Background: Gestational hypertension represents a transient period of elevated blood pressure with special effects on the maternal left ventricle that is different from the effects observed in chronic essential hypertension; it affects a previously normal heart and lasts for a maximum of nine months associated with volume and pressure overload on the maternal heart. Tei index (also called myocardial performance index) was found to be a dependent combined index evaluating the systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle and represents a sensitive indicator for many types of heart diseases.
Objective: to evaluate the effects of gestational hypertension on the maternal myocardial function during the third trimester by measuring the Tie index using transthoracic echocardiography.
Method: This study was performed in Baghdad teaching hospital in the time period from November 2015 to August 2016. The study included a total of 150 women; 100 women had gestational hypertension, in the third trimester of a singleton pregnancy and with a mean age (29.83 ± 5.33 year), gestational hypertension was identified as elevated systolic or diastolic blood pressure over 140/90 mmHg that emerges after the
20th week of gestation with proteinuria level lower than 300 mg/dl. Another 50 normotensive pregnant women with singleton pregnancy and mean age (28 ± 3.18 year) were used as controls. Left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (RWT) were measured to find the type of hypertrophy in gestational hypertension. Ejection fraction (EF) was measured with 2D directed M mode echocardiography,
and isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT), isovolumic contraction rime (ICT) and ejection time (ET) were measured for both groups using pulse wave Doppler echocardiography in order to calculate the myocardial performance index which is also called “Tei index” and equals the sum of IVRT and IVCT divided by the
ET (Tei index = IVRT+IVCT/ET).
Results: Left ventricular mass index and relative wall thickness were significantly higher in gestational hypertensive women, 41% of gestational hypertensive women had normal geometry and 59% had abnormal geometry (34% eccentric hypertrophy, 19% concentric hypertrophy and 6% concentric remodeling). IVRT and IVCT were significantly higher in gestational hypertensive women with p value of 0.0001 and P =0.003. ET showed a non-significant lower values (p= 0.34) in gestational hypertensive women. Tei index
was significantly higher in Gestational hypertension (P=0.011).
Conclusion: Women with gestational hypertension had altered myocardial function characterized by the
higher Tei index values associated with eccentric hypertrophy which can be explained by the fact that gestational hypertension poses higher afterload on the left ventricle instead the state of low peripheral resistance that is ysually expected during normotensive pregnancy.
Background: There is considerable evidence which associate cardiovascular morbidity and mortality with obesity, however, a direct effect of uncomplicated obesity on cardiac function is not well established.
Objective: To evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and left ventricular structure and function.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on (146) apparently healthy adults from both sexes (85 male and 61 female) aged 20-59 years(36.49±9.92 ). Subjects were grouped according to BMI into1.normal weight group included 47 subjects (BMI=18.5-24.9Kg/m2);2. Overweight group included 43 subjects (BMI=25-29.5 Kg/m2) and 3. obese group included (56) subjects(BMI≥30). Echo
Background: Extreme obesity is recognized to be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. It is unclear whether overweight and normal weight also poses a risk.
Objective: The study aims to determine the effect of the body mass index on coronary arteries and left ventricular functions in patients with post myocardial infarction (MI) angina
Method: The study included 50 patients with the diagnosis of post MI angina consecutively admitted to the medical ward of Iraqi Center for Heart Disease. All patients underwent
coronary artery catheterization and Echocardiography for assessment of coronary artery and left ventricular functions
Results: The results of the study showed that there is a significant diff
Background: Extreme obesity is recognized to be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. It is unclear whether overweight and normal weight also poses a risk.
Objective: The study aims to determine the effect of the body mass index on coronary arteries and left ventricular functions in patients with post myocardial infarction (MI) angina
Method: The study included 50 patients with the diagnosis of post MI angina consecutively admitted to the medical ward of Iraqi Center for Heart Disease. All patients underwent
coronary artery catheterization and Echocardiography for assessment of coronary artery and left ventricular functions
Results: The results of the study showed that there is a significant difference
Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the commonest complication of T2DM. Neuropathy is a descriptor for a spectrum of clinical and subclinical symptoms with varying anatomical distributions, clinical histories, and perhaps underlying pathogenetic mechanisms. The distal Symmetrical sensory polyneuropathy is chronic, symmetrical, length-dependent sensorimotor. Studies of the blink reflex have shown potential as a method of assessing brainstem activity.
Objective: The primary purpose of this research was to assess the function of the blink reflex in the early detection of cranial nerves and brain
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus (DM) causes damaging effects on the cardiac function; these effects can be observed on the diastolic performance of the heart reflected on the change in transmitral blood velocity, the cardiac wall and septum thickness.
Objectives: The present study was to assess the diastolic and systolic cardiac muscle performance for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with control individuals and to evaluate the index of myocardial performance.
Patients and Methods: The study involved 97 patients (35 male and 62 female of average age of 56.2 ±10.755) of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), they were investigated for their left ventricle performance and compared with 51 normal in
Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common comorbidities associated with enlarged extremities, occurring in 60 % of patients with acromegaly. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship of growth hormone and insulin such as growth factor-1 with obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-10), as risk factors for cardiovascular disorder in acromegaly patients. Eighty subjects were included and categorized into two groups: 40 acromegaly patients and 40 of the control group. The results indicated weight excess, hyperglycemia, hypertension, lipid disorder, and elevated levels of interleukins (2, 6, and 10). The correlation of both GH and IGF-1 with each of weight, BMI, systolic blood p
... Show MoreSome of the main challenges in developing an effective network-based intrusion detection system (IDS) include analyzing large network traffic volumes and realizing the decision boundaries between normal and abnormal behaviors. Deploying feature selection together with efficient classifiers in the detection system can overcome these problems. Feature selection finds the most relevant features, thus reduces the dimensionality and complexity to analyze the network traffic. Moreover, using the most relevant features to build the predictive model, reduces the complexity of the developed model, thus reducing the building classifier model time and consequently improves the detection performance. In this study, two different sets of select
... Show MoreBackground: Atherosclerosis is a diffuse disease process, being present in one vascular bed predicts its presence in the others. Ankle –Brachial Pressure Index (ABI) is a simple index related to the extent of atherosclerosis in coronary and noncoronary arterial beds, reflecting generalized atherosclerosis.
Objectives: the aim of this study is to evaluate the relation of ABI to left ventricular systolic function using echocardiography in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).
Patients and Methods: Sixty seven patients (67) with CAD of either sex (70% males) with mean age 58± 6 years enrolled in this study, from December 2013 till May 2014; all were referred to the Iraqi Centre for Heart Disease (I.C.H.D.) for further evalua
Background: Obesity is an evolving major health problem in both developed and developing countries. Non-hypertensive obese may have an elevated Morning Blood pressure surge (MBPS), which is associated with increased risk for cardiac events (CE) independently of office and ambulatory blood pressure (BP). Non-hypertensive obese also may have a blunted nocturnal decrease in BP during the night, while healthy normotensive non-obese individuals have a 10%–20% nocturnal decrease in blood pressure (BP) during the night or dipping. Thus, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM) is the gold standard to evaluate MBPS and dipping profile in non-hypertensive obese individuals.
Objectives: 
... Show MoreSix house-hold Abyssinian pumps distributed in different villages of Mansoura (Mans-I, Mans-II and Mans-III) and Talkha (Talk-I, Talk-II and Talk-III) cities, Egypt, have been selected for regular seasonal water quality assessment during 2017. Water samples have been collected within the mid-periods of four seasons Standard assessment tools were employed for the integrated water quality assessment including Water Quality Index (WQI) and ISO standard algal toxicity test. WQI displayed remarkable local and seasonal variations with excellent (≥ 90) and good (70 - 89) only recorded for water samples collected from Mans-I pump located in sparsely populated area and far 50 meters only from the eastern (Damietta) branch of Nile River. WQI of
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