**Acknowledgements**

I am grateful to Dr. Mubarak Pasha, Deputy Dean Administration for providing me with the laboratory equipment and tools to conduct this research. I am thankful to Dr. Mark Norrish, who at present is Associate Dean International at Coventry University, UK worked as Associate Professor at Oman Medical College in Oman, for his expertise in doing statistical analysis and Dr. John Mutusami, Head Department of Surgery, for his critical review and analysis. Special thanks to Dr. Azem Shalaby, Associate Professor at Department of Pathology, Dr. Irfan Ullah, Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Yahya Tamimi, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University for their strong collaboration in this research project. I am also in debt to our Dean, Dr. Salah Al Kusaiby, and Vice-Dean, Mohammad Al Shafaee, Department of Family Medicine, and Prof. ML Ajmani, Head of Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, National University of Health Sciences, Oman, for their encouragement and endless support throughout this study. In the end I sincerely thank Mr. Mohammad Al Kindi, Ms. Fatima Al-Ghafri, Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Nabhani, Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Department of Pathology, and Ms. Zoya Sheikh, Biochemistry Department, Sultan Qaboos University, without their help I could never have completed this study. I am also thankful to all my MD students who chipped in from time to time and ensured continuous progress of this research. The first student who started this research was Dr. Syed M Saud, who also received 2nd prize in oral presentation at 8th GCC Medical Student's Conference at SQU, Muscat, Oman. Other students who participated were Dr. Ayesha Shafaq, Dr. Marwan Zaki, Dr. Afaf Al Farsi, Ms. Fatima Al Baloshi, Ms. Sakoon Said Alharthi, Mr. Mohammed Amir Rafe, Mr. Muhammad Hamza Kamal, Ms. Rana Hamood Al Maqbali, Ms. Reem Hamood Al Maqbali, and Ms. Sara Al Adawai.
