BACKGROUND: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the clinical manifestation of acutely diminished coronary arterial blood supply. The rate of increase of intraventricular pressure during isovolumetric contraction (left ventricular dP/dt) represents the rate of change of pressure during ejection. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the rate of increase of intraventricular pressure during isovolumetric contraction (dP/dt) in assessment of left ventricular function in patients with acute coronary syndrome and its relation to certain clinical and echocardiographic features. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study is a cross sectional study including 50 patients with an established diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. The study was performed in Baghdad Teaching Hospital during the period between 2/2/2013 and 5/3/2014. History was taken from all patients and recoded using a specially prepared questionnaire paper. Left ventricular internal dimensions at end diastole (LVIDd) and end systole (LVIDs) were measured using M-mode echocardiography to asses left ventricular systolic function (ejection fraction). Pulse Doppler tracing of the transmitral flow velocities and tissue Doppler image (TDI) mitral annular velocities were obtained from the apical four-chamber view to assess left ventricular diastolic function. Doppler-derived dP/dt was determined from mitral regurgitation (MR) spectral flow RESULTS: The study included 50 patients (31 males and 19 females, mean age of 65.26 ± 5 years). Low dP/dt values were found in 42 patients (84%). Low dP/dt values were found more in the age group (51-60 yrs) (p value < 0.05). The mean age of patients with low dP/dt (<1000) was (65.62 ± 5yrs) and that of patients with normal dP/dt (≥ 1000) was (63.38 ± 5 yrs) with no significant difference (p value > 0.05). Low dP/dt value was significantly associated with smoking and positive family history and not significantly associated with male sex, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. No significant association was found between low dP/dt value and type of presentation of acute coronary syndrome (p value > 0.05) or ejection fraction (p value > 0.05). It was significantly associated with LV diastolic dysfunction, left atrial size, left atrial pressure, and left ventricular size (p value < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The use of dP/dt is useful for evaluating left ventricular function in patients with acute coronary syndrome.
AIM: To determine the value of the combination of thin-section 3 mm coronal and standard axial DWI and their impact in facilitating the diagnosis of acute brainstem infarction. METHODS: A cross-sectional study conducted from the 1st of April 2017 to the end of February 2018 on 100 consecutive patients (66% were male, and 34% were female) with isolated acute ischemic infarction in the brainstem. The abnormal MRI findings concerning the ischemic lesions were interpreted on standard axial 5 mm and thin-section coronal 3mm DWI. RESULTS: The mean age of the studied group was 69.2 ± 4.3 for male and 72.3 ± 2.5 years. The standard axial DWI can diagnose 20%, 6.7% and 6.7% of the infarctions in midbrain, pons an
... Show MoreKey components estimated in Acol total plant leaves and the results were as follows plant Acol humidity 72%
Soft clays are generally characterized by low shear strength, low permeability and high compressibility. An effective method to accelerate consolidation of such soils is to use vertical drains along with vacuum preloading to encourage radial flow of water. In this research numerical modeling of prefabricated vertical drains with vacuum pressure was done to investigate the effect of using vertical drains together with vacuum pressure on the degree of saturation of fully and saturated-unsaturated soft soils. Laboratory experiments were conducted by using a specially-designed large consolidometer cell where a central drain was installed and vacuum pressure was applied. All tests were conducted
... Show MoreAim This study is an overview of NPEV investigated during AFP surveillance programs for the period 2010–2017 in Iraq. Methods Stool samples from 4296 AFP cases and 2933 healthy contacts among children less than 15 years of age were processed for virus isolation as a part of AFP surveillance for the Global Polio Eradication Program in Iraq at National Polio Laboratory. NPEV detection was performed by virus isolation on cell culture according to WHO recommendations. Results The NPEV isolation rate was 14% of total AFP cases and 14.5% of healthy contacts. The infection rate was higher in males than females with a male/female ratio of 1.5: 1. The highest NPEV infection rate was observed among the children aged 1-2 years and decrease significa
... Show MoreThe present study develops an artificial neural network (ANN) to model an analysis and a simulation of the correlation between the average corrosion rate carbon steel and the effective parameter Reynolds number (Re), water concentration (Wc) % temperature (T o) with constant of PH 7 . The water, produced fom oil in Kirkuk oil field in Iraq from well no. k184-Depth2200ft., has been used as a corrosive media and specimen area (400 mm2) for the materials that were used as low carbon steel pipe. The pipes are supplied by Doura Refinery . The used flow system is all made of Q.V.F glass, and the circulation of the two –phase (liquid – liquid ) is affected using a Q.V.F pump .The input parameters of the model consists of Reynolds number , w
... Show MoreElectrochemical machining is one of the widely used non-conventional machining processes to machine complex and difficult shapes for electrically conducting materials, such as super alloys, Ti-alloys, alloy steel, tool steel and stainless steel. Use of optimal ECM process conditions can significantly reduce the ECM operating, tooling, and maintenance cost and can produce components with higher accuracy. This paper studies the effect of process parameters on surface roughness (Ra) and material removal rate (MRR), and the optimization of process conditions in ECM. Experiments were conducted based on Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array (OA) with three process parameters viz. current, electrolyte concentration, and inter-electrode gap. Sig
... Show MoreThe hazardous metabolic effects of treating schizophrenia patients with olanzapine comprise serotonin 2C receptor (5-HT2C) antagonists. Metabolic side effects of antipsychotic drugs, including lipid abnormalities, disturbed glucose metabolism, and weight gain, can have a major impact on treating psychiatric patients. The intent of this study was to investigate whether there is an associated link between the genetic polymorphism at -759C>T in the promoter region of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2C receptor (HTR2C) gene and the metabolic syndrome driven by olanzapine in schizophrenia patients. A cross-sectional study that involved fifty hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. The patients were split into two groups (metabolic and non-metab
... Show MoreMicrobial fuel cell is a device that uses the microorganism metabolism for the production of electricity under specific operating conditions. Double chamber microbial fuel cell was tested for the use of two cheap electrode materials copper and aluminum for the production of electricity under different operating conditions. The investigated conditions were concentration of microorganism (yeast) (0.5- 2 g/l), solutions temperature (33-45 oC) and concentration of glucose as a substrate (1.5- 6 g/l). The results demonstrated that copper electrode exhibit good performance while the performance of aluminum is poor. The electricity is generated with and without the addition of substrate. Addition of glucose substrate
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Asphalt Hot Mix (HMA) is mainly applied in highway construction in Iraq because of its economic advantage and easy maintenance. Various factors impact the performance of HMA in the field. It is one of the significant impacts on aggregate gradation. The Universal Specification for Roads and Bridges in Iraq (SCRB) limits the different types of asphalt layers and allows for designed tolerance aggregate gradation. It is quite hard for contractors in the present asphalt industries to achieve the required job mix because of sieves' control problems. This study focuses on the effects on the required specification performance of aggregate deviations by using original and modified asphalt binder with AC(40-50) and
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