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.
The human being is a social being and human communication is a fundamental axis in the process of social interaction, and the characteristic of social shyness grows through the interaction of the individual with his environment. Identifying the level of shyness among university students, and identifying the differences in shyness among university students according to specialization (scientific, humanities). In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher prepared a measure of shyness based on Zimbardo's theory, and the components that he identified are the (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional components). The validity and reliability were calculated using the Cronbach's alpha method, reaching (0.94), and the scale in
... Show MoreThe present study addresses the behavior of gases in cultivation media as an essential factor to develop the relationship between the microorganisms that are present in the same environment. This relationship was explained via mass transfer of those gases to be a reasonable driving force in changing biological trends. Stripping and dissolution of oxygen and carbon dioxide in water and dairy wastewater were investigated in this study. Bubble column bioreactor under thermal control system was constructed and used for these processes. The experimental results showed that the removal of gases from the culture media requires more time than the dissolution. For example, the volumetric mass transfer coefficient for the removal
... Show MoreBackground: The use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy warrants several side effects and also deleterious effects on fetal development, the antiepileptic drugs have potential to affect the fetal development throughout the pregnancy although, the majority of infants born to epileptic pregnant women are normal but more expose to the malformations. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of carbamazepine drug on the kidney development at day 7 postnatally in the Albino Rat (Rattus rattus) as a mammalian model. Material & Methods: 20 healthy pregnant female rats were divided into two groups, 10 pregnant rats in each group; group one served as control group administrated distal water while group two used as experimenta
... Show MoreBackground: Non-host-adapted Salmonella serovar Typhimurium is a facultative intracellular bacterium, which invades and multiplies within mononuclear phagocytes in liver, spleen, lymph nodes and Peyer’s plaques. Salmonella infection is a crucial medical and veterinary problem globally. S. Typhimurium causes various clinical symptoms, from asymptomatic infection to typhoid-like syndromes in infants or highly susceptible animals, for instance mice. Objective: The present study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of anthrax protective antigen (PA)as a potent adjuvant mixed with killed Salmonella Typhimurium (S.T.) to enhance the immunization capacity of the last. Materials and Methods: Two groups of mice were immunized with either th
... Show MoreAbstract
The research was limited to those whom Imam Abu Dawood
described in his Sunan as weak, so this research does not include
narrators who carried descriptions indicating weakness such as
ignorance or others, nor does it include hadiths that the Imam
described as weak.
The number of narrators whom Imam Abu Dawood described as
weak has reached six narrators, and my methodology was to
mention the words of Imam Abu Dawood, then transfer the
sayings of other advanced scholars, as well as the sayings of
Imam Abu Dawood in his other books, if any, to show the extent
of compatibility between these sayings.
I have reached the following resul
... Show MoreRepresents the narrative and drama important sources in the serial drama television structure, and the advent of modern narrative techniques within the dramatic structure of the series of television directorial and processors that hired them, form a quantum leap in the level of the emergence of distinct forms of dramatic rely on narrative techniques according to the harmonic fabric is in control of making the form of art. dramatic and running events, but in order to discharge the need to adhere to the basics of drama and adapted within the mediator television capabilities, and narrative to make forms of television series to Atantzm in drift fixed because of the nature of governing structure formalism, this does not mean the existence of
... Show MoreThe sculpture composing of iron materials is being considered most important raw material that has been used by the modern artist ,especially period of post –modernism. The works of the two artists ( SALIH AL-QARAGHULI and AHMED AL-BAHRANI) the most important works that entailed to be studied for being using iron material in most of their sculpturing works; in works of Al-Quraghuli, we find ores composing of iron wires , animals threads and remaining of trash and to be assembled in a sculptured text with unique style in Arab Home. Moreover, we find huge works of (al-Bahrani) represented into formations characterized with its ironic flexibility, its abstracted engineering forms. Al-Bahrani solely has used iron plates represented in its
... Show MoreGarbage is the waste of neglected human beings. The despised thing turns into art. We accept its existence as one of the new aesthetics that have been extended in the joints of modern life. Works of debris and waste find their place in exhibitions, museums and urban spaces of cities. It is one of the major tremors in the transformation of aesthetic taste on the level of art history.In light of these ideas, we are faced with the problem of interpreting the phenomenon and its identity, because the remnants of garbage for each people have historical characteristics and a kind of anthropology that refers to the culture of human use of the materials and their waste and the identity of their belonging. In Iraq, the garbage has its ecological a
... Show MoreBackground: The excess mortality associated with
rheumatoid arthritis is largely due to
cardiovascular disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is of
primary importance in atherogenesis. The intimamedia thickness of extracranial carotid arteries is a
measurable index of the presence of
atherosclerosis.
Objective: To assess carotid intima-media
thickness in rheumatoid arthritis by Doppler
ultrasound.
Methods: Fifty two Iraqi patients with rheumatoid
arthritis were studied and compared with another
fifty two, healthy individuals matched for age and
sex as a control group. Full history was taken and
complete clinical examination was done for all
individuals in both groups. Rheumatoid arthritis
diagnosis was