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
SARS-CoV-2 stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 which is the causative agent of spreading coronavirus disease 2019 that is known as COVID-19 pandemic, the disease leads to severe acute respiratory illness. Matrix metalloproteinases- 9 (MMP-9) plays several important physiological functions. This enzyme could also be implicated in the "cytokine storm" in some way, which may represent one of the possible scianrios during coronavirus infection, in addition to its role in the mechanism of lung fibrosis on molecular basis.. The tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) are well characterized for controlling the activity of MMPs in extracellular matrix remodeling. They also considered as signaling molecules anal
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Antibiotic treatment of S.typhi is difficult as compared to treatment of acute infection. Antibiotic resistance carried against S.typhi by using 6 kinds of antibiotics from different classes, their results showed that all isolates were high resistance to Ampicillin (99%), Gentamicin (98%), Amikacin (79%) and less resistances Trimethoprim (55%) , Imipenem (60%) and Ceftriaxone(66%) .
The present study focused on the molecular detection of Wzx flippase, Wzy polymerase genes in some Salmonella typhi isolates, Samples were collected from typhoid patients by classical lab work. Antibiotics susceptibilit
... Show MoreThe concept of deficit in public budget becomes a chronic economic phenomenon in most of the world, whether the advanced countries or developing countries. Despite the difference in the visions of the economic schools to accept or reject the deficit in public budget but the opinion that prevailed is the necessity of the state to reduce the public spending which led to a continuous deficits in the public budget which consequently increased the government borrowing ,increase income taxes and wealth, consequently this weakened the in motivation in private investment which contributed to the increase of in factionary stagnation , so that governments have to cover the lack of local funding sources which become difficult to be eq
... Show MoreThe present study evaluates the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract as monotherapy on the glycemic status, insulin resistance (IR), body mass index (BMI), and visceral adiposity index (VAI), in addition to the inflammatory markers, oxidative status and leptin level in patients with metabolic syndrome in comparison with metformin.
The study is a randomized, double-blind pilot study conducted during the period May to September, 2020. Fifty patients were recruited in the study and they were allocated into two groups (25 per each group): Ginkgo biloba and Metformin groups, they received (120 mg Ginkgo biloba extract/ capsule) and (500 mg Metformin/ capsule) respectively; orally as a single dose for 90 days. Blood samples were taken at z
... Show MoreBackground: Rituximab is a chimeric IgG1 kappa immunoglobulin that has been genetically modified to incorporate human constant region sequences together with murine light- and heavy-chain variable region sequences. People use it to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain malignancies. Objective: The study aimed to assess the potential association between the serum levels of Factor I, CD59, interleukins (IL)-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ and the response to Rituximab treatment in Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the rheumatology center at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Ninety adult patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and are receiving Rituximab intravenous i
... Show MoreThe design of components subjected to contact stress as local compressive stress is important in engineering application especially in ball and socket Joining. Two kinds of contact stress are introduced in the ball and socket joint, the first is from normal contact while the other is from sliding contact. Although joining two long links (drive shaft in steering cars) will cause the effect of flexural and tensional buckling stress in hollow columns through the ball and socket ends on the failure condition of the joining mechanism. In this paper the consideration of the combined effect of buckling Load and contact stress on the ball and socket joints have been taken, epically on the stress distribution in the contact area. Different
... Show MoreThe interest in Multi social skills and self-concept is extremely important for many of the scholars of education and psychology has taken a great deal in their writings and their interests as they see that social skills training is to make sure of the same, and that whenever enable the individual from acquiring social skills whenever asserted itself.The research aims know social skills and self-concept and their relationship to the children Riyadh age (4-6 years), and the research sample consisted of(200) boys and girls from kindergarten in the city of Baghdad Bjanbey Rusafa second and Karkh second.And to the objectives of the research realized the researcher has built two measures of social skills a
... Show MoreA condense study was done to compare between the ordinary estimators. In particular the maximum likelihood estimator and the robust estimator, to estimate the parameters of the mixed model of order one, namely ARMA(1,1) model.
Simulation study was done for a varieties the model. using: small, moderate and large sample sizes, were some new results were obtained. MAPE was used as a statistical criterion for comparison.
Abstract
This research aims to identify the challenges faced by families of children with intellectual disabilities and to identify the impact of the challenges facing them on the mental health of their children with intellectual disabilities. Based on the following questions: What is the nature of the challenges faced by families of children with disabilities and how do these challenges affect the mental health of their children with intellectual disabilities? The study was conducted on a sample of four families of six children with intellectual disabilities, depending on the degree and type of disability. To achieve the study's objectives, the qualitative approach was used, Because of the importance of accessin
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