ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Left ventricular hypertrophy is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular complications such as ischemic heart disease, heart failure, sudden death, atrial fibrillation, and stroke. A proper non-expensive tool is required for detection of this pathology. Different electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria were investigated; however, the results were conflicting regarding the accuracy of these criteria. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of three electrocardiographic criteria in diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy in adult patients with hypertension using echocardiography as a reference test. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a hospital-based cross sectional observational study which included 340 adult patients with a history of hypertension (240 patients with left ventricular hypertrophy and 100 patients without depending on Echocardiographic results). Three electrocardiographic criteria including Sokolow Lyon Voltage, Cornell voltage, and Cornell voltage duration were evaluated for their sensitivity and specificity in detection of left ventricular hypertrophy in those patients. RESULTS: Each of older ages (over 50 years) (OR= (OR=6.25, 95%CI=3.75-10.39, p<0.001), male gender (OR=0.58, 95% CI= 0.36-0.93, p= 0.018) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR=8.14, 95%CI= 4.04-16.41, p<0.001) were significantly associated with development of left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with hypertension. The sensitivity and specificity of Sokolow Lyon Voltage, Cornell voltage, and Cornell voltage duration were 17.5% and 96%; 13.33% and 97%; and 10% and 98%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Older ages, male gender, and type 2 diabetes mellitus can increase the risk of left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients. All the studied criteria have low sensitivity and high specificity in recognition of the left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with hypertension, with no advantage of definite criterion over the others.
Introduction: Methadone hydrochloride (MDN) is an effective pharmacological substitution treatment for opioids dependence, adopted in different countries as methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programmes. However, MDN can exacerbate the addiction problem if it is abused and injected intravenously, and the frequent visits to the MMT centres can reduce patient compliance. The overall aim of this study is to develop a novel extended-release capsule of MDN using the sol-gel silica (SGS) technique that has the potential to counteract medication-tampering techniques and associated health risks and reduce the frequent visits to MMT centres. Methods: For MDN recrystallisation, a closed container method (CCM) and hot-stage method (HSM) were conduc
... Show MoreOily wastewater is one of the most challenging streams to deal with especially if the oil exists in emulsified form. In this study, electrospinning method was used to prepare nanofiberous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes and study their performance in oil removal. Graphene particles were embedded in the electrospun PVDF membrane to enhance the efficiency of the membranes. The prepared membranes were characterized using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to verify the graphene stabilization on the surface of the membrane homogeneously; while FTIR was used to detect the functional groups on the membrane surface. The membrane wettability was assessed by measuring the contact angle. The PVDF and PVDF / Graphene membranes efficiency
... Show MoreMolasse medium containing different concentrations of (NH4)2 SO4, (NH4)3 PO4, urea, KCI, and P2O5 were compared with the medium used for commercial production of C. utilis in a factory south of Iraq. An efficient medium, which produced 19. 16% dry wt. and 5. 78% protein, was developed. The effect of adding various concentrations of micronutrients (FeSO4, 7T20, MnSO4. 7H20, ZnSO4. 7E20) was also studied. Results showed that FeSo4. 7H20 caused a noticeable increase in both dry wt. and protein content of the yeast.
Solutions of dyes Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) and Coumarin480(C480) were prepared at five concentrations (1x10-3, 5x10-4, 1x10-4, 5x10-5 and1x10-5) mol/l, the mixing was stirred to obtain on a homogenous solution, the(poly methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) was solved by chloroform solvent with certain ratio, afterward (PMMA+Rh6G) and (PMMA+C480) thin films were prepared by casting method on glass block which has substrate with dimensions (7.5 x2.5)cm2, the prepared samples were left in dark place at room temperature for 24 hours to obtain uniform and homogenous thin films. UV-VIS absorption spectra, transmission spectra and fluorescence spectra were done to measure linear refractive index and linear absorption coefficient. The nonlinear optical proper
... Show MoreThe objective of this study is to verify the overall performance and evaluate the wastewater quality of the wastewater treatment plant at the Abu Ghraib Dairy Factory and compare the results with the Iraqi Quality Standards (IQS) for effluent disposal and with the national determinants of treated water use. Agricultural irrigation wastewater, which included daily assessment records of the main parameters affecting wastewater [five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (T.D.S), total suspended solids (TSS), phosphate (PO4), nitrate (NO3), hydrogen ion concentration (pH)] obtained from the quality control department of Abu Ghraib dairy plant registered from January 2017 to December 2020. Th
... Show MoreTwo novel demountable shear connectors for precast steel-concrete composite bridges are presented. The connectors use high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the steel beam with the aid of a special locking configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connectors promote accelerated construction and overcome typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connectors allow bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (3) steel beams can be replaced, while precast
... Show MoreRecovery of time-dependent thermal conductivity has been numerically investigated. The problem of identification in one-dimensional heat equation from Cauchy boundary data and mass/energy specification has been considered. The inverse problem recasted as a nonlinear optimization problem. The regularized least-squares functional is minimised through lsqnonlin routine from MATLAB to retrieve the unknown coefficient. We investigate the stability and accuracy for numerical solution for two examples with various noise level and regularization parameter.
Flexible joint robot (FJR) manipulators can offer many attractive features over rigid manipulators, including light weight, safe operation, and high power efficiency. However, the tracking control of the FJR is challenging due to its inherent problems, such as underactuation, coupling, nonlinearities, uncertainties, and unknown external disturbances. In this article, a terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) is proposed for the FJR system to guarantee the finite-time convergence of the systems output, and to achieve the total robustness against the lumped disturbance and estimation error. By using two coordinate transformations, the FJR dynamics is turned into a canonical form. A cascaded finite-time sliding mode observer (CFTSMO) is construct
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The aim of this study was to prepare rebamipide ocular inserts in order to extend its release on the ocular surface for dry eye treatment. Solubility study was applied to the drug with or without l-arginine using different solvents. Solvent casting technique was used to prepare the inserts; l-arginine was used to solubilize the drug, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose grades (E5 and K15M) and poly ethylene glycol 200 were used as excipients. The inserts were evaluated for their physical and mechanical properties, moisture loss% and absorption %, surface pH, and in-vitro drug release. The use l-arginine exhibited an enhancement of rebamipide solubility in both deionized water and phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) by a
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