and phosphate buffer (pH 6.8). The release kinetics and mechanism of the drug from the prepared beads was investigated.All prepare
... Show MoreClinical keratoconus (KCN) detection is a challenging and time-consuming task. In the diagnosis process, ophthalmologists must revise demographic and clinical ophthalmic examinations. The latter include slit-lamb, corneal topographic maps, and Pentacam indices (PI). We propose an Ensemble of Deep Transfer Learning (EDTL) based on corneal topographic maps. We consider four pretrained networks, SqueezeNet (SqN), AlexNet (AN), ShuffleNet (SfN), and MobileNet-v2 (MN), and fine-tune them on a dataset of KCN and normal cases, each including four topographic maps. We also consider a PI classifier. Then, our EDTL method combines the output probabilities of each of the five classifiers to obtain a decision b
Background. “Polyetheretherketone (PEEK)” is a biocompatible, high-strength polymer that is well-suited for use in dental applications due to its unique properties. However, achieving good adhesion between PEEK and hydrophilic materials such as dental adhesives or cement can be challenging. Also, this hydrophobicity may affect the use of PEEK as an implant material. Surface treatment or conditioning is often necessary to improve surface properties. The piranha solution is the treatment of choice to be explored for this purpose. Methods. PEEK disks of 10 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness were used in this study. Those samples were divided into five groups (each group has five samples). The first is the control group, in which no
... Show More