Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a prevalent chronic microvascular diabetic complication. As inflammation plays a vital role in the development and progress of DN the macrophages migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a proinflammatory multifunctional cytokine approved to play a critical function in inflammatory responses in various pathologic situations like DN. This study aimed To assess serum levels of MIF in a sample of Iraqi diabetic patients with nephropathy supporting its validity as a marker for predicting nephropathy in T2DM patients. In addition, to evaluate the nephroprotective effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in terms of their influence on MIF levels. This is a case-control study involving ninety subjects that have been divided into three groups: twenty apparently healthy control group and seventy patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus divided into two equal groups according to the presence of diabetic nephropathy that has been further divided into two groups according to the use of ACE inhibitors or not. Serum MIF, urea, creatinine, RBS, HbA1c, BMI, eGFR, and urinary albumin to creatinine ratio have been measured for each subject. Serum MIF’s highest levels were observed in the diabetic nephropathy patients (24.9 ng/ml) followed by the diabetics (14. 1 ng/ml) with the lowest level observed in the control group (4.8 ng/ml). There was a significant relation between MIF levels and ACE inhibitors (p-value <0.05) with reduced MIF levels in ACE inhibitors users. The ROC curve showed that MIF has a good performance in disease prediction. These findings support the reliability of MIF as a biomarker for the prediction of diabetic nephropathy and the possible reducing effect of ACE inhibitors on MIF levels.
In this study, plain concrete simply supported beams subjected to two points loading were analyzed for the flexure. The numerical model of the beam was constructed in the meso-scale representation of concrete as a two phasic material (aggregate, and mortar). The fracture process of the concrete beams under loading was investigated in the laboratory as well as by the numerical models. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed for the treatment of the discontinuities that appeared during the fracture process in concrete. Finite element method with the feature standard/explicitlywas utilized for the numerical analysis. Aggregate particles were assumedof elliptic shape. Other properties such as grading and sizes of the aggr
... Show More(28)Bacterial local isolates of Bacillus sp. were obtained from soil samples. Isolates were tested for thermostable alpha- amylase production on solid media; fifteen isolates were able to develop clear zone around the bacterial growth after floating the plates with iodine reagent (Lugol's solution). There were further tested in submerged culture which led to selection of Bacillus sp. H14since it was the most efficient .Microbial and biochemical tests showed that the local isolate Bacillus sp.H14was refered to the species B.licheniformis that signed as H14 was refered to the species B.licheniformis H14 .,To get ahigher yield of alpha – amylase(48.70unit/mg protein) production from the local isolate B.licheniformis H14 . This study used
... Show MoreAmong many problems that reduced the performance of the network, especially Wide Area Network, congestion is one of these, which is caused when traffic request reaches or exceeds the available capacity of a route, resulting in blocking and less throughput per unit time. Congestion management attributes try to manage such cases. The work presented in this paper deals with an important issue that is the Quality of Service (QoS) techniques. QoS is the combination effect on service level, which locates the user's degree of contentment of the service. In this paper, packet schedulers (FIFO, WFQ, CQ and PQ) were implemented and evaluated under different applications with different priorities. The results show that WFQ scheduler gives acceptable r
... Show MoreIn most Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings, the cross-section size of rectangular columns that conventionally used in these structures is larger than the thickness of their partitions. Consequently, a part of the column is protruded out of the wall which has some architectural disadvantages. Reducing the column size by using high strength concrete will result in slender column, thus the stability problem may be occurred. The stability problem is difficult to be overcome with rectangular columns. This paper study the effectiveness of using new types of columns called Specially Shaped Reinforced Concrete (SSRC) columns. Besides, the use of SSRC columns provides many structural advantage
Abstract
Machining residual stresses correlate very closely with the cutting parameters and the tool geometries. This research work aims to investigate the effect of cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on the surface residual stress of steel AISI 1045 after face milling operation. After each milling test, the residual stress on the surface of the workpiece was measured by using X-ray diffraction technique. Design of Experiment (DOE) software was employed using the response surface methodology (RSM) technique with a central composite rotatable design to build a mathematical model to determine the relationship between the input variables and the response. The results showed that both
... Show MoreRandom throwing of industrial waste has a significant impact on the environment unless it takes into account the conditions of engineered destroying and/or re-used. Taking the advantage of re-using waste materials in engineering projects represents a well-planned project in order to resolve a lot of engineering problems for some difficult soils. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability and effects of Rubber Shreds (RS) from scrap torn belts towards improving the shear strength of soft clay. A direct shear tests were conducted on soft clay-RS mixture. The following parameters were investigated to study the influence of RS content, water content, normal stress, and dilation ratio. From experimental test results it was fou
... Show MoreThe interlaminar fracture toughness of polymer blends reinforced by glass fiber has
been investigated. Epoxy (EP), unsaturated polyester(UPE), polystyrene (PS),
polyurethane (PU) and their blends with different ratios (10%PS/90%EP),
(20%PS/80%EP), (20%PU/80%EP) and (20%PU/80%UPE) were chosen as a matrices A
sheet of composites were prepared using hand lay -up method, these sheet were cut as the
double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen to determine interlaminar fracture toughness of
these composites .Its found that, blending of EP,UPE with 20% of PU will improve the
interlaminar fracture toughness ,but the adding of 10% PS, 20%PS to EP will decrease
the interlaminar toughness of these composites.
Different bremsstrahlung spectra from tungsten anode x-ray tube generated at 30, 40 and 50 kV have been examined theoretically and experimentally for an attempt to find a most suitable spectrum to radiograph a test object of 0.01 cm thickness of Cu and Ag. The high contrast using this suitable spectrum is demonstrated and the possible effects of fluorescent radiation are discussed.
The study aims to evaluate the removal of sulfur content from Iraqi light naphtha produced in Al-Dora refinery by adsorption desulfurization DS technique using modified activated carbon MAC loaded with nickel Ni and copper Cu as single binary metals. The experiments were carried in a batch unit with various operating parameters; MAC dosage, agitation speed, and a contact time of 300 min at constant initial sulfur concentration 155 ppm and temperature. The results showed higher DS% by AC/Ni-Cu (66.45)% at 500 rpm and 1 g dosage than DS (29.03)% by activated carbon AC, increasing MAC dosage, agitation speed, and contact time led to increasing DS% values. The adsorption capacity of MAC results was recorded (16, 15, and 20) mg sulfu
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