Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is a leading cause of hospital admission and many factors are known to precipitate decompensation. We aimed to assess the decompensating factors of heart failure and the management of patients admitted to the emergency department (ED). A total of 107 patients were examined, all diagnosed with ADHF in the ED of the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, from June 2017 to December 2017, and presenting with decom¬pensation (pulmonary oedema, peripheral oedema, and fatigue). The mean patient age was 62.5 ± 9.8 years (range: 43–85 years); the majority of them were in their 7th decade (37.4%), and men were slightly more than women. Hy¬pertension was the most commonly associated comorbidity (68.2%), followed by diabetes mellitus (57.9%), coronary artery disease (51.4%), dyslipidaemia (37.4%), arrhythmia (28%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / asthma (23.4%). The most common presentation was pulmonary oedema (88.8%) followed by peripheral oedema (61.7%), and fatigue (26.2%). Uncontrolled hypertension was the most common precipitating condition for decompen¬sation (58.9%), followed by infection (39.3%), acute coronary syndrome (31.8%), arrhythmia (27.1%), non-compliance (11.2%), and anaemia (2.8%). The majority of the admitted patients were managed with intravenously-administered (i.v.) diuretics (92.5%) that may have been combined with oxygen therapy (63.6%), antibiotics (58.9%), β-blockers (50.5%), nitroglycerin (40.2%), i.v. fluids (38.3%), and/or digoxin (19.6%).
Background: Beta thalassemia major (β-TM) is an inheritable condition with many complications, especially in children. The blood-borne viral infection was proposed as a risk factor due to the recurrent blood transfusion regimen (hemotherapy) as human parvovirus B19 (B19V). Objective: This study investigated the B19V seroprevalence, DNA presence, B19V viral load, and B19V genotypes in β-TM patients and blood donors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study incorporating 180 subjects, segregated into three distinct groups each of 60 patients, namely control, β-TM, and β-TM infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). For the B19V prevalence in the studied group, the ELISA technique and real-time PCR were used. The genotyping was follo
... Show MoreResearch on the automated extraction of essential data from an electrocardiography (ECG) recording has been a significant topic for a long time. The main focus of digital processing processes is to measure fiducial points that determine the beginning and end of the P, QRS, and T waves based on their waveform properties. The presence of unavoidable noise during ECG data collection and inherent physiological differences among individuals make it challenging to accurately identify these reference points, resulting in suboptimal performance. This is done through several primary stages that rely on the idea of preliminary processing of the ECG electrical signal through a set of steps (preparing raw data and converting them into files tha
... Show MoreA high sensitivity, low power and low cost sensor has been developed for photoplethysmography (PPG) measurement. The PPG principle was applied to follow the dilatation and contraction of skin blood vessels during the cardiac cycle. A standard light emitting diodes (LEDs) has been used as a light emitter and detector, and in order to reduce the space, cost and power, the classical analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) replaced by the pulse-based signal conversion techniques. A general purpose microcontroller has been used for the implementation of measurement protocol. The proposed approach leads to better spectral sensitivity, increased resolution, reduction in cost, dimensions and power consumption. The basic sensing configuration prese
... Show MoreThis study examines the causes of time delays and cost overruns in a selection of thirty post-disaster reconstruction projects in Iraq. Although delay factors have been studied in many countries and contexts, little data exists from countries under the conditions characterizing Iraq during the last 10-15 years. A case study approach was used, with thirty construction projects of different types and sizes selected from the Baghdad region. Project data was gathered from a survey which was used to build statistical relationships between time and cost delay ratios and delay factors in post disaster projects. The most important delay factors identified were contractor failure, redesigning of designs/plans and change orders, security is
... Show MoreA non-parametric kernel method with Bootstrap technology was used to estimate the confidence intervals of the system failure function of the log-normal distribution trace data. These are the times of failure of the machines of the spinning department of the weaving company in Wasit Governorate. Estimating the failure function in a parametric way represented by the method of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). The comparison between the parametric and non-parametric methods was done by using the average of Squares Error (MES) criterion. It has been noted the efficiency of the nonparametric methods based on Bootstrap compared to the parametric method. It was also noted that the curve estimation is more realistic and appropriate for the re
... Show MoreBackground: diagnostic radiology field workers are at elevated risk level for systemic and oral diseases like periodontal diseases. This study was aimed to estimate the periodontal condition and salivary flow rate among diagnostic radiology workers. Material and method: The sample for this study consisted of a study group radiographers (forty subjects) working for 5 years at least and control group consisted of nurses and laboratory workers away from radiation (forty subjects) in Baghdad hospitals. All the 80 subjects aged 30-40 year-old and looking healthy without systemic diseases. Plaque, gingival, periodontal pocket depth and clinical attachment loss indices were used for recording the periodontal conditions. Under standardized condi
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This study aims to identify the reality of using electronic applications in teaching language skills to people with mild intellectual disabilities from the mothers’ perspective. A descriptive approach was used. The electronic questionnaires were administered to the study sample, 122 responses were received from mothers of the students with mild intellectual disability in Hafer Al-Baten schools. The response average rate was 94%. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences that are related to the variant of monthly income as for the barriers to using electronic applications in such schools, whereas there were no differences regarding the variant of monthly income regarding t
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the impact of employees’ retention strategy on organizational memory. This research is historical, descriptive, and analytical. The sample consists of 158 faculty members in five private colleges in Baghdad. The technique used to analyze the data is SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), and SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The research concludes that the employees retaining strategy plays a vital role in retaining employees and hence maintains organizational memory. The findings and recommendations of this research assure the administrations of private colleges that employees retention strategy play a vital role in retaining its employee and hence maintains organizational memory. T
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