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.
High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minne
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This Research aims to define role of the system of evaluating the performance for higher leadership in determining the level of institutional work quality in the Ministry of Agriculture, by measuring system efficiency of evaluating the performance for higher leadership and its effect in institutional work quality, the searcher reached through the theoretical framing and involved studies to build default plan define the relation between Research variables formed from system of evaluating leadership performance as independent variable contains six subsidiary dimensions: (Polarization, evaluating the performance of personnel, training, motivation, se
... Show MoreRouting is the process of delivering a packet from a source to a destination in the network using a routing algorithm that tries to create an efficient path. The path should be created with minimum overhead and bandwidth consumption. In literature, routing protocols in VANET were categorized in many ways, according to different aspects. In the present study, we prefer the classification based on the number of hops to reach the destination node. In literature, these are single-hop and multi-hops protocols. We first discuss the two types and then compare the MDDV (multi-hops protocol) with VADD (single-hop protocol). The comparison is theoretically and experimentally implemented by providing a network environment consisting of SUMO, VIENS and
... Show MoreEnvironmental Control Systems form one of the integral tasks of the designer, resulting from his/her acquaintance with the nature of sites and the way they are deployed to achieve modern space entity which is witnessing significant development in the field of interior design.Good deployment of these systems offer us, as designers, high potential and several varied solutions to configure internal spaces characterised as a fertile field of study and knowledge.The research problem was identified in the marginalisation of the importance of Environmental Control Systems as an important designing factor to achieve integrated design. The research problem was demonstrated in Chapter One, along with defining the objectives and formulating
The present study was undertaken in order to investigate the role of gentamicin in the gene expression of toxA in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cow mastitis. A total of ten P. aeruginosa strains originally isolated from cows infected with mastitis. Agar dilution methodology was performed to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration of gentamicin, all of which developed resistance toward gentamicin. The findings presented here demonstrated that all these strains harboured toxA depending on PCR-based assay. Nonetheless, RT-PCR technique revealed a wide variation in expression of toxA. Moreover, the cultivation of P. aeruginosa in the presence of gentamicin, significantly (P< 0.05), induced the expression of toxA, in addition to th
... Show MoreIn This paper, we have been approximated Grűnwald-Letnikov Derivative of a function having m continuous derivatives by Bernstein Chlodowsky polynomials with proving its best approximation. As well as we have been solved Bagley-Torvik equation and Fokker–Planck equation where the derivative is in Grűnwald-Letnikov sense.
Semiparametric methods combined parametric methods and nonparametric methods ,it is important in most of studies which take in it's nature more progress in the procedure of accurate statistical analysis which aim getting estimators efficient, the partial linear regression model is considered the most popular type of semiparametric models, which consisted of parametric component and nonparametric component in order to estimate the parametric component that have certain properties depend on the assumptions concerning the parametric component, where the absence of assumptions, parametric component will have several problems for example multicollinearity means (explanatory variables are interrelated to each other) , To treat this problem we use
... Show MoreSelf-criticism is that a person confronts himself with his mistakes in order to reform and develop them for the better, motivate them and inspire hope in them to push them forward and continue to give in this life. The Holy Qur’an teaches us, through the models it cited in its verses, that this is through repentance, a feeling of remorse, and a determination to leave mistakes, and quit disobedience and sins, etc., and all this is done through constructive criticism, and at the same time, one must realize his strengths. , in order to succeed in preserving it and employing it in the right path that pleases God, His Messenger, himself and his society. This has been explained through an introduction, two topics and a conclusion, and God is t
... Show MoreThis research aims to shed light on the geography of Shatt Al-Gharraf, one of the main branches of the Tigris River south of the sedimentary plain, where the changes exposed by this Shatt (river) were followed by a set of old and modern maps, which date back to the years(3000 BC, 1771 AD, 1810 AD, 1944 AD, 1959 AD, 2009 AD, 2017 AD).Through this research, Shatt al-Gharrafwas found to be an integrated river in terms of the geomorphological phenomena of the rivers (river meanders, river islands, marshes, and estuary). Besides, it was exposed to several changes especially itsdownstream in the Euphrates. It was previously flowing into the Euphrates but due to a number of factors such as the shortage of water in the Tigris River in recent yea
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