Background:
To assess the feasibility and early results of non-surgical transcatheter closure of atrial septal detect (ASD) using the Ampiatzer septal Occluder (ASO).
Patients and Methods:
From June 2003 to June 2005, i75 patients with ASD secundum, age range 3- 65 years, female to male ratio of 3:2. were evaluated for transcatheter closure using ASO at Ibn Al-
Bitar Hospital for Cardiac Surgery. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed in al patients using standard suhxyphoid, apical, parasternal and suprasternal views. In all
patients, the procedure was done under general anesthesia.
Results:
Based on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) Findings, 60 patients (33.7%) did not meet the criteria for transcatheter closure (40 females and 20 males). One hundred
Fifteen patients were found to have ASDs suitable for device closure. The device was successfully deployed in allpatients except 11 of them (104/115) (90.4%).
In 11 cases with failure of ASO deployment, 6 patients had small floppy inferior rims which were not able to hold the device after the Minnesota wegeal maneuver. One adult
patient with a large ASD secundum and second degree AV block developed complete heart block during the procedure before the deployment of the occluder. One of them dislodged
into the left atrium (LA) immediately after deployment because of a very small inferior rim and the other one dislodged into the LA because of descrewing of the cable after multiple
manipulations. Both of them were referred for surgery. An other one of the 11 patients had developed a thrombus in the LA during the procedure because of delay in giving heparin
after placing the guide wire in the left upper pulmonary vein. In the last patient, the procedure was abandoned and the occluder recaptured into the sheath before release from
the cable because the TEE showed that the LA disc encroached on the mitral valve causing mitral stenosis.
Conclusion:
The transcatheter closure of secundum ASD is safe, efficacious with a very low rate of early and Sate complications. It is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to surgical
closure.
Groupwise non-rigid image alignment is a difficult non-linear optimization problem involving many parameters and often large datasets. Previous methods have explored various metrics and optimization strategies. Good results have been previously achieved with simple metrics, requiring complex optimization, often with many unintuitive parameters that require careful tuning for each dataset. In this chapter, the problem is restructured to use a simpler, iterative optimization algorithm, with very few free parameters. The warps are refined using an iterative Levenberg-Marquardt minimization to the mean, based on updating the locations of a small number of points and incorporating a stiffness constraint. This optimization approach is eff
... Show MoreIn this research, some robust non-parametric methods were used to estimate the semi-parametric regression model, and then these methods were compared using the MSE comparison criterion, different sample sizes, levels of variance, pollution rates, and three different models were used. These methods are S-LLS S-Estimation -local smoothing, (M-LLS)M- Estimation -local smoothing, (S-NW) S-Estimation-NadaryaWatson Smoothing, and (M-NW) M-Estimation-Nadarya-Watson Smoothing.
The results in the first model proved that the (S-LLS) method was the best in the case of large sample sizes, and small sample sizes showed that the
... Show MoreThe influence of an aortic aneurysm on blood flow waveforms is well established, but how to exploit this link for diagnostic purposes still remains challenging. This work uses a combination of experimental and computational modelling to study how aneurysms of various size affect the waveforms. Experimental studies are carried out on fusiform-type aneurysm models, and a comparison of results with those from a one-dimensional fluid–structure interaction model shows close agreement. Further mathematical analysis of these results allows the definition of several indicators that characterize the impact of an aneurysm on waveforms. These indicators are then further studied in a computational model of a systemic blood flow network. This demonstr
... Show MoreThis paper considers and proposes new estimators that depend on the sample and on prior information in the case that they either are equally or are not equally important in the model. The prior information is described as linear stochastic restrictions. We study the properties and the performances of these estimators compared to other common estimators using the mean squared error as a criterion for the goodness of fit. A numerical example and a simulation study are proposed to explain the performance of the estimators.
This paper analyzes a piled-raft foundation on non-homogeneous soils with variable layer depth percentages. The present work aims to perform a three-dimensional finite element analysis of a piled-raft foundation subjected to vertical load using the PLAXIS 3D software. Parametric analysis was carried out to determine the effect of soil type and initial layer thickness. The parametric study showed that increasing the relative density from 30 % to 80 % of the upper sand layer and the thickness of the first layer has led to an increase in the ultimate load and a decrease in the settlement of piled raft foundations for the cases of sand over weak soil. In clay over weak soil, the ultimate load of the piled raft foundation w
... Show MorePrednisolone (SAID) was conjugated with ibuprofen (NSAID) through an amino acid (glycine) as a spacer arm to synthesize the following compound:
Prednisolone – glycine – ibuprofen.
The method employed consists of converting the carboxylic acid function of (R,S) – ibuprofen – glycine to the highly reactive acid chloride and subsequent reaction with the C21 hydroxyl group of prednisolone. This reactive intermediate was found to react as well with the C17 tertiary hydroxyl group of the steroid to form three compounds and eight diastereomers. These results were confirmed by T.L.C, and the desired compound was separated by column chromatograph
... Show MoreThe temperature influence on the fluorescence lifetime, quantum yields and non-radiative rate parameter or coumarin 460 dye dissolved in methanol was investigated in the temperature range (160-300 k). A single photon counting technique was used or measuring the fluorescence decay curves. A noticeable decrease of the fluorescence lifetime with increasing the temperature was observed. The non-radiative activation energy of 10.57 K.J. mole-1 was measured by the help of Arrhenius plot.
In this study it was found that a significant decrease in the level of leptin in young
Iraqi smokers (16+ 0.7ng/mL) compared to non smokers(24.2+ 4.5ng/mL) while, B2
microglobulin and CRPwas significantly increased in the smokers (1.2 + 0.3μg/mL),
(4.07+ 0.02mg/L) respectively, compared to non smokers (0.6 + 0.9μg/mL) ,( 2.88+
0.002mg/L) respectively, the presented data indicates the effect of smoking on these
immunological markers.
The severity of UTI produced by E. coli is due to the expression of a wide
spectrum of virulence factors. In this study the role of E. coli virulence determinants
in the pathogenesis of UTI in urinary catheterized and non-catheterized patients has
been evaluated. The isolates were recovered from 129 patients admitted to the
hospital. Virulence genes of E. coli were detected by polymerase chain reaction
analysis for the prevalence of these virulence factors. The targeted genetic
determinants were those coding for Type 1 fimbriae, Pyelonephritis-Associated Pili
(PAP), Antigen 43 (Ag43), α-Hemolysin and Aerobactin siderophores among the
studied isolates. The prevalence of genes fimH, papC, ang43, hlyA and iutA were<