Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common entrapment neuropathy in humans today. For patients in whom conservative treatment fails, surgical decompression is indicated. Various surgical techniques are becoming increasingly popular. Due to the rapid postoperative recovery shown after endoscopic operations, proximal palmar mini-incision for carpal tunnel release is a comparative alternative. Methods: Ninety four patients [113 hands] with a carpal tunnel syndrome underwent carpal tunnel release through a 1-cm longitudinal incision made just over the distal flexor crease. The self- administered Boston Questionnaire was used to assess the severity of patients’ symptoms and their functional status, both before and after the surgical intervention and at their final follow-up. Patients were also asked, during the final follow-up, about the pain level of their scar tissue and functional outcome. Results: There was a significant decrease in the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire scores for the symptom severity scale and the functional status of patients in this group, post- operatively at one month and at final follow – up. The mean operative time was significantly shorter than open or endoscopic CTR. After 1 month, only 4 hands[3.5%] stated they had scar tissue pain, no recurrence, short period return to work &cost effective. Conclusions: proximal mini-incision is as effective as ECTR. Furthermore, it is also a safe and simple procedure with shorter operative time& reduced surgical cost. The absence of relapse and good clinical results make this technique suitable.
The nonlinear refractive index and the nonlinear absorption coefficient of unmodified and functional poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA films were studied before and after the addition of the filler by the z-scan technique, using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at two wavelengths: 532 nm and 1064 nm, and at three input energies (13, 33 and 53) mJ. Both linear and nonlinear refractive indices and absorption coefficients of polymer films were studied by using UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The results show that the creation of functional PMMA from unmodified PMMA will increase the nonlinear optical properties in the functional PMMA/copper matrix more than in the unmodified PMMA/copper matrix. Hence, the functional PMMA appears promising as a useful third
... Show MoreA fuzzy logic approach (FLA) application in the process of stud arc welding environment was implemented under the condition of fuzziness input data. This paper is composed of the background of FLA, related research work review and points for developing in stud welding manufacturing. Then, it investigates thecase of developingstud arc welding process on the controversial certaintyof available equipment and human skills.Five parameters (welding time, sheet thickness, type of coating, welding current and stud shape) were studied.A pair of parameter was selected asiteration whichis welding current and welding time and used fo
... Show MoreA number of compression schemes were put forward to achieve high compression factors with high image quality at a low computational time. In this paper, a combined transform coding scheme is proposed which is based on discrete wavelet (DWT) and discrete cosine (DCT) transforms with an added new enhancement method, which is the sliding run length encoding (SRLE) technique, to further improve compression. The advantages of the wavelet and the discrete cosine transforms were utilized to encode the image. This first step involves transforming the color components of the image from RGB to YUV planes to acquire the advantage of the existing spectral correlation and consequently gaining more compression. DWT is then applied to the Y, U and V col
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In this work, results from an optical technique (laser speckle technique) for measuring surface roughness was done by using statistical properties of speckle pattern from the point of view of computer image texture analysis. Four calibration relationships were used to cover wide range of measurement with the same laser speckle technique. The first one is based on intensity contrast of the speckle, the second is based on analysis of speckle binary image, the third is on size of speckle pattern spot, and the latest one is based on characterization of the energy feature of the gray level co-occurrence matrices for the speckle pattern. By these calibration relationships surface roughness of an object surface can be evaluated within the
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Thin films of cadmium sulphoselenide (CdSSe) have been prepared by a thermal evaporation method on glass substrate, and with pressure of 4x10-5 mbar. The optical constants such as (refractive index n, dielectric constant ?i,r and Extinction coefficient ?) of the deposition films were obtained from the analysis of the experimental recorded transmittance spectral data. The optical band gap of (CdSSe) films is calculate from (?h?)2 vs. photon energy curve. CdSSe films have a direct energy gap, and the values of the energy gap were found to increase when increasing annealing temperature. The band gap of the films varies from 1.68 – 2.39 eV.
One of the troublesome duties in chemical industrial units is determining the instantaneous drop size distribution, which is created between two immiscible liquids within such units. In this work a complete system for measuring instantaneous droplet size is constructed. It consists of laser detection system (1mW He-Ne laser), drop generation system (turbine mixer unit), and microphotography system. Two immiscible liquids, water and kerosene were mixed together with different low volume fractions (0.0025, 0.02) of kerosene (as a dispersed phase) in water (as a continuous phase). The experiments were carried out at different rotational speed (1180- 2090 r.p.m) of the turbine mixer. The Sauter mean diameter of the drops was determined by la
... Show More<p>Generally, The sending process of secret information via the transmission channel or any carrier medium is not secured. For this reason, the techniques of information hiding are needed. Therefore, steganography must take place before transmission. To embed a secret message at optimal positions of the cover image under spatial domain, using the developed particle swarm optimization algorithm (Dev.-PSO) to do that purpose in this paper based on Least Significant Bits (LSB) using LSB substitution. The main aim of (Dev. -PSO) algorithm is determining an optimal paths to reach a required goals in the specified search space based on disposal of them, using (Dev.-PSO) algorithm produces the paths of a required goals with most effi
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This study aimed to determine obesity level of some population in Baghdad by using Bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA) and compared with anthropometric measurements such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Statistical analysis results of linear correlation coefficients for obesity indicators showed that BIA correlation 0.92 was most significant and reliable for obesity measurement.
Results of BIA method for age group 20-29 years showed that 44.4% of females were healthy body while 37.8% of males suffer from increased body fat. Results of age group 30-39 year showed that 32.6 of females were in healthy body and 42% of males were obese. In case age group 40-4
... Show MoreThis paper tackles with principal component analysis method (PCA ) to dimensionality reduction in the case of linear combinations to digital image processing and analysis. The PCA is statistical technique that shrinkages a multivariate data set consisting of inter-correlated variables into a data set consisting of variables that are uncorrelated linear combination, while ensuring the least possible loss of useful information. This method was applied to a group of satellite images of a certain area in the province of Basra, which represents the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Shatt al-Arab in the province of Basra.
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