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.
Objective(s): To find out the incidence Rate of abortions in pregnant women Admitted Maternal and pediatric Hospitals at Al-Diwaniyah City and to identify the relationship between the incidence rate of abortion and the associated risk factors that led to the occurrence of abortion.
Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted to identify the Incidence Rate of Abortions and its Associated Factors among Women at AL-Diwaniyah City’s Maternity and pediatric Hospital from 16 September 2020 to 16 March 2021 . The sample study includes (100) pregnant women with abortion out of (3800) pregnant women. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire through a personal intervie
... Show MoreThe objective of this study is to estimate the effect of the hydro-ethanolic catechin extract toward blood glucose, lipid profile and liver functions in alloxan diabetic mice. 50 healthy mice (25-30 g) were divided into five groups of ten animals for each. Group A received normal saline as normal control group. To induce diabetes, alloxan (150 mg/kg), intraperitoneal (i.p.) single dose was injected to groups B, C, D and E. Group B represents diabetic control group. Groups C, D and E received ethanolic catechin extract (30 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg) for different periods of 1, 2 and 3 weeks as treated groups. Blood glucose, serum lipids [Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TGs) and High Density Lipoproteins (HDL)], asparagine transaminase (AST),
... Show MoreThe current research focuses on the extent to which the strategic orientation(entrepreneurial orientation, customer orientation, technology orientation, learning orientation, and investment orientation) affects the learning organization (building common vision, systemic thinking, personal dominance, mental models, team learning)The first hypothesis to test the connection relation between research variables and The second hypothesis was to test the relationship between these variables. In order to ascertain the validity of the hypotheses, the research was based on a questionnaire questionnaire prepared according to a number of In addition to building a fifth sub-variable for the strategic orientation (investment orientation) based
... Show MoreObesity is an escalating health problem in developing countries. One to ten children worldwide are overweight in a report showed by the International Obesity Task Force. Ghrelin, orexigenic peptide, has 28 amino acids, it is considered the greatest remarkable promotion in the last two decades for understanding the physiological changes of action regulating food intake and hunger. Obestatin is a 23-amino acid peptide nearly connected to ghrelin that secures from substitutio
... Show MoreThe current study aims to overcome the conflicts facing the company in its way of staying and continuing to maintain its performance excellent in light of the intense competition, which made it seek to find strong ways and links with its customers through electronic communication using electronic platforms, and this put confidence and safety in The place of suspicion and fear of not fulfilling credibility or violating the privacy, so this research comes to answer about the question: “Can the company achieve an excellent performance by relying on the customer's electronic confidence?”.
The study followed the descriptive and analytical approaches by providing a virtual model and testing the zero hypotheses, which stipulat
... Show MoreA specific, sensitive and simple method was used for the determination of: vitamin B9 (Folic acid) in pure and pharmaceutical formulations using continuous flow injection analysis. The method is based on formation of ion pair compound between folic acid and ammonium molybdate in an aqueous medium to obtain a gray precipitate complex, using homemade; Ayah-6SX1-ST-2D solar cell CFI Analyzer. Optimum parameters was studied to increase the sensitivity for developed method. The linear range for the calibration graph was 0.01-0.6 mMol.L-1 of vitamin B9 and LOD was 131.994 ng/sample with correlation coefficient ( r ) of 0.9810, RSD% was lower than 0.1%, (n=9) for the determination of vitamin B9 at concentration (0.07and 0.5) mMol.L-1 respectiv
... Show MoreBackground: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of mortality among women in Iraq forming 23% of cancer related deaths. The low survival from the disease is a direct consequence to the advanced stages at diagnoses. Aim: To document the composite stage of breast cancer among Iraqi patients at the time of diagnosis; correlating the observed findings with other clinical and pathological parameters at presentation. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study enrolling the clinical and pathological characteristics of 603 Iraqi female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The composite stage of breast cancer was determined according to UICC TNM Classification System of Breast Cancer and the Ameri
... Show MoreA systematic approach is presented to achieve the stable grasping of objects through a two-finger robotic hand, in which each finger cavity was filled with granular media. The compaction of the latter, controlled by vacuum pressure, was used to adjust the structural and contact stiffness of the finger. The grasping stability was studied under the concurrent effect of an external torque and applied vacuum pressure. Stable grasping was defined as the no slippage condition between the grasped object and the two fingers. Three control schemes were adopted and applied experimentally to ensure the effectiveness of the grasping process. The results showed that stable and unstable grasping regions exist for each combination of applied torqu
... Show MoreWere collected three types of medicinal plants from their natural habitat after Astkhalasalziot volatile manner steam distillation and determine the quality and quantity of vehicles chemical for each of the oils obtained using a technique JC discouraged when you merge oily thyme and lemon grass against bacteria either when using oils in three did not have a different effect
The aim of this study was to critically appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions suitable for delivery by nurses, designed to enhance cardiac patients' adherence to their prescribed medications.
Cardiac medications have statistically significant health benefits for patients with heart disease, but patients' adherence to prescribed medications remains suboptimal.
A systematic quantitative review of intervention effects.