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 present investigation is concerned primarily with sorting and identification of subfamily Tubificinae from River Tigris and some water surface in Baghdad /Iraq . For this purpose six study sites were chosen, including a Al- Kadhemyia drainage canal, North Baghdad; three sites on the shore of River Tigris; in addition to site in Al-Jaish canal , East Baghdad, finally the sixth site was from pond in Al-Zawra'a park , within the center of Baghdad .These sites were characterized by sediment rang from clay, silty-clay to silty with a percentage of organic matter ranged between 0.7% - 9.9% . According to water temperature, salinity and pH values, they were nearly identical in all study sites, the water temperature was ranged through the study
... Show MoreObjective: To identify barriers to healthcare access, to assess the health literacy levels of the foreign-born Arabic speaking population in Iowa, USA and to measure their prevalence of seeking preventive healthcare services. Methods: A cross-sectional study of native Arabic speaking adults involved a focus group and an anonymous paper-based survey. The focus group and the Andersen Model were used to develop the survey questionnaire. The survey participants were customers at Arabic grocery stores, worshippers at the city mosque and patients at free University Clinic. Chi-square test was used to measure the relationship between the characteristics of survey participants and preventive healthcare services. Thematic analysis was
... Show MoreUnter Exilliteratur versteht man „die literarische Produktion von Autoren, die wegen politischer, religiöser oder rassistischer Verfolgung gezwungen sind, sich an einem anderen als dem von ihnen gewünschten Lebens- und Arbeitsort aufzuhalten.“[1] Deswegen unterscheidet sich „Migration“ von „Exil“ dadurch, dass sie freiwillige Auswanderung ist. Bereits in der Antike und auch im Mittelalter gab es Schriftsteller, die vor Zensur oder politischer Verfolgung ins Exil geflohen sind, wie zum Beispiel der griechische Satiriker des
... Show MoreBackground: The vertical distance between the upper and lower incisal edge of the central incisors when the mouth is opened as wide as possible is called maximum mouth opening (MMO). Any pathological change in the masticatory system had a direct effect on the maximal mouth opening. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the maximum bite force and the maximum mouth opening among group of children. Materials and methods: Four hundred children of both genders were included in this study, their age ranged from eight to ten years. Anterior and posterior (right, left) bite force were measured using bite force sensor. Maximum mouth opening was evaluated by electronic digital caliper. Data was statistically analyzed by de
... Show MoreMercifulness is a trait of civilization, humanity, and a moral value in society, because it has an impact on social life and its role in spreading interdependence, joint liability, and solidarity among people. Mercifulness means spreading mercy, synergy, sympathy, and cooperation. Generally, a society that enjoys strong ties tends to have a kind of stability and development, as well as, is able to face the economic, political, and security crises. Conversely, a weak society leads to weak social cohesion and weak community infrastructure that is more vulnerable to social, economic, and political instability. Thus, this is the aim of the research that has used a social survey method applied to a sample of respondents who have reached (300)
... Show MoreBackground: Aesthetic archwires are used to overcome the aesthetic problems of stainless steel wires but the color of the coating layer can be changed with time when exposed to oral environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of color change of different aesthetic archwires from different companies under different coloring solutions. Materials and Methods: One hundred fifty samples of coated archwires from three companies (Highland, G&H and Dany) were immersed in 5 solutions (artificial saliva, turmeric, tea, coffee and Miranda) to evaluate the degree of color changes after 7, 14 and 21 days using visible spectrophotometer. Data were collected and analyzed using one way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey’s tests. Resu
... Show MoreDiagnosing heart disease has become a very important topic for researchers specializing in artificial intelligence, because intelligence is involved in most diseases, especially after the Corona pandemic, which forced the world to turn to intelligence. Therefore, the basic idea in this research was to shed light on the diagnosis of heart diseases by relying on deep learning of a pre-trained model (Efficient b3) under the premise of using the electrical signals of the electrocardiogram and resample the signal in order to introduce it to the neural network with only trimming processing operations because it is an electrical signal whose parameters cannot be changed. The data set (China Physiological Signal Challenge -cspsc2018) was ad
... Show MoreVisible Light Communication (VLC) has emerged as a powerful technique for wireless communication systems. Providing high data rate and increasing capacity are the major problems in VLC. Recent evidence suggests that Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technique can offers improved data rates and increased link range. This paper describes the design and implementation of visible light communication system in indoor environment exploring the benefits of MIMO. The specific objective of this research was to implement a 4× 4 Multiple Input (LEDs) Multiple Output (photodetectors)-VLC communication system, where a 16 white power LEDs in four arrays are setting up at transmitter and four RX modules are setting up at receiver side without the nee
... Show More