Background: In advanced diabetes mellitus, serum levels of the most hormones are altered due to several interplaying mechanisms. Objective: To assess the relation of serum leptin and lipid profile in type 2 diabetic nephropathy. Patients and Method: Serum leptin levels and its relation to lipid profile were estimated in 62 patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy attending the National Diabetes Center in Al- Mustansiriya University, and (26) healthy individuals considered as control group. The diabetic patients were classified into three groups, (24) pathients with normoalbuminuria (21) patients with microalbuminuria and (17) patients with macroalbuminuria. Fasting plasma glucose, serum creatinine, Hb A1c %, lipid profile (Total cholesterol, LDL- Cholesterol, HDL- Cholesterol and Triglyceride) and urinary albumin, were measured to establish the possibility of using these biomarkers as a supplementary to serum leptin to be a diagnostic test for type 2 diabetic nephropathy. Results: Serum leptin levels showed a significant elevation in microalbuminuria (20.08± 4.50 ng/ml) and macroalbuminuria groups (22.35± 6.89 ng/ml) as compared to nondiabetic normal control group (10.64 ± 3.17 ng/ml). There was no significant differences observed in serum leptin levels between the normoalbuminuria group (13.96 ± 5.73 ng/ml) and healthy controls, but a significant positive differences were noticed in the levels of fasting plasma glucose, serum creatinine, Hb A1c% and lipid profile in the three patient groups in comparison with the control group. While no significant correlation was observed between these biomarkers levels and serum leptin values. Conclusion: It might be concluded that serum leptin levels were elevated in type 2 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria, suggesting that renal leptin degradation is impaired in early stage of kidney damage and this impairment increase with the progression of this disease. Leptin hormone may consider according to these results as a risk factor for progression of kidney disease in diabetic patients.
Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most frequently observed malignancy in females worldwide. Today, tamoxifen (TAM) is considered as the highly effective therapy for treatment of breast tumors. Oxidative stress has implicated strongly in the pathophysiology of malignancies. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the levels of oxidants and antioxidants in patients with newly diagnosed and TAM-treated BC. Sixty newly diagnosed and 60 TAM-treated women with BC and 50 healthy volunteers were included in this study. Parameters including total oxidant capacity (TOC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and catalase (CAT) activity were determined before and after treatment with TAM. The serum levels of TOC and oxidative stress index (OSI) were
... Show MoreFLI1 is a member of ETS family of transcription factors that regulate a variety of normal biologic activities including cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The expression of FLI1 and its correlation with well-known breast cancer prognostic markers (ER, PR and HER2) was determined in primary breast tumors as well as four breast cancer lines including: MCF-7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 using RT-qPCR with either 18S rRNA or ACTB (β-actin) for normalization of data. FLI1 mRNA level was decreased in the breast cancer cell lines under study compared to the normal breast tissue; however, Jurkat cells, which were used as a positive control, showed overexpression compared to the normal breast. Regarding primary breast carcinoma
... Show MoreEscherichia coli (E. coli) is a frequent gram-negative bacterium that causes nosocomial infections, affecting more than 100 million patients annually worldwide. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from E. coli binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its co-receptor’s cluster of differentiation protein 14 (CD14) and myeloid differentiation factor 2 (MD2), collectively known as the LPS receptor complex. LPCAT2 participates in lipid-raft assembly by phospholipid remodelling. Previous research has proven that LPCAT2 co-localises in lipid rafts with TLR4 and regulates macrophage inflammatory response. However, no published evidence exists of the influence of LPCAT2 on the gene expression of the LPS receptor complex induced by smooth or rough b
... Show MoreThe aim of this work is study the partical distribution function g(r12,r1) for Carbon ion cases (C+2,C+3,C+4) in the position space using Hartree-Fock's Wave function, and the partitioning technique for each shell which is represented by Carbon Ions [C+2 (1s22s2)], [C+3 (1s22s)] and [C+4 (1s2)]. A comparision has been made among the three Carbon ions for each shell. A computer programs (MATHCAD ver. 2001i) has been used texcute the results.
Recent accumulated evidences suggest that prolactin is an important immunomodulator and may have a role in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of hyperprolactinemia in women with SLE and to evaluate its correlation with disease flares. Serum prolactin levels were measured in 62 women with SLE and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. In patients and control groups prolactin levels were determined by immunoradiometric assay (IRMA). The prolactin level was found to be higher than normal rang in (40.3%) of SLE patients in active stage versus only (8.06%) of the same SLE patients but in the inactive stage and in (4%) of control group, the elevation was ranging between mi
... Show MoreThe use of containers in transportation leads to the reduction in time and effort of the process of loading and unloading of goods as well as protecting the goods from damage and breakage and to reduce the financial costs.
. This development has led also to make changes in the sizes and capacity of ships, therefore changes in the ports must be taken place where they must be provided with an appropriate depth for such vessels, that means the increase in the depth of ports and the establishment of wide storage yards and to provide appropriate mechanisms for handling process.
In this study, the researcher has dealt with this type of transport business in Iraqi ports, namely:
1- Khur Al-Zubair port.
2- Um Qaser port.
In order