The Growth Differentiation Factor -15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily. İt represents an example of the stress response cytokines. It's mostly found in cardiac myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vascular endothelial cells, whether they're generated normally or not. GDF-15 levels have increased and are associated with cardiovascular risk. Aim of the study: To investigate the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with the level of plasma GDF-15 in a group of hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A case-control study involved 90 individuals, 60 hypertensive patients (36 on ACE inhibitors and 24 on ARBs) and 30 healthy individuals. Serum GDF-15 was measured and compared statistically between the two groups. Results: serum GDF-15 was significantly higher in both groups of hypertensive patients compared to the control group. İn addition, there was no significant difference in mean serum GDF-15 concentration between patients treated with ACE inhibitors with those treated with angiotensin II receptor blockers. Conclusion: GDF-15 increases in hypertensive patients and might be a reasonable marker of cardiovascular disease. Both ACE inhibitors and ARBs are not powerful enough to decrease GDF-15 concentration to that of the control group.
In order to improve the effectiveness, increase the life cycle, and avoid the blade structural failure of wind turbines, the blades need to be perfectly designed. Knowing the flow angle and the geometric characteristics of the blade is necessary to calculate the values of the induction factors (axial and tangential), which are the basis of the Blade Element Momentum theory (BEM). The aforementioned equations form an implicit and nonlinear system. Consequently, a straightforward iterative solution process can be used to solve this problem. A theoretical study of the aerodynamic performance of a horizontal-axis wind turbine blade was introduced using the BEM. The main objective of the current work is to examine the wind turbine blade’s perf
... Show MoreIn this work, pure and Ag-doped nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates with different dopant concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 wt.%) by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique at room temperature. These films were annealed at temperature of 450 °C. The structural and optical properties of the prepared thin films were studied. It was found that annealing process has lead to increase the transmittance of the deposited films. Also, the transmittance was found to increase with doping concentration of silver in the deposited NiO films. The optical energy gap was decreased from 3.5 to 3.2 eV as the doping concentration was increased to 0.4 %.
The steady state performance of the counter rotating floating ring Journal bearing is analyzed with isothermal finite bearing theory. The effect of different parameters affecting the performance of the bearing (namely speed ratio, clearance ratio and radii ratio), have been investigated. The load carrying capacity of the bearing increasing with decreasing the radii ratio (R2/R1) of the ring and clearance ratio (c1/c2), in the other hand, the coefficient of friction increases with increasing the clearance and radii ratios, while decreases with incre4asing the bearing to journal speed ratio (γ). It is shown during this work that different operating conditions are greatly enhanced the performance
... Show MoreThis study thoroughly investigates the potential of niobium oxide (Nb2O5) thin films as UV-A photodetectors. The films were precisely fabricated using dc reactive magnetron sputtering on Si(100) and quartz substrates, maintaining a consistent power output of 50W while varying substrate temperatures. The dominant presence of hexagonal crystal structure Nb2O5 in the films was confirmed. An increased particle diameter at 150°C substrate temperature and a reduced Nb content at higher substrate temperatures were revealed. A distinct band gap with high UV sensitivity at 350 nm was determined. Remarkably, films sputtered using 50W displayed the highest photosensitivity at 514.89%. These outstanding optoelectronic properties highlight Nb2O5 thin f
... Show MoreIA Ali, FK Emran, DF Salloom, Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 2021
In this study, the effect of fire flame on the punching shear strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete flat plates was experimentally investigated using nine half-scale specimens with dimensions of 1500×1500 mm and a total thickness of 100 mm. The main investigated variables comprised the steel fiber volume fraction 0, 1, and 1.5% and the burning steady state temperature 500 and 600 °C. The specimens were divided into three groups, each group consists of three specimens. The specimens in the first group were tested with no fire effect to be the reference specimens, while the others of the second and third groups were tested after being exposed to fire-flame effect. The adopted characteristics of the fire test were; (one hour) b
... Show MoreThis research deals with the most important heritage in Iraq, which are the Iraqi marshes, especially Abu Zarag marsh in Al-Nasiriyah city south of Iraq. The research is divided into two parts. The first part deals with evaluating the water quality parameters of Abu Zarag marsh for the period from December 2018 to April 2019 which is the flooding season. The parameters are Temperature, pH, Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, Sulfate, Nitrate. The second part is a comparison between the water quality parameters during the recent period with the same period during the previous years from 2014 to 2019. The results are
Protection of the oil pipelineswhich extracted from the wells was found to shut the well and prevent the leakage of oil when broken using safety valve. This valve is automatically activated by loss of pressure between the well and pipelines, which take the pressure, signal from hydraulic pressure sensor through pressure control valve which has constant or variable value but it is regulated manually. The manual regulatory process requires the presence of monitoring workers continuously near the wells which are always found in remote areas. In this paper, a smart system has been proposed that work with proportional pressure control valve and also electronic pressure sensor through Arduino controller, which is programmed in a way that satisfie
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