The rapid increase in the number of older people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia represents one of the major challenges to the health and social care systems. Early detection of AD makes it possible for patients to access appropriate services and to benefit from new treatments and therapies, as and when they become available. The onset of AD starts many years before the clinical symptoms become clear. A biomarker that can measure the brain changes in this period would be useful for early diagnosis of AD. Potentially, the electroencephalogram (EEG) can play a valuable role in early detection of AD. Damage in the brain due to AD leads to changes in the information processing activity of the brain and the EEG which can be quantified as a biomarker. The objective of the study reported in this paper is to develop robust EEG-based biomarkers for detecting AD in its early stages. We present a new approach to quantify the slowing of the EEG, one of the most consistent features at different stages of dementia, based on changes in the EEG amplitudes (ΔEEG A ). The new approach has sensitivity and specificity values of 100% and 88.88%, respectively, and outperformed the Lempel-Ziv Complexity (LZC) approach in discriminating between AD and normal subjects.
The biomarker significance of three chemokines (CXCL8, CXCL10 and CXCL16) was evaluated in sera of 45 breast cancer (BC) and 28 benign breast lesion (BBL) patients, as well as 20 control women. Clinical stage and tumor expression of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) receptors were considered in this evaluation. The results demonstrated that CXCL8, CXCL10 and CXCL16 showed a significant increased median in BC and BBL patients compared to control (CXCL8: 47.3 and 25.7 vs. 15.0; CXCL10: 37.6 and 30.7 vs. 13.1; CXCL16; 27.9 and 25.2 vs. 19.2 pg/ml, respectively). The increased levels of CXCL8 and CXCL16 were more pronounced in triple-negative and HER-2 positive p
... Show MoreBACKGROUND : Bifurcational coronary lesions are
frequent and amounts to almost one fifth of routine
practice concerning up to 15 – 20 % of cases .
Revascularization by percutaneous coronary
intervention ( PCI ), of bifurcational lesion has
become easier by stenting yet it remains a frequent
challenge.
OBJECTIVE : To evaluate the success and hospital
complications of two most frequent technique of stent
deployment in bifurcational PCI.
METHODS : We prospectively analysed the data of
140 consecutive patients with bifurcational PCI at
Ibn_Al-Bitar Hospital for cardiac surgery for the
period from July 2008 to July 2009 .
Depending on whether the side branch was stented or
not, the patient has fa
Evolutionary algorithms are better than heuristic algorithms at finding protein complexes in protein-protein interaction networks (PPINs). Many of these algorithms depend on their standard frameworks, which are based on topology. Further, many of these algorithms have been exclusively examined on networks with only reliable interaction data. The main objective of this paper is to extend the design of the canonical and topological-based evolutionary algorithms suggested in the literature to cope with noisy PPINs. The design of the evolutionary algorithm is extended based on the functional domain of the proteins rather than on the topological domain of the PPIN. The gene ontology annotation in each molecular function, biological proce
... Show MoreBackground: Corn Syrup is food syrup higher of carbohydrate, depending on grade. The study aimed to assess efficiency of Corn syrup as cytological fixative.
Subjects and methods: This was laboratory based study, it has been conducted at Elrazi University included apparently 30 healthy students have been involved in this study.
Results: Out of 30 smears fixed with 95% alcohol, 76.7% (n=23) shows excellent nuclear stain, 23.3% (n= 7) shows good nuclear stain. 70% (n=21) show excellent cytoplasmic stain, 26.7% (n=8) shows good cytoplasmic stain, 3.3% (n=1) shows poor cytoplasmuc stain.
Out of 30 smears fixed with corn solution, 60
... Show MoreBackground: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy
has become the standard of care for the
elective management of cholelithiasis. Little
information exists, however, regarding the
appropriateness of this procedure in the setting
of acute symptomatology.
Objective: This study was designed to
evaluate the outcome of laparoscopic
cholecystectomy in acute and severe acute
cholecystitis based on early and late biliary
complications, their incidence and
management, and conversion rates to open
surgery.
Methods: A prospective study done between
April 2007 and November 2010, in the
department of general surgery, medical city
teaching hospital, Baghdad. Includes patients
with acute cholecystitis admitted f
In the present study, the effects of brake pad particles of lung and liver histological sections were evaluated for (60) adult male mice. The animals were divided into three groups ( A,B,C) according to the periods of exposure (4, 8, and 12) weeks respectively exposed to brake pad particles in addition to the control groups (F) exposed to fresh air only. A special inhalation chamber designed locally has been used to expose the animals. The exposure to brake pad particles was (2.228) µg/m³ for 30 min/day, 5 days/week for (4,8and12) weeks respectively.
The examination in group (A) of the histological sections of the lung showed the thickness of interalveolar septa. Also, a congestion of alveolar capillary was marked indicat
... Show MoreBackground: The primary stability of the dental implant is a crucial factor determining the ability to initiate temporary implant-supported prosthesis and for subsequent successful osseointegration, especially in the maxillary non-molar sites. This study assessed the reliability of the insertion torque of dental implants by relating it to the implant stability quotient values measured by the Osstell device. Material and methods: This study included healthy, non-smoker patients with no history of diabetes or other metabolic, or debilitating diseases that may affect bone healing, having non-restorable fractured teeth and retained roots in the maxillary non-molar sites. Primary dental implant stability was evaluated using a torque ratc
... Show MoreOxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of peripheral artery disease (PAD). This study aimed to investigate the effect of clopidogrel on oxidative stress in PAD patients. Seventy subjects were divided into three groups: PAD patients before treatment (B-PAD), PAD patients after treatment with clopidogrel (A-PAD), and healthy controls. Serum levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and oxidized protein were measured. SOD activities were also determined. The results showed that SOD activities, and SOD specific activities were significantly decreased in PAD patients compared to healthy individuals. After treatment with clopidogrel, SOD activities, and SOD specific activities were continuous
... Show MoreWeed control with chemicals is a challenging process that should be performed in a rational way to reduce their negative impact on the surrounding environment. The growth of artificial intelligence algorithms encourages researchers to develop smart spraying robots that detect and spray weeds and distinguish them from the main crop which leads to sustainable use of these chemicals and achieves some of the sustainable development goals. However, few studies are available to comprehensively compare different versions of YOLO algorithm to detect weed. In this research, seven versions of YOLO algorithms were evaluated for their performance to detect and spray four t