Background: Sex variations in coronary artery disease (CAD) are well documented. However, sex differences in coronary artery calcium (CAC) and its role in the detection of coronary artery stenosis remain controversial. Objective: To assess the impact of sex variation on coronary artery calcification and its efficacy in predicting coronary artery stenosis. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study including 230 consecutive patients with suspected CAD (120 men and 110 women) referred for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). The study analyzed sex-based differences in the sensitivity and specificity of coronary artery calcification (CAC) for detecting moderate to severe stenosis across various coronary arteries

The Growth Differentiation Factor -15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily. İt represents an example of the stress response cytokines. It's mostly found in cardiac myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and vascular endothelial cells, whether they're generated normally or not. GDF-15 levels have increased and are associated with cardiovascular risk. Aim of the study: To investigate the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with the level of plasma GDF-15 in a group of hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A case-control study involved 90 individuals, 60 hypertensive patients (36 on ACE inhibitors and 24 on ARBs)

Background: The cells of periodontium contain many intracellular enzymes like (alkaline phosphatase ALP) that are released outside into the saliva and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) after destruction of periodontal tissue. The aim of study was to determine the activity of this enzyme in saliva and its relation to the salivary flow rate, PH and clinical periodontal parameters in patients with chronic periodontitis. Subject, Materials and methods: Sample population consist of 75 individuals ;divided into four groups , the first group (15):control subject, the second group (20):mild chronic periodontitis, the third group(20) moderate chronic periodontitis and the fourth group (20) sever chronic periodontitis, Measurements of plaque index (PL

AbstractBackground:Psoriasis is an inflammatorydiseasewhichcan be associated with otherdiseases, which may have amajor impact onpatientslife. Psoriasis has also been reported tobe associated with metabolic disorders.Metabolic syndrome(MS)isa combination ofmedicaldisorders that, when occurring together,increasesthe risk of development ofcardiovasculardiseasesanddiabetes.It affectsone in five people in the United States andtheprevalence increases with age. Some studieshave showntheprevalencein the USA to be anestimated 25% of the population.Objective:To investigate the prevalence ofmetabolic syndrome in patients with psoriasis.Methods: We performed a hospital-based case-

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One study whose importance has significantly grown in recent years is lip-reading, particularly with the widespread of using deep learning techniques. Lip reading is essential for speech recognition in noisy environments or for those with hearing impairments. It refers to recognizing spoken sentences using visual information acquired from lip movements. Also, the lip area, especially for males, suffers from several problems, such as the mouth area containing the mustache and beard, which may cover the lip area. This paper proposes an automatic lip-reading system to recognize and classify short English sentences spoken by speakers using deep learning networks. The input video extracts frames and each frame is passed to the Viola-Jone

This study seeks to investigate Sinan Antoon’s I’jaam (2004) through applying different theoretical frameworks including those of Althusser (1971) and Foucault (1978). Antoon, considered as one of the most internationally recognized Iraqi writers, wrote this dystopian, war novel in Arabic and translated it to English. Antoon’s emphasis placed on literature acting as an oppositional political voice has, in turn, created its own form of censorship inside the fictional world and outside the actual state censorship during Saadm Hossein reign. Thus, particular political messages within literary texts, like I’jaam, have been received with critical attention. The writing culture in Iraq has established an atmosphere in which literary criti

Melanoma, a highly malignant form of skin cancer, affects individuals of all genders and is associated with high mortality rates, especially in advanced stages. The use of tele-dermatology has emerged as a proficient diagnostic approach for skin lesions and is particularly beneficial in rural areas with limited access to dermatologists. However, accurately, and efficiently segmenting melanoma remains a challenging task due to the significant diversity observed in the morphology, pigmentation, and dimensions of cutaneous nevi. To address this challenge, we propose a novel approach called DenseUNet-169 with a dilated convolution encoder-decoder for automatic segmentation of RGB dermascopic images. By incorporating dilated convolution,

ST segment, T wave changes, QT interval changes, and QTc dispersion are among the parameters used to diagnose ischemic heart disease. The increase in the QT dispersion can be caused by myocardial ischemia, among other heart diseases, whereas cardiac diseases such as coronary artery disease (CAD) can be diagnosed by observing an abnormally high QTc dispersion. This study aimed to evaluate the variations in the QTc dispersion (depolarization and repolarization) of surface electrocardiography as a result of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with chronic total occlusion. This study took place in the Iraqi Center for Heart Disease from October 2020 to February 2021. 110 patients who suffered from chronic occlusion of t