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.
Amino acids were analyzed in stomach regions of males & females of Felis catus (Domestic Cat) & Sciurus carolinesis (Eastern Gray Squirrel ), where it was stated that there are (18) amino acids as following : Aspartic acid (Asp), Glutamic acid (Gla), Serine (Ser), Arginine (Arg), Aspargine ( Asn), Cysteine (Cys), Alanine (Ala), Proline (Pro), Glyscine (Gly), Threonine (Thr), Tyrosine (Tyr), Valine (Val), Methionine (Met), Histidine ( His), Isoleucine (ile), Leucine (leu), Phenylalanine (Phe ) and Lysine (lys). Results have shown there are significant differences in concentration of amino acids between different region of stomach between males & females of Felis catus in part and between males & females of Sciurus carolinesis (Eastern Gray S
... Show MoreThis article reports the first record of Aenasius arizonensis (Girault, 1915) (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae) parasitizing the recently introduced species of cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsly (Hemiptera, Psedococcidae) infesting Lantana camara L. (Verbeneceae) as well as other ornamental plants in Baghdad province, Iraq. A short morphological description is also presented.
Background: Postoperative morbidity after extraction of the impacted mandibular third molar (IMTM) is inevitable. One of the most common postoperative complication is alveolar osteitis (AO) which is a painful non healed socket. Many researches were attempted to prevent the occurrence of AO by introducing and applying a new materials inside the extraction socket. Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) is a biological complex fibrin matrix where autologous platelets and leucocytes are present, used to enhance tissue healing process and reduce the early adverse effects of the inflammation. Aims: To evaluate the effect of PRF on the incidence of AO. Also to assess PRF effect on pain, swelling, and trismus following the surgical removal of IMTM and compa
... Show MoreBackground: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most prevalent malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity that exhibits certain histological variations. Verrucous carcinoma (VC) is an uncommon exophytic low-grade well-differentiated variant of SCC. Cellular differentiation and morphology play important roles in cell functions and maintenance of structural integrity .As the cancer is a malignant process in which disorder of the cell growth and behavior occurs, such changes may differ in different tumor types and within different grades of the same tumor. Materials and Methods:Forty two formalin – fixed, paraffin – embedded tissue blocks were included in this study (30 blocks were diagnosed as OSCC and 12 blocks were diagnosed as OV
... Show MoreNutrient agar medium with various concentrations of cefotaxime was used for isolation spontaneous mutants from wild type strain of P.aeruginosa PHA-1. Eighty-two mutants were successfully isolated with the viable count 52×107 , these mutants were confirmed as spontaneous not physiological adaption mutants by reculture on the same medium. Then, wild type PHA-1 and mutants were examined for production pyocyanin; a blue greenish pigment was clearly noticed on King A medium. Remarkably the mutant strain named S300-8 was distinguished in productivity in comparison with wild type strain PHA-1; the amount of pigment was 56.0667mg/l and 74.53mg/l respectively. In addition, pyocyanin produced by mutant strain S300-8 revealed a potent efficacy again
... Show MoreIncreasing demands on producing environmentally friendly products are becoming a driving force for designing highly active catalysts. Thus, surfaces that efficiently catalyse the nitrogen reduction reactions are greatly sought in moderating air-pollutant emissions. This contribution aims to computationally investigate the hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) networks of pyridine over the γ-Mo2N(111) surface using a density functional theory (DFT) approach. Various adsorption configurations have been considered for the molecularly adsorbed pyridine. Findings indicate that pyridine can be adsorbed via side-on and end-on modes in six geometries in which one adsorption site is revealed to have the lowest adsorption energy (
... Show MoreIn this paper, several combination algorithms between Partial Update LMS (PU LMS) methods and previously proposed algorithm (New Variable Length LMS (NVLLMS)) have been developed. Then, the new sets of proposed algorithms were applied to an Acoustic Echo Cancellation system (AEC) in order to decrease the filter coefficients, decrease the convergence time, and enhance its performance in terms of Mean Square Error (MSE) and Echo Return Loss Enhancement (ERLE). These proposed algorithms will use the Echo Return Loss Enhancement (ERLE) to control the operation of filter's coefficient length variation. In addition, the time-varying step size is used.The total number of coefficients required was reduced by about 18% , 10% , 6%
... Show MoreIn this research, the Williamson-Hall method and of size-strain plot method was employed to analyze X- ray lines for evaluating the crystallite size and lattice strain and of cadmium oxide nanoparticles. the crystallite size value is (15.2 nm) and (93.1 nm) and lattice strain (4.2 x10−4 ) and (21x10−4) respectively. Also, other methods have been employed to evaluate the crystallite size. The current methods are (Sherrer and modified Sherrer methods ) and their results are (14.8 nm) and (13.9nm) respectively. Each method of analysis has a different result because the alteration in the crystallite size and lattice strain calculated according to the Williamson-Hall and size-strain plot methods shows that the non-uniform strain in nan
... Show MoreThe effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and hea
... Show MoreAs they are the smallest functional parts of the muscle, motor units (MUs) are considered as the basic building blocks of the neuromuscular system. Monitoring MU recruitment, de-recruitment, and firing rate (by either invasive or surface techniques) leads to the understanding of motor control strategies and of their pathological alterations. EMG signal decomposition is the process of identification and classification of individual motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) in the interference pattern detected with either intramuscular or surface electrodes. Signal processing techniques were used in EMG signal decomposition to understand fundamental and physiological issues. Many techniques have been developed to decompose intramuscularly detec
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