This study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of laser lithotripsy and pneumatic lithotripsy, the two most commonly used transurethral lithotripsy methods for treating bladder stones in children in Iraq. Between January 2013 and December 2016, 64 children with bladder stones were included in this prospective randomized study, after ethical committee approval and written consent from the children’s parents or caregivers were obtained. Patients were assigned randomly by computer software to two groups treated with either pneumatic cystolithotripsy or laser lithotripsy. A 9 Fr. semirigid ureteroscope was used to pass the lithotripter through and fragment the stone. A catheter of 8–12 Fr. was then introduced and kept in place for 24 h. All children were hospitalized for 24 h, and the catheter was removed the next morning. Outpatient follow-up was maintained for 6–12 months. In terms of operation outcomes and complications, the laser lithotripsy group had a significantly longer duration of operation (74.5 ± 26.6 min vs. 51.5 ± 17.2 min, p = 0.001), whereas the number of patients requiring an extended hospital stay was significantly higher in the pneumatic lithotripsy group (48.5% vs. 16.1%, p = 0.006). Moreover, pneumatic lithotripsy was associated with a significantly greater risk of having at least one adverse effect (64% greater than that in the laser group). Stone clearance rates did not significantly differ between treatment groups. In conclusion, both pneumatic and laser lithotripters can be used to treat children with bladder stones with high efficacy and safety.
The esterification reaction of ethyl alcohol and acetic acid catalyzed by the ion exchange resin, Amberlyst 15, was investigated. The experimental study was implemented in an isothermal batch reactor. Catalyst loading, initial molar ratio, mixing time and temperature as being the most effective parameters, were extensively studied and discussed. A maximum final conversion of 75% was obtained at 70°C, acid to ethyl alcohol mole ratio of 1/2 and 10 g catalyst loading. Kinetic of the reaction was correlated with Langmuir-Hanshelwood model (LHM). The total rate constant and the adsorption equilibrium of water as a function of the temperature was calculated. The activation energies were found to be as 113876.9 and -49474.95 KJ per Kmol of ac
... Show MoreAn intelligent software defined network (ISDN) based on an intelligent controller can manage and control the network in a remarkable way. In this article, a methodology is proposed to estimate the packet flow at the sensing plane in the software defined network-Internet of Things based on a partial recurrent spike neural network (PRSNN) congestion controller, to predict the next step ahead of packet flow and thus, reduce the congestion that may occur. That is, the proposed model (spike ISDN-IoT) is enhanced with a congestion controller. This controller works as a proactive controller in the proposed model. In addition, we propose another intelligent clustering controller based on an artificial neural network, which operates as a reactive co
... Show MoreData mining has the most important role in healthcare for discovering hidden relationships in big datasets, especially in breast cancer diagnostics, which is the most popular cause of death in the world. In this paper two algorithms are applied that are decision tree and K-Nearest Neighbour for diagnosing Breast Cancer Grad in order to reduce its risk on patients. In decision tree with feature selection, the Gini index gives an accuracy of %87.83, while with entropy, the feature selection gives an accuracy of %86.77. In both cases, Age appeared as the most effective parameter, particularly when Age<49.5. Whereas Ki67 appeared as a second effective parameter. Furthermore, K- Nearest Neighbor is based on the minimu
... Show MoreIn digital images, protecting sensitive visual information against unauthorized access is considered a critical issue; robust encryption methods are the best solution to preserve such information. This paper introduces a model designed to enhance the performance of the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) in encrypting images. Two approaches have been suggested for the image cipher process as a preprocessing step before applying the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA). The step mentioned earlier aims to de-correlate and weaken adjacent pixel values as a preparation process before the encryption process. The first approach suggests an Affine transformation for image encryption at two layers, utilizing two different key sets for each layer. Th
... Show MoreAssessing the accuracy of classification algorithms is paramount as it provides insights into reliability and effectiveness in solving real-world problems. Accuracy examination is essential in any remote sensing-based classification practice, given that classification maps consistently include misclassified pixels and classification misconceptions. In this study, two imaginary satellites for Duhok province, Iraq, were captured at regular intervals, and the photos were analyzed using spatial analysis tools to provide supervised classifications. Some processes were conducted to enhance the categorization, like smoothing. The classification results indicate that Duhok province is divided into four classes: vegetation cover, buildings,
... Show MoreThe present study was carried out to determine the bacterial isolates and study their antimicrobial susceptibility in case of burned wound infections. 70 burn wound swabs were taken from patients, who presented invasive burn wound infection from both sex and average age of 3-58 years, admitted to teaching medical Al- Kendi hospital from October 2007 to June 2008. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be the most common isolate (48.9%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (24.4%), Citrobacter braakii (13.3%), Enterobacter spp. (11.1%), Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (11.1%), Proteus vulgaris (6.66%), Corynebacterium spp. (6.66%), Micrococcus (6.66%), Proteus mirabilis (4.44%), Enterococcus faecalis (4.44%), E.coli (4.44%), Klebsiella spp. (2.22
... Show MoreText based-image clustering (TBIC) is an insufficient approach for clustering related web images. It is a challenging task to abstract the visual features of images with the support of textual information in a database. In content-based image clustering (CBIC), image data are clustered on the foundation of specific features like texture, colors, boundaries, shapes. In this paper, an effective CBIC) technique is presented, which uses texture and statistical features of the images. The statistical features or moments of colors (mean, skewness, standard deviation, kurtosis, and variance) are extracted from the images. These features are collected in a one dimension array, and then genetic algorithm (GA) is applied for image clustering.
... Show MoreIn this paper, two new simple, fast and efficient block matching algorithms are introduced, both methods begins blocks matching process from the image center block and moves across the blocks toward image boundaries. With each block, its motion vector is initialized using linear prediction that depending on the motion vectors of its neighbor blocks that are already scanned and their motion vectors are assessed. Also, a hybrid mechanism is introduced, it depends on mixing the proposed two predictive mechanisms with Exhaustive Search (ES) mechanism in order to gain matching accuracy near or similar to ES but with Search Time ST less than 80% of the ES. Also, it offers more control capability to reduce the search errors. The experimental tests
... Show MoreIn this paper, a new method of selection variables is presented to select some essential variables from large datasets. The new model is a modified version of the Elastic Net model. The modified Elastic Net variable selection model has been summarized in an algorithm. It is applied for Leukemia dataset that has 3051 variables (genes) and 72 samples. In reality, working with this kind of dataset is not accessible due to its large size. The modified model is compared to some standard variable selection methods. Perfect classification is achieved by applying the modified Elastic Net model because it has the best performance. All the calculations that have been done for this paper are in
Nowadays, still images are used everywhere in the digital world. The shortages of storage capacity and transmission bandwidth make efficient compression solutions essential. A revolutionary mathematics tool, wavelet transform, has already shown its power in image processing. The major topic of this paper, is improve the compresses of still images by Multiwavelet based on estimation the high Multiwavelet coefficients in high frequencies sub band by interpolation instead of sending all Multiwavelet coefficients. When comparing the proposed approach with other compression methods Good result obtained