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 s

Traction force and power requirement when performing primary tillage occupy the minds of almost farmers, this field research had aim to determine and calculate the pulling force of the most commonly used moldboard and chisel plows, the research conducted in silt clay loam for chisel and moldboard plows as the main factor, two depths of tillage 18 and 25 cm as a second factor and three speeds of tractor 2.55, 4.30 and 6.15 km.h-1 as a third factor. Moldboard plow recorded least traction force 7.550 kN, drawbar power 11.583 hp, power losses due to slippage 1.088 hp, power on the rear axle of the tractor 15.770 hp and brake horse power 17.495 hp. Chisel plow recorded best traction efficiency 76.217 % and total traction efficiency 68.659 %. Dep

In this work, calculation of pressure losses in circulating system for two drilling muds is evaluated in Noor oil field. Two types of drilling muds that were used for drilling section 12 1/4" and 8 3/4" which are Salt saturated mud and Ferro Chrome Lignosulfonate-Chrome Lignite mud. These calculations are based on field data that were gathered from the drilling site of well Noor-15, which are included, rheological data, flow data and specification of drill string. Based on the obtained results, the best rheological model that fit their data is the Herschel-Bulkley model according to correlation coefficient value for their two drilling mud. Also, the difference between the calculated pressure lo

This research aims to suggest formulas to estimate carry-over effects with two-period change-over design, and then, all other effects in the analysis of variance of this design, and find the efficiency of the two-period change-over design relative to another design (say, completely randomized design).

The bioequivalence of a single dose tablet containing 5 mg amlodipine as a test product in comparison to Norvasc^® 5 mg tablet (Pfizer USA) as the reference product was studied. Both products were administered to twenty eight healthy male adult subjects applying  a fasting, single-dose, two-treatment, two-period, two-sequence, randomized crossover design with two weeks washout period between dosing. Twenty blood samples were withdrawn from each subject over 144 hours period. Amlodipine concentrations were determined in plasma by a validated HPLC-MS/MS method. From the plasma concentration-time data of each individual, the pharmacokinetic parameters; C_max, T_max, AUC_0-t, AUC_0-

The ideas and information obtained by the viewer in the cinema have always been the source of the visual image, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the mental image can produce a lot of the information and ideas in the cinematic art and the most important means to achieve this mental image in the film is the eloquent cinematic sound. This research is conducted to show this important and effective contribution of the sound in the production of the mental image. Hence the importance of this research is in that it addresses an important issue which is the eloquent performance of the sound and its role in the production of the mental image inside the space of the feature film. This research concerns those working the field of cinema and

Man was closely associated with nature in its various forms, as it represented the incubator for him in all areas of his life, so writers often made it a material for their literature and a fertile ground for their productions, so it appeared in its various forms and man’s need for it, its good and its bad in literature throughout history, and the Arabs are like Other nations, since the pre-Islamic era, nature was an important outlet and a refuge for poets in the production and creativity of literature and to this day, and when we talk about a poet from the Fatimid state, we find that nature - especially spring and its flowers - in that period took its take from literature and represented a phenomenon for many Among the

The present study examines critically the discursive representation of Arab immigrants in selected American news channels. To achieve the aim of this study, twenty news subtitles have been exacted from ABC and NBC channels. The selected news subtitles have been analyzed within van Dijk’s (2000) critical discourse analysis framework. Ten discourse categories have been examined to uncover the image of Arab immigrants in the American news channels. The image of Arab immigrants has been examined in terms of five ideological assumptions including "us vs. them", "ingroup vs. outgroup", "victims vs. agents", "positive self-presentation vs. negative other-presentation", and "threat vs. non-threat". Analysis of data reveals that Arab immig