Acromegaly is a condition that results from excessive growth hormone production by the anterior pituitary gland. Prolidase (PLD) is the only known human enzyme that can hydrolyze dipeptides with an amino acid at their C terminus. Reports indicate that PLD activity serves as a marker for oxidative stress in numerous disorders such as diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, chronic liver diseases, and osteoporosis. The current study aims to estimate the values of PLD, its correlation with the rest of the parameters, and ROC in acromegaly patients. A group of 61 patients with confirmed acromegaly were collected from the National Diabetic Center, Mustansyrriah University, and 60 control groups were analyzed in the same place for the parameters of the biochemical study. Acromegalic patients had changes in the levels of biochemical markers like PLD, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1, and fasting blood glucose. There was a high difference (p < 0.001) between the patient group and the healthy control group. The current study shows that PLD levels are higher in patients with acromegaly than in the healthy control group. The sensitivity and specificity for PLD were high in the patient group versus the healthy control. The PLD may be a novel biomarker of acromegaly activity, and there may be an increase in fasting blood glucose, growth hormone, and IGF-1 in acromegaly patients.
In this work, multilayer nanostructures were prepared from two metal oxide thin films by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. These metal oxide were nickel oxide (NiO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The prepared nanostructures showed high structural purity as confirmed by the spectroscopic and structural characterization tests, mainly FTIR, XRD and EDX. This feature may be attributed to the fine control of operation parameters of dc reactive magnetron sputtering system as well as the preparation conditions using the same system. The nanostructures prepared in this work can be successfully used for the fabrication of nanodevices for photonics and optoelectronics requiring highly-pure nanomaterials.
A new 5‐fluorouracil–naproxen conjugate is synthesized as a mutual prodrug for targeting cancer tissues. The structure of the target compound and their intermediate are characterized by their melting point, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and elemental microanalysis. The cytotoxic activity is preliminarily evaluated using nonsmall lung cancer CRL‐2049, human breast cancer CAL‐51, and one type of normal cell line; rat embryo fibroblast cell line. The synthesized compound shows a good cytotoxic effect at the cancer cell and no significant effect at rat embryo fibroblast cell line.
Anaerobic digestion is a technology widely used for treatment of organic waste for biogas production as a source for clean energy. In this study, poultry house wastes (PHW) material was examined as a source for biogas production. The effects of inoculum addition, pretreatment of the substrate, and temperature on the biogas production were taken into full consideration. Results revealed that the effect of inoculum addition was more significant than the alkaline pretreatment of raw waste materials. The biogas recovery from inoculated waste materials exceeds its production from wastes without inoculation by approximately 70% at mesophilic conditions. Whereby, the increase of biogas recovery from pretreated wastes was by 20% higher than its
... Show MoreTreatises concerning analyzing the interior spaces multiplied and their directions varied, that some of them analyzed the interior space on the basis of the intellectual and philosophical affiliation or the historical period and others in the light of the concept and mechanisms of the shape. The researcher has not been able to find a research that dealt with analyzing the space within the systems of shape generation, thus it is possible to determine the research problem with the following question: to what extent is it possible to analyze the interior space based on systems of shape generation? As far as the importance of the research is concerned, it sheds light on five of the systems of the shape generation which are: Syntax, shape gra
... Show MoreThe Hubble telescope is characterized by the accuracy of the image formed in it, as a result of the fact that the surrounding environment is free of optical pollutants. Such as atmospheric gases and dust, in addition to light pollution emanating from industrial and natural light sources on the earth's surface. The Hubble telescope has a relatively large objective lens that provides appropriate light to enter the telescope to get a good image. Because of the nature of astronomical observation, which requires sufficient light intensity emanating from celestial objects (galaxies, stars, planets, etc.). The Hubble telescope is classified as type of the Cassegrain reflecting telescopes, which gives it the advantage of eliminating chromat
... Show MoreBackground : It has been suggested that pretreatment with a statin agent prior to
myocardial infarction limits myocardial
creatine kinase release, and thus may act to
limit myocardial infarct size in humans.
Objective : To examine the effect of very
early statin initiation for acute myocardial
infarction (AMI), to the extent of
myonecrosis as manifested by peak serum
creatine kinase levels.
Methods : Patients with AMI admitted to AlKindy teaching hospital cardiac care unit
from 1st February 2007 to 28th February
2008, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria
cited in the present study, were randomly
assigned into two study groups. The statin
group patients have received a single oral
dose of 40 mg