Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the value and accuracy of longitudinal strain in detection of coronary artery disease compared to coronary angiography. Results: The left ventricular longitudinal strain-speckle tracking showed evidence of stenosis of left anterior descending artery, circumflex artery and right coronary artery in (86.1%), (76.4%), and (84.7%) respectively. For the stenosis in left anterior descending artery, the current study showed that the longitudinal strain was a good predictor for presence of significant stenosis with a sensitivity of (93.8%), specificity (75%) and accuracy (91.7%) compared with coronary angiography. For the stenosis in right coronary artery, the left ventricular longitudinal strain had a sensitivity of (93.5%), specificity of (70.0%) and accuracy of (90.3%) compared with coronary angiography. Conclusion: Speckle-tracking echocardiography technique has a good performance and validity in detection of coronary artery stenosis with good agreement with angiography.
Due to its association with hepatocellular carcinoma and being one of the ten most common malignancies worldwide, hepatitis C viral infection has become a severe public health concern. Therefore, establishing an accurate, reliable and sensitive diagnostic test for this infection is strongly advised. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been created to achieve this purpose. The current study was established to investigate the hepatitis C virus among Iraqi patients with chronic renal failure and to detect the virus immunologically by the fourth generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique and molecularly by real-time PCR. As a result, out of 50 patients with chronic renal failure undergoing dialysis, 39 patients tes
... Show MoreTerahertz (THz) technology, which uses radiation lying between microwave and infrared in the electromagnetic spectrum, could revolutionize digital agriculture through terahertz’s ability to assess agricultural materials accurately and non-destructively. The review discusses notable developments in THz applications to digital agriculture: real-time crop monitoring, nutrient and disease detection, soil moisture and contaminant analysis, and supply chain traceability. The developments have emerged from studies in time-domain spectroscopy, imaging, machine learning (ML), and blockchain integration. Despite the promising advances in THz agricultural applications, limitations remain, such as limited penetration depth, high system costs, and ope
... Show MoreThis study investigated the detection and mineralization of organic pollutants in the Mesopotamian marshes.
Over the course of seven days of treatment, a batch bioreactor system and natural microbial communities from marsh sediments were able to break down contaminants in a remarkable way.
Water samples collected from five distinct marsh locations revea
Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative aging disease, with idiopathic PD being most common. Gastrointestinal tract disorders (GITD) and microbiota changes may trigger idiopathic PD. Neurotoxins from microbiota can travel from the gut to the brain via the brain-gut axis (BGA), leading to α-syn protein misfolding and dopaminergic neuron death. Methods: The aim of the current study was to investigate the link between PD and GITD by measuring several biochemical and immunological markers in 142 patients. The biochemical markers measured were vitamins B6, B12, and D, calcium, serotonin, ghrelin, dopamine, and α-syn protein. The immunological markers included transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), tu
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Inflammation leads to joint damage and increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a measure of inflammation in many diseases. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of NLR to detect inflammation in RA, and its correlation to RA disease activity indices and some hematological parameters. A cross-sectional study involving 24 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are using MTX participated in this study. All patients were clinically evaluated using disease activity score of 28 joints (DAS28) and simplified disease activity index (SDAI), whereas functional disability was assessed by health assessment questionnaire di
... Show MoreBackground: Poly cystic ovary syndrome is a common disorder in women of reproductive age, it is associated with disturbance of reproductive, endocrine and metabolic functions. The pathophysiology of PCOS appears to be multifactorial and polygenic. Leptin seems to play an important role in pathophysiology of PCOS especially in women with BMI ≥25kg/m2. Objectives: To assess leptin level in both PCOS and healthy women and explore the relation to their body weight and body mass index. Patient and Methods: A total of 120 women were enrolled in this study, 60 women (50%) had PCOS (study group) and the reminder 60 women (50%) were healthy women and considered as control group. BMI was calculated first. Both groups were further sub
... Show MoreIn this paper, a mathematical model consisting of a prey-predator system incorporating infectious disease in the prey has been proposed and analyzed. It is assumed that the predator preys upon the nonrefugees prey only according to the modified Holling type-II functional response. There is a harvesting process from the predator. The existence and uniqueness of the solution in addition to their bounded are discussed. The stability analysis of the model around all possible equilibrium points is investigated. The persistence conditions of the system are established. Local bifurcation analysis in view of the Sotomayor theorem is carried out. Numerical simulation has been applied to investigate the global dynamics and specify the effect
... Show More