To assess the use of miniaturized percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mini-PCNL) for renal stones in children, as well as its safety and efficacy. Seventy-seven patients with more than 15 mm renal stones whose age was less than 15 years were enrolled in this prospective case-controlled study at Al-Ramadi Teaching Hospital, Ar Razi Private Hospital, and Ghazi Al-Hariri Hospital for Surgical Specialties, Anbar and Baghdad, Iraq. The study was conducted from January 2020 to January 2024. The group mentioned above served as group A, and it was compared to the control group (group B), which consisted of 70 adult patients aged 18–60 years. Patients in both groups underwent mini-PCNL. Gender, stone size and location, time of operation, stone-free rate, hemoglobin drop, need for blood transfusion, postoperative fever, associated visceral injury, and need for further interventions such as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or flexible ureteroscopy (ESWL or FURS) were compared in both groups. The age of patients in group A ranged from 8 months to 15 years with a mean (4.30 ± 3.16), while in group B ranged from 18 to 60 years with a mean (36.3 ± 12.0), p-value 0.001. There were no statistically significant differences regarding gender distribution, stone size, and location, p-value > 0.05. The stone-free rate was 87.01% for group A and 88.57% for group B, with no statistical difference, p-value 0.773. Hemoglobin drop was 1.096 ± 0.412 for group A and 1.195 ± 0.110 for group B, p-value 0.046. Blood transfusion was needed in one case in each group with no statistical difference, p-value 0.946. The need for ESWL was 3 cases in group A, and 2 cases in group B, with no statistical difference between the two groups, p-value 0.729. The need for FURS was 4 cases in group A and 3 cases in group B, p-value 0.796. Operative time was 30 to 125 min in group A and 34 to 129 min in group B, p-value 0.941. Postoperative fever was seen in 23 cases in group A and 21 cases in group B, p-value 0.986. Minor liver injury was seen was seen in one case in each group. The use of mini-PCNL for treating renal stones in children is safe and effective as it is associated with a relatively low rate of significant complications and achieves a high stone-free rate.
Background: Thymus vulgaris is a plant rich in essential oils acclaimed for the management of oxidative stress and inflammation in the organs. Meanwhile, the heavy metal lead is widely distributed in nature and continued exposure to lead acetate causes reduced fertility.Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of T. vulgaris on ovarian and uterine structural and functional characteristics in female rats exposed to lead acetate. Methods: Three groups of 18 mature Wistar albino female rats (Rattus norvegicus), 15 weeks old and weighing between 200 and 210 g, were established and handled for 60 days as follows: Group A (control group) received 0.5 mL of distilled water (DW) daily; group B received 5 mg/kg body weight (BW
... Show MoreThe present investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of the crude extracts mixture of three plants (Tribulus terrestris, Phoenix dactylifera and Nasturtium officinale) on semen quality,sex hormones and reproductive performance of mature male mice. A group of 25 male mice given 150mg/kg/day of the powder of the plants mixture with the food for four weeks and another three groups of 25 animals each given intraperitoneal injection from each of the aqueous and ethanolic extracts with a doses 75, 150, and 300mg/kg/day for two weeks. A remarkable increase in sperm concentration and motility with a decreased abnormal morphology was obtained in the experimental groups. A significant increase in hormones level were recognized in most grou
... Show MoreWater level and distribution is very essential in almost all life aspects. Natural and artificial lakes represent a large percentage of these water bodies in Iraq. In this research the changes in water levels are observed by calculating the areas of five different lakes in five different regions and two different marshes in two different regions of the country, in a period of 12 years (2001 - 2012), archived remotely sensed images were used to determine surface areas around lakes and marshes in Iraq for the chosen years . Level of the lakes corresponding to satellite determined surface areas were retrieved from remotely sensed data .These data were collected to give explanations on lake level and surface area fluctuations. It is imp
... Show MoreThe leaves of globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus Family Asteraceae/ compositea have long – used in traditional medicine and now included in British and European Pharmacopeia, the British Harbal Pharmacopeia and complete German Commission E monographs.The plant originally comes from Mediterranean region and North Africa and cultivated around the world. The flowers are used worldwide for nutrition purposes and the leaves for medical purposes including hepatic affections. The plant wildly distributed in Iraq in the watery lines and boundary of the field.The plant contains many phytochemicals such as the bitter phenolic acids whose choleretic and hypocholestremic as these compounds are antioxidant. Other materials to h
... Show MoreThis research investigated the effect of adding two groups of reinforcement materials, including bioactive materials Hydroxyapatite (HA) and halloysite nanoclay and bioinert materials Alumina (AL2O3) and Zirconia (ZrO2), each of them with various weight ratios (1,2,3,4 &5)% to the polymer matrix PMMA. The best ratios were selected, and then a hybrid was preparing Composite red from the best ratios from each group. Thermal properties, including thermal conductivity and Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) technology, have been studied. The results showed that adding 3% Hydroxyapatite (HA) and 5% halloysite nanoclay to the polymethacrylate (PMMA) mer leads to an increase in thermal conductivity. It was also found from the Thermomechanical Analysis
... Show MoreIn this study, polymeric coating was developed by incorporating nano graphene in the polymer blend with applications to oil storage tanks. The oil storage tanks samples were brought from the oil Pipeline Company / Doura refinery in Baghdad. The coating polymer was formed with a blend (epoxy resin and repcoat ZR). The proportion of mixing the mixture was 3:1:1 epoxy resin 21.06 gm: repcoat ZR 10.53 gm: hardener 10.53 gm. The blend/graphene was prepared using in stui-polymerization method with different weight percentage 1, 3, 5, and 7 wt % added to blend. The resulting solution was put in a glass tube on a magnetic stirrer for one hour at a temperature of 40 °C. The result of contact angle and wate
... Show MoreThe effect of Low-Level Laser (LLL) provided by green semiconductor laser with an emission wavelength of 532 nm on of human blood of people with brain and prostate cancer has been investigated. The effect of LLL on white blood cell (WBC), NEUT, LYMPH and MONO have been considered. Platelet count (PLT) has also been considered in this work. 2 ml of blood sample were irradiating by a green laser of the dose of 4.8 J/cm2. The results suggest a potential effect of LLL on WBC, PLT, NEUT, LYMPH, and MONO of people with brain and prostate cancer Key words: white blood cell , platelet , low-level laser therapy