Objective: to assess the predictive value of Doppler imaging of the uterine artery in the identification of early intrauterine abnormal pregnancy as compared to a normal intrauterine pregnancy. Subjects and methods: one hundred and twenty pregnant ladies, at their 6-12 weeks of gestation, with a singleton pregnancy were included in this population-based case-control study. Thirty women with a missed miscarriage, 30 with hydatidiform mole, 30 with a blighted ovum, and 30 as a control group, without risk factors, underwent Doppler interrogation of the uterine arteries. Resistive index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), and the systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D) were measured for both sides. The t-test, or ANOVA test when appropriate, was used to analyze the relationship between the variables. Results: there was a significant reduction of RI mean, PI mean, and S/D ratio among women with different types of abnormal pregnancy compared with the control group. RI and PI mean levels were significantly lower in women with hydatidiform mole and significantly higher in women with missed miscarriage. Lower left S/D mean level was significantly associated with hydatidiform mole and upper left S/D level was associated significantly with control women. For prediction of missed miscarriage; right and left uterine artery RI shows a sensitivity of 80%, 73.3%, a specificity of 68%, 71.1%, and the highest AUC was 0.78 for both.For prediction of molar pregnancy, right and left uterine artery RI showed a sensitivity of 63% for both, a specificity of 54.4%, 60%, and the highest AUC was 0.58, 0.61 respectively. Conclusions: Uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography at 6-12 weeks of gestation is predictive for early pregnancy complications such as missed abortion, hydatidiform mole, and blighted ovum.
Lower extremity exoskeletons can assist with performing particular functions such as gait assistance, and physical therapy support for subjects who have lost the ability to walk. This paper presents the analysis and evaluation of lightweight and adjustable two degrees of freedom, quasi-passive lower limb device to improve gait rehabilitation. The exoskeleton consists of a high torque DC motor mounted on a metal plate above the hip joint, and a link that transmits assistance torque from the motor to the thigh. The knee joint is passively actuated by spring installed parallel with the joint. The action of the passive component (spring) is combined with mechanical output of the motor to provide a good control on the designed exoskeleton whi
... Show MoreIn-situ gelation is a process of gel formation at the site of application, in which a drug product formulation that exists as a liquid has been transformed into a gel upon contact with body fluids. As a drug delivery agent, the in-situ gel has an advantage of providing sustained release of the drug agent. In-situ gelling liquid suppositories using poloxamer 188 (26-30% W/W) as a suppository base with 10% W/W naproxen were prepared, the gelation temperature of these preparations were measured and they were all above the physiological temperature. Additives such as polyvinylpyrrolidin "PVP" ,hydroxylpropylmethylcellulose "HPMC", sodium alginate and sodium chloride were used in concentration ranging from (0.25-1
... Show MoreThis paper presents an experimental study of cooling photovoltaic (PV) panels using evaporative cooling. Underground (geothermal energy) water used to extract heat from it during cooling and cleaning of PV panels. An experimental test rig was constructed and tested under hot and dusty climate conditions in Baghdad. An active cooling system was used with auxiliary an underground water tank to provide cold water as a coolant over both PV surfaces to reduce its temperature. The cellulose pad has been arranged on the back surface and sprays cooling on the front side. Two identical PV panels modules used: without cooling and evaporative water cooling. The experiments are comprised of four cases: Case (I): backside cooling, Ca
... Show MoreThe performance of a solar assisted desiccant cooling system for a meeting-hall located in the College of Engineering/University of Baghdad was evaluated theoretically. The system was composed of four components; a solar air heater, a desiccant dehumidifier, a heat exchanger and an evaporative cooler. A computer simulation was developed by using MATLAB to assess the effect of various design and operating conditions on the performance of the system and its components. The actual weather data on recommended days were used to assess the load variation and the system performance during those days. The radiant time series method (RTS) was used to evaluate the hourly variation of the cooling load. Four operation modes were employed for perform
... Show MoreThis research aims to develop transdermal patches of Ondansetron hydrochloride (OSH) with different types of polymers, ethyl cellulose and, polyvinyl pyrrolidone k30 in a ratio (3:0.5,3:1,3:2,2:1,1:1) with propylene glycol 20%w/w as a plasticizer. Prepared transdermal patches were evaluated for physical properties. The compatibility between the drug and excipients was studied by Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), where there is no interaction between the drug and polymers. From the statistical study, there is a statistical difference between all the prepared formulations p<0.05. In-vitro Release study of transdermal patches was performed by using a paddle over the disc. The release profile of OSH follow
... Show MoreIn this research, the effect of reinforcing epoxy resin composites with a filler derived from chopped agriculture waste from oil palm (OP). Epoxy/OP composites were formed by dispersing (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%) OP filler using a high-speed mechanical stirrer utilizing a hand lay-up method. The effect of adding zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, with an average size of 10-30 nm, with different wt% (1,2,3, and 5wt%) to the epoxy/oil palm composite, on the behavior of an epoxy/oil palm composite was studied with different ratios (1,2,3, and 5wt%) and an average size of 10-30 nm. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and mechanical properties (tensile, impact, hardness, and wear rate) were used to examine the composites. The FTIR
... Show MoreTo evaluate the toxicity of benzalkonium chloride in aquaculture, the hemato-serological indices of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus are used as biomarkers. Following exposure to three concentrations of benzalkonium chloride BAC 0.1, 0.25, 0.50, and 1 mg/l (BAC1,2,3 and 4) in aquaria for two durations 21 and 42 days, the microbiological assay in fish aquaria, in addition to blood parameters were assessed. Except for the mean difference between BAC2 and BAC3 (P > 0.05) at 42 days, the mean values of the bacterial counts revealed a significant difference between all compared groups (0.05 ≥ P ≤ 0.01). Following exposure to the lower concentrations of BAC (1, 2 and 3), the main blood parameters of Oreochromis niloticus namely red bl
... Show MoreAlzheimer's disease (AD) increasingly affects the elderly and is a major killer of those 65 and over. Different deep-learning methods are used for automatic diagnosis, yet they have some limitations. Deep Learning is one of the modern methods that were used to detect and classify a medical image because of the ability of deep Learning to extract the features of images automatically. However, there are still limitations to using deep learning to accurately classify medical images because extracting the fine edges of medical images is sometimes considered difficult, and some distortion in the images. Therefore, this research aims to develop A Computer-Aided Brain Diagnosis (CABD) system that can tell if a brain scan exhibits indications of
... Show MoreElectrochemical machining is one of the widely used non-conventional machining processes to machine complex and difficult shapes for electrically conducting materials, such as super alloys, Ti-alloys, alloy steel, tool steel and stainless steel. Use of optimal ECM process conditions can significantly reduce the ECM operating, tooling, and maintenance cost and can produce components with higher accuracy. This paper studies the effect of process parameters on surface roughness (Ra) and material removal rate (MRR), and the optimization of process conditions in ECM. Experiments were conducted based on Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array (OA) with three process parameters viz. current, electrolyte concentration, and inter-electrode gap. Sig
... Show MoreThe need to create the optimal water quality management process has motivated researchers to pursue prediction modeling development. One of the widely important forecasting models is the sessional autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model. In the present study, a SARIMA model was developed in R software to fit a time series data of monthly fluoride content collected from six stations on Tigris River for the period from 2004 to 2014. The adequate SARIMA model that has the least Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and mean squared error (MSE) was found to be SARIMA (2,0,0) (0,1,1). The model parameters were identified and diagnosed to derive the forecasting equations at each selected location. The correlation coefficien
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