Abstract Asthma is a complex disease defined by chronic airway inflammation and airflow limitation causing variable respiratory symptoms which include shortness of breath (SOB), wheezing, chest tightness and cough. Asthma guidelines advocate adding a second long acting bronchodilator to medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) rather using high doses of ICS alone to control moderate to severe persistent asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of three medication regimens indicated for Iraqi patients suffering from persistent asthma. This study was interventional randomized clinical study conducted on a sample of adult Iraqi asthmatic patients in Baghdad City. The study composed of three visits distributed over eight weeks; baseline visit followed by first follow up and second follow up visits after four and eight weeks respectively. The study enrolled 78 adult patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma as diagnosed by specialist physician according to patient history and baseline pulmonary function test (PFT) and allocated them randomly to three groups (each group included 26 patients) to receive equivalent medium doses of budesonide inhaler in addition to either formoterol inhaler, oral modified release aminophylline tablets or tiotropium inhaler (first, second and third group respectively). Sixty four patients completed this study. The mean ages of patients were above 35 years with slightly more male predominance. The study groups developed significant increase of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced vital capacity (FVC) values at the first follow up visit compared to baseline values (p<0.001). Thereafter, the first and third groups achieved significant higher values at the second follow up visit compared to first follow up visit (p<0.001), while second group produced no change. All the groups developed significant improvement of Mini asthma quality of life questionnaire (MiniAQLQ) scores and percentage of symptom free days (SFD) at first follow up visit and continued further significant improvement at the second follow up visit (p<0.001). Generally, between groups comparison according to extent of change of study parameters revealed that third group produced the greatest improvement over the entire study period followed by the first group, whereas the second group was associated with the least extent of improvement. This study concluded that all groups caused significant improvement in study parameters compared to baseline values and also concluded that the third group of inhaled [tiotropium/budesonide] was associated with the highest extent of improvement followed by first group, while the second group was the least.
The paper aims at initiating and exploring the concept of extended metric known as the Strong Altering JS-metric, a stronger version of the Altering JS-metric. The interrelation of Strong Altering JS-metric with the b-metric and dislocated metric has been analyzed and some examples have been provided. Certain theorems on fixed points for expansive self-mappings in the setting of complete Strong Altering JS-metric space have also been discussed.
The major goal of this research was to use the Euler method to determine the best starting value for eccentricity. Various heights were chosen for satellites that were affected by atmospheric drag. It was explained how to turn the position and velocity components into orbital elements. Also, Euler integration method was explained. The results indicated that the drag is deviated the satellite trajectory from a keplerian orbit. As a result, the Keplerian orbital elements alter throughout time. Additionally, the current analysis showed that Euler method could only be used for low Earth orbits between (100 and 500) km and very small eccentricity (e = 0.001).
This paper describes the digital chaotic signal with ship map design. The robust digital implementation eliminates the variation tolerance and electronics noise problems common in analog chaotic circuits. Generation of good non-repeatable and nonpredictable random sequences is of increasing importance in security applications. The use of 1-D chaotic signal to mask useful information and to mask it unrecognizable by the receiver is a field of research in full expansion. The piece-wise 1-D map such as ship map is used for this paper. The main advantages of chaos are the increased security of the transmission and ease of generation of a great number of distinct sequences. As consequence, the number of users in the systems can be increased. Rec
... Show MoreThe research was aimed to identify fruits morphological characteristics of 33 taxa belonging to the Lepidieae tribe from Brassicaceae. The characteristics of the fruit's general shape, apex shape, dimensions, colors, surface ornamentation, and beak were determined, the results indicated the importance of each of those characters in isolated species, In general, all the tribe's fruits were open capsule and short silicula. According to the dimensions of fruit, three species can be distinguished as a group with dimensions greater than 20mm, as in Brossardia, Coluteocarpus, and Didymophysa, and depending on the shape, it was possible to differentiate the species within this group, while the other species were less than 20 mm. in dimensi
... Show MoreDue to the advantages over other metallic materials, such as superior corrosion resistance, excellent biocompatibility, and favorable mechanical properties, titanium, its alloys and related composites, are frequently utilized in biomedical applications, particularly in orthopedics and dentistry. This work focuses on developing novel titanium-titanium diboride (TiB2; ceramic material) composites for dental implants where TiB2 additions were estimated to be 9 wt.%. In a steel mold, Ti-TiB2 composites were fabricated using a powder metallurgy technique and sintered for five hours at 1200 °C. Microstructural and chemical properties were analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ra
... Show MoreNanofluids are proven to be efficient agents for wettability alteration in subsurface applications including enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Nanofluids can also be used for CO2-storage applications where the CO2-wet rocks can be rendered strongly water-wet, however no attention has been given to this aspect in the past. Thus in this work we presents contact angle (θ) measurements for CO2/brine/calcite system as function of pressure (0.1 MPa, 5 MPa, 10 MPa, 15 MPa, and 20 MPa), temperature (23 °C, 50 °C and 70 °C), and salinity (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% NaCl) before and after nano-treatment to address the wettability alteration efficiency. Moreover, the effect of treatment pressure and temperature, treatment fluid concentration (SiO2 wt%) and
... Show MoreObjective: The aim of this study is to detect the effect of continuous exposure to Sodium Nitrite on 8-oxoguanine
DNA glycosylase (OGG1) gene which responsible on DNA repairs. DNA repair play a major role in maintaining
genomic stability when DNA exposure to damage. Genomic stability is very important for keeping body cells
healthy and to prevent many types of tumor development. Many genes are responsible for this job; one of them is
OGG1 gene.
Methodology: In current study two groups of mice were chronically exposed to sodium nitrite for six months and
eighteen months while third group was used as a control. Then sizes of OGG1 were estimated.
Results: The results exhibited in the unexposed (control) mice had two dif