Background: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most commonly encountered valve lesion in modern clinical practice. Severe mitral regurgitation may cause systolic dysfunction. Left ventricular ejection fraction may not be an accurate measurement of LV function in patients with mitral insufficiency. Myocardial performance index (MPI) is a simple non invasive measure of myocardial function. Methods: The study involved 50 patients with valvular mitral regurgitation and 50 healthy subjects as a control group. Transthoracic echocardiography was carried out for all patients and control group. The echocardiographic measurements included left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic dimensions, left atrial diameter, ejection fraction (EF), and myocardial performance index (MPI). Results: Results revealed insignificant change in MPI between patients with mild MR and controls (26.47%), and significant changes in MPI between patients with moderate and severe mitral regurgitation and control group (29.41%, 41.17% respectively) with p value b0.05. Insignificant change in EF between patients with mild MR and controls (5.52%) was noted (p value N0.05), while the changes in EF between patients with moderate and severe mitral regurgitation and control groups were (−9.3%), (−7.4%) respectively with p value b0.05. Conclusion: Myocardial performance index is a good and easily determined index in the assessment of left ventricular function in patients with mitral regurgitation and has the ability to detect LV dysfunction earlier than ejection fraction.
Rock engineers widely use the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rocks in designing
surface and underground structures. The procedure for measuring this rock strength has been
standardized by both the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) and American Society
for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Akram and Bakar(2007).
In this paper, an experimental study was performed to correlate of Point Load Index ( Is(50))
and Pulse Wave Velocity (Vp) to the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of Rocks. The effect
of several parameters was studied. Point load test, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and
Pulse Wave Velocity (Vp) were used for testing several rock samples with different diameters.
The predicted e
Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common comorbidities associated with enlarged extremities, occurring in 60 % of patients with acromegaly. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship of growth hormone and insulin such as growth factor-1 with obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-10), as risk factors for cardiovascular disorder in acromegaly patients. Eighty subjects were included and categorized into two groups: 40 acromegaly patients and 40 of the control group. The results indicated weight excess, hyperglycemia, hypertension, lipid disorder, and elevated levels of interleukins (2, 6, and 10). The correlation of both GH and IGF-1 with each of weight, BMI, systolic blood p
... Show MoreBackground Psoriasis is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin conditions; its prevalence ranges from 1 to 3%. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), a cytokine that enhances inflammation, is overexpressed in synovium and skin plaques in psoriasis. TNF-α plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. IL-10 is the most crucial cytokine for reducing excessive immune responses and decreasing pro-inflammatory reactions in all autoimmune disorders. Objective To evaluate the effect of Apremilast on ILـ10, TNFـα, and BMI in obese psoriatic patients. Methods Thirty patients included in this investigative study to measure the concentrations of TNFـα, ILـ10 and BMI, before and after receiving Apremilast. TNFـα and
... Show MoreThree hundred samples of washing water of vegetables were collected from women aged ( 15- 6o) years from different area in Baghdad governorate and its suburbs include two rural area ( Jaddria in Baghdad university and Al –Wagif in Rashdia) and two urbane area (Mansoure and Escan) . The samples were examined by precipitation method and then by staining method ( Lugols –Iodine stain) . The percentage of infection of intestinal parasites 36.3% include 15.3% for urban area and 57.3% in rural area and a significant difference was found between those groups . .The results showed also increased in the prevalence of parasitic infection in group age (15 -30) year .Also the results showed only 109 sample infected with eight specie
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between microRNA 378 and BMP15 gene expression levels in blood samples collected from 50 healthy fertile females as controls and 50 hyperprolactinemia infertile females by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Specific primers were designed for this purpose based on the sequences of microRNA 378 and BMP15 retrieved from NCBI and designed by primer 3 software. The result assessing the expression level of BMP15 in hyperprolactinemia (HPL) was 0.220, while the control group's fold change value was 1.000. The HPL group showed downregulation in the expression of the BMP15 gene. While the fold expression values of the miRNA378 gene in the hyperprolactinemia
... Show MoreThis research utilized natural asphalt (NA) deposits from sulfur springs in western Iraq. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of an asphalt mixture incorporating NA and verify its suitability for local pavement applications. To achieve this, a combination of two types of NA, namely soft SNA and hard HNA, was blended to create a binder known as Type HSNA. The resulting HSNA exhibited a penetration grade that adhered to Iraqi specifications. Various percentages of NA (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%) were added to petroleum asphalt. The findings revealed enhanced physical properties of HSNA, which also satisfied the requirements outlined in the Iraqi specifications for asphalt cement.
Consequently, HS
... Show MoreAbstract:
The paper aims to measure an aggregated banking stability index reflecting the degree of stability of the banking system to help policy makers to take the necessary actions to avoid financial crises facing banks and to achieve a banking system with high efficiency in terms of banking risk.
Therefore, the problem of paper is that the Central Bank of Iraq did not seek until 2016 to build a aggregated index for the purpose of identifying the stability of the banking situation in Iraq, but rather on the adoption of scattered indicators, which depend on the mechanism of relative changes in those indicators for the purpose of identifying the situation of b
... Show MoreBackground: migraine is a chronic neurovascular disorder characterized by intermittent attacks of sever headache with or without aura that can include various combinations of neurological, gastrointestinal tract (G.I.T), and autonomic changes, without evidence of primary structural abnormalities. The Autonomic nervous system involvement suggested by many symptoms and signs including nausea, diarrhea, constipation, coldness in the extremities, paroxysmal tachycardia and chest pain.
Objectives: To evaluate autonomic functions in patients with migraine and to clarify the autonomic dysfunction weather its sympathetic, parasympathetic, or combined. Also to assess the severity of this dysfunction and its relation to age, gender and type of
Background: Acute myocardial infarction
(AMI) is one of the most common diagnoses
in hospitalized patients. The stimulus that
initiates the acute inflammatory process in AMI
has not been identified. Conventional risk
factors account only for approximately half of
the patients with clinically apparent
atherosclerosis which can leads to AMI.
Recently a potential link between infectious
agents and atherosclerosis has been suggested
Objective: To find a possible association
between Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori)
infection and AMI.
Method: We studied the prevalence of antiH. pylori antibodies in 94 patients who were
admitted with the diagnosis of AMI and a
similar number of healthy individuals w
Atherosclerosis is a condition of the hardening of a blood vessel via the development of plaques around the artery wall which causes the artery to narrow, leading to severe complications. Toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic parasitic infection that causes pathological complications in immunocompromised patients, which lead to increase the burden on the immune system in these patients. This study aims to assess the incidence rate of toxoplasmosis in atherosclerosis patients and its potential to change C - reactive protein (C-RP) and vitamin D3 levels. Serum samples (150) were tested for the positivity of anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies by means of Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, C-RP was assessed in a
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