BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an evolving technology that has been used recently in a wide spectrum of applications. AIM: The objective is to evaluate the application of 3D printing in various neurosurgical practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This pilot study was conducted in the neurosurgical hospital in Baghdad/Iraq between July 2018 and July 2019. An X, Y, and Z printer was used. The working team included neurosurgeons, biomedical engineers, and bio-technicians. The procedure starts with obtaining Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scan in particular protocols. The MRI, and CT or angiography images were imported into a 3D programmer for DICOM images called 3D slice where these files converted into a 3D pictures. Next, the neurosurgeon determines the cut section he needs to print. The final required object is exported to the X, Y, Z printing software where the technician starts to print it out. The final prototype delivered to the neurosurgeon. He uses it intraoperatively to have an apparent actual size 3D representation of the actual lesion with nearby healthy tissues to have a good idea about the case they manages. RESULTS: This pilot study was applied in three major projects: brain tumors (ten cases), cerebral aneurysms (nine cases), and spine surgery (14 cases). CONCLUSION: Three-dimensional printing has excellent advantages in neurosurgical practice. It can replace many other recent modalities. It enables the neurosurgeon works with more precision, less time-consuming, less cost, and less radiation exposure.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding is an EOR technique in which carbon dioxide is injected into the reservoir to improve the oil recovery. The reservoir oil and rock properties are altered when carbon dioxide interacts with the oil and rock present in the reservoir. Carbon dioxide injection alters the oil and rock properties by causing reduction in oil viscosity, oil swelling and wettability alteration of the rock. This paper will present a proposal to study the wettability alteration in carbonate formations during miscible carbon dioxide flooding. In miscible carbon dioxide flooding, the injection pressure of carbon dioxide would be kept above the minimum miscibility pressure. Thus carbon dioxide is miscible with the oil present in the reservoi
... Show MoreThere are risks and benefits with all medicines and estrogen replacement is no exception. In fact, estrogen replacement is one of the most controversial topics in Endocrinology. Anastatica hierochuntica L. is a popular treatment for the management of female reproductive disorders. The present research highlights the effect of aqueous extract of plant against conjugated estrogen(Premarin) in rabbits. Femal oryciolagus cuniculus rabbits were divided into four groups: the 1 st group, rabbits were orally administered (using a feeding solution )with daily dose(5 mL distilled water)for two months, the 2nd group, the rabbits were treated with conjugated estrogen (50 µg/kg b.w, body weight )for one month. The 3rd group, the rabbits were treated w
... Show MoreForty six Iraqi women with PCOS were involved in this study . They were treated with metformin alone and with antioxidant agents (vitamin E or C).It was found that all patients who treated with metformin or with combination of metformin with antioxidant agents showed significant decrease in hirsutism score. The treatment of metformin with antioxidant agents is of great benefit in treatment of hirsutism in PCOS due to that there was no worsening effect after treatment. This may indicate that antioxidant agents may participate in alleviation of hirsutism so it can be said that oxidative stress may play an important role in developing of hirsutism in PCOS.
Present study was carried out to find prevalence of MRSA in healthy individual of second stage students, college of pharmacy/Baghdad University. A total of 74 student selected between age 18-23 years old were included in this study, nasal swabs collected and subjected to many diagnostic standard bacteriological identification methods. Culture, colonial morphology, Gram stain, mannitol fermentation, coagulase ,gelatinasetest, DNAase, MR/VP and antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed on tryptic soy agar by modified Kirby-Bauer muller hinton disc diffusion method and the result show that out of 74 nasal swabs,67(90.5%) were MRSA positive isolates, 21(31.4%) of them were mannitol ferment and 46(68.6%) non mannitol fermenter, am
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetic neuropathy can affect any peripheral nerve, including sensory neurons, motor neurons, and the autonomic nervous system. Therefore, diabetic neuropathy has the potential to affect essentially any organ and can affect parts of the nervous system like the optic nerve, spinal cord, and brain. In addition, chronic hyperglycemia affects Schwann cells, and more severe patterns of diabetic neuropathy in humans involve demyelization. Schwann cell destruction might cause a number of changes in the axon. study aims to evaluate serum myelin protein level as a predicting marker in the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy and to prevent early neuropathy complications of type 2 diabetes.
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... Show MorePvcABCD are cluster of genes found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The research was designed to examine the relationship between the pvc genes expression and cupB gene, which plays a crucial role in the development of biofilm, and rhlR, which regulates the expression of biofilm-related genes, and to investigate whether the pvc genes form one or two operons. The aims were achieved by employing qRT-PCR technique to measure the gene expression of genes of interest. It was found that out of 25 clinical isolates, 21 isolates were qualified as P.aeruginosa. Amongst, 18(85.7%) were evaluated as biofilm producers, 10 (47.6%), 5 (23.8%), and 3 (14.2%) were evaluated as strong, moderate and weak producers respectively, while, 3 (14.2%) were considered
... Show MoreIntroduction and Aim: Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) are the key regulators controlling the activity of Treg cells, which are crucial for maintaining immune tolerance and reducing autoimmune reactions. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential utility of elevated levels of FOXP3 and IL-10 gene expression as a diagnostic indicator in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Materials and Methods: The study used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to examine the expression levels of FOXP3 and IL-10 transcripts in whole blood samples from Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A group of healthy control subjects were also included in the study. Results: In blood samples taken fr
... Show MoreTo ensure fault tolerance and distributed management, distributed protocols are employed as one of the major architectural concepts underlying the Internet. However, inefficiency, instability and fragility could be potentially overcome with the help of the novel networking architecture called software-defined networking (SDN). The main property of this architecture is the separation of the control and data planes. To reduce congestion and thus improve latency and throughput, there must be homogeneous distribution of the traffic load over the different network paths. This paper presents a smart flow steering agent (SFSA) for data flow routing based on current network conditions. To enhance throughput and minimize latency, the SFSA distrib
... Show MoreThe study aimed to identify Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and its genotypes prevalent among Iraqi women. They collected 89 cervical swab samples from diagnosed patients at Baghdad Teaching Hospital's Early Detection Clinic. Using PCR technique on 19 samples, they found HPV16 (57.89%) and HPV6 (10.52%) genotypes, while HPV-11, 18, and 45 were absent. HPV 16 and HPV 6 were common in cervical cancer among Iraqi women. Sequencing revealed nucleic acid variants in HPV-6 (124A>C) and HPV-16 (225G>T) E6 genes, resulting in silent effects on the encoded protein. These changes didn't alter amino acid residues (p.74I= and p.L117=). Phylogenetic analysis showed substantial distances between their samples and other viral types, indicating di
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