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 secondly, non-diabetic controls (11 male, 9 female) were selected from the patients attending Ibn AL-Haitham hospital for ophthalmology and a specialized center for endocrinology and diabetes. Venous blood samples of all participants were drawn after an overnight fast, and serum samples were stored at -20ºC until DKK-1 assay. Results: Serum DKK-1 showed significantly lower levels in diabetic patients with (6.1 ± 2 ng/mL) or without DR (14 ± 6.2 ng/mL) when compared to those of controls (34 ± 12.25 ng/mL) (p 0.05). Furthermore, serum DKK-1 levels were lower in the late stage of DR compared to the early stage 5.6 ± 1.7 and 7 ± 1.9 ng/mL, respectively. Furthermore, DPP-4 inhibitors cause a better increment in DKK-1 levels when compared to SU in the NDR group. Conclusions: Reduced serum levels of DKK-1 are related to the existence and worsening of DR and have the prospect to serve as an indicator for this condition.
Background: Human semen contains high concentrations of fructose, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in bound and ionic forms for Zn and Cu. The presence of abnormal levels of fructose and those trace elements may affect spermatogenesis with regard to production, maturation, motility and fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa.Objective: To evaluate the levels of fructose, Zn and Cu in seminal plasma in different groups of male infertility and to correlate their concentrations with various sperm parameters.Methods: The concentrations of fructose, Zn and Cu were measured in 114 semen samples from normozoospermic, oligozoospermic, astheno-zoospermic, and azoospermic men using the electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry for Zn and Cu determinatio
... Show MoreSUMMARY. The objectives of the present study were to assess the possible predictors of COVID-19 severity and duration of hospitalization and to identify the possible correlation between patient parameters, disease severity and duration of hospitalization. The study included retrospective medical record extraction of previous coron avirus COVID-19 patients in Basra hospitals, Iraq from March 1st and May 31st, 2020. The information of the participants was investigated anonymously. All the patients’ characteristics, treatments, vital signs and laboratory tests (hematological, renal and liver function tests) were collected. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS (version 22, USA). Spearman correlation was used to measure the relations
... Show MoreIn this study, ultraviolet (UV), ozone techniques with hydrogen peroxide oxidant were used to treat the wastewater which is produced from South Baghdad Power Station using lab-scale system. From UV-H2O2 experiments, it was shown that the optimum exposure time was 80 min. At this time, the highest removal percentages of oil, COD, and TOC were 84.69 %, 56.33 % and 50 % respectively. Effect of pH on the contaminants removing was studied in the range of (2-12). The best oil, COD, and TOC removal percentages (69.38 %, 70 % and 52 %) using H2O2/UV were at pH=12. H2O2/ozone experiments exhibited better performance compared to
... Show MoreThe research problem consisted in answering the question that revolves around whether there is a relationship to the settlement of salaries with the growth of bank deposits? The research also aimed to provide some initial solutions to improve the role of salary localization, in terms of reviewing the concept of electronic payment systems, its tools and channels, and then identifying the concept of salary localization, its importance, objectives and obstacles to its application, and then analyzing the reality of the state of the settlement of salaries and bank deposits for the research sample banks, which are each of the bank (Ashur International, Business Bay, the Iraqi Middle East for Investment, the Iraqi National, Development and the
... Show MoreThis study was undertaken to introduce a fast, accurate, selective, simple and environment-friendly colorimetric method to determine iron (II) concentration in different lipstick brands imported or manufactured locally in Baghdad, Iraq. The samples were collected from 500-Iraqi dinars stores to establish routine tests using the spectrophotometric method and compared with a new microfluidic paper-based analytical device (µPAD) platform as an alternative to cost-effective conventional instrumentation such as Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). This method depends on the reaction between iron (II) with iron(II) selective chelator 1, 10-phenanthroline(phen) in the presence of reducing agent hydroxylamine (HOA) and sodium acetate (NaOAc) b
... Show MoreObjective: Assessment the psychological problems in patients with colorectal cancer, and to find out the
relationship between socio-demographic characteristics such as (age, sex, marital status, educational level,
and occupation) and psychological problems for those patients.
Methodology: A descriptive design is employed through the present study from 1
st July 2011 to 25
th December
2011 in order to study the quality of life in colorectal cancer patients with psychological problems.
A purposive (non probability) sample is selected for the study which includes (60) patients diagnosed with
colorectal cancer were treated in Mosul Oncology and Nuclear Medicine hospital or the patients who visited
the outpatient cl
The present study aimed to investigate the effect of re-operations engineering business in continuous improvement, as the rapid development of service activities generally private and the great diversity in the goals of its operations and programs of the university and the service has led to the increasing importance of re-operations engineering business as well as continuous improvement so began to study the relationship between the re engineering and continuous improvement of university service, and applied study on a sample of professors from the faculties of administration, economics and law. Find and reach to several conclusions, notably that the preparation of the teaching staff training sessions on how to use modern teaching
... Show MoreSIFCON is characterized as a construction material of high ductility and very high strength. It is suitable for concrete structures used for special applications. However, the density of SIFCON is much higher than that of Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) due to the need for a large amount of high-density steel fibers. This work examines the split tensile behavior of modified weight slurry infiltrated fiber concrete utilizing a mixture of two types of fibers, steel fiber, and polyolefin fiber. For the investigation, 30 cylinders and 15 cubes were poured. The used volume fraction (V.F) is (6 %) and the use of five series once as each type separately and once a hybrid in proportions of 2/3 polyolefin with 1/3 steel fiber and
... Show MoreThe current research aims to answer the following questions: what is the substance of democracy? What is the content of a democratic society? What is the role of university professor in the democratic development of the student university in light of the new Iraqi society? In order to achieve the goals of the research, the researcher developed an a questionnaire based on literature, Iraq's draft constitution in 2005, and his experience of the field of teaching human rights and public freedoms and the teaching of democracy. It was applied to a sample of faculty members in Department of Education and Psychology / College of Education / University Baghdad for the year 20014 were obtained their answers were then processed statistically. Henc
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