Background: Coronary artery disease remains the main cause of death despite several preventive programs. Epicardial adipose tissue is a visceral fat depot of the heart located along the large coronary arteries and on the surface of ventricles and apex. Intima media thickness is commonly recognized as the initial stage in the development of atherosclerosis. The development of ultrasound machines, advances in echocardiographic devices and high resolution transducers facilitate comprehensive analysis of epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and carotid –intima media thickness (C-IMT).
Aim: To investigate the relationship of echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and carotid –intima media thickness (C-IMT) with the severity of coronary artery disease.
Methods: A cross sectional multicenter diagnostic accuracy study carried out at Ibn Al-Nafis Cardiovascular Hospital, Ibn Al- Bitar Cardiology Center and Ghazi Al-Hariri Hospital –Iraqi Center for Cardiology during the period between October 2016 and May 2017 assessing. History regarding demographic data and risk factors was taken. Two dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic measurements were done. EFT was measured from parasternal long axis view perpendicular to the right ventricular free wall. C-IMT was measured according to that recommended by the American society of echocardiography (ASE).
Results: The current study demonstrated that the EFT has a direct and significant correlation with the number of involved vessels (P value ˂ 0.001, r= 0.770). The validity of EFT to discriminate between multiple vessels disease and no vessel involvement is excellent (AUC= 0.984, cut point > 8mm, sensitivity=92.9%, specificity= 93.3%). There is inverse and significant correlation between ejection fraction (EF) and three vessels disease (P value ˂ 0.001, r= -0.507). Also there is a direct and significant correlation between C-IMT and severity of CAD. ROC analysis for validity of C-IMT to discriminate between multiple vessels disease and no vessel involvement is excellent (AUC= 0.961, cut point > 1.04mm, sensitivity=92.9%. specificity=86.7%). C-IMT is fair to discriminate between single vessel disease and no vessel involvement (AUC=0.738, cut point ˃ 0.84mm, sensitivity 100%), so if correlated with age, C-IMT above 0.84 can be used as a cut off point for the prediction of CAD. Finally, EFT and C-IMT are more likely to reflect severity of CAD than their ratio.
Conclusions: C-IMT and EFT are simple and reproducible parameters that can be used as a screening tool for the presence and severity of CAD especially before symptoms appearance in high risk patients
Back ground: Skin grafting is the most common form
of reconstructive surgery, and regeneration of
sensations in skin grafts is a complex process
influenced by many factors such as , the thickness of
the graft, the depth of the grafted bed, meshing of the
graft, the condition of the bed and the surrounding
area. So many studies performed on this subject, some
of them clinically based on subjective type of sensation
tests, and others histological to detect the presence of
nerve fibers in the grafted skin
Objectives: To detect return of sensations to split
thickness skin grafts by clinical methods.
Methods: From Oct. 1995 to Oct. 2010, a clinical
prospective study performed in Al wasity Hospital for
Sb2S3 thin films have been prepared by chemical bath deposition on a glas sub Absorbance and transmittance spectra were recorded in the wavelength range (30-900) nm. The effects of thickness on absorption coefficient, reflectance, refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant were estimated. It was found that the reflectivity, absorption coefficient , extinction coefficient, real part of dielectric constant and refractive index, all these parameters decrease as the thickness increased, while the imaginary part of the dielectric constant increase as the thickness incre
... Show MoreThe turning process has various factors, which affecting machinability and should be investigated. These are surface roughness, tool life, power consumption, cutting temperature, machining force components, tool wear, and chip thickness ratio. These factors made the process nonlinear and complicated. This work aims to build neural network models to correlate the cutting parameters, namely cutting speed, depth of cut and feed rate, to the machining force and chip thickness ratio. The turning process was performed on high strength aluminum alloy 7075-T6. Three radial basis neural networks are constructed for cutting force, passive force, and feed force. In addition, a radial basis network is constructed to model the chip thickness ratio. T
... Show MoreBackground: The highest concentrations of
blood glucose during the day are usually found
postprandialy. Postprandial hyperglycemia (PPH)
is likely to promote or aggravate fasting
hyperglycemia. Evidence in recent years suggests
that PPH may play an important role in functional
& structural disturbances in different body organs
particularly the cardiovascular system.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of (PPH) as a
risk factor for coronary Heart disease in Type 2
diabetic patients.
Methods: Sixty-three type2 diabetic patients
were included in this study. All have controlled
fasting blood glucose, with HbA1c correlation.
They were all followed for five months period
(from May to October 2008)
Chronic periodontitis (CP) is an inflammatory disease affecting tooth supporting structures in response to bacterial dental plaque causing irreversible tissue destruction. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is an effective mediator in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. Polymorphisms in the COX-2 gene may contribute to its overexpression and increased disease susceptibility. To evaluate the association between -1195 A/G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promotor area of the cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) gene and severity of chronic periodontitis in a sample of Iraqi population. -1195A/ G COX-2 SNP was investigated in 70 chronic periodontitis (CP) cases and 30 healthy controls. CP cases composed of 2 subgroups (35 moderate CP cases and 35 severe CP
... Show MoreObjective: To assess the effect of six-minute walk test on health-related quality of life in patients undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery at Iraqi center for heart diseases. Material: This descriptive study was conducted from 8th August, 2022 to 10th January, 2023. A non-probability purposive sample of 50 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery at Iraqi center for heart diseases was included in the study. A questionnaire composed of three parts; sociodemographic and clinical data, six-minute walk test (6MWT) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were used. SPSS version 26 was utilized to analyze data. Results: Patient’s performance showed highly significant statistical differences at p<0.05 betw
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