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
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Inflammation leads to joint damage and increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a measure of inflammation in many diseases. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of NLR to detect inflammation in RA, and its correlation to RA disease activity indices and some hematological parameters. A cross-sectional study involving 24 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are using MTX participated in this study. All patients were clinically evaluated using disease activity score of 28 joints (DAS28) and simplified disease activity index (SDAI), whereas functional disability was assessed by health assessment questionnaire di
... Show MoreMultiplesclerosis(MS)isachronic,inflammatory,immune-mediateddiseaseof the central nervous system (CNS). More than 2 million people worldwidehave MS. The goal of the present study was to compare Iraqi patients' treat-ment satisfaction with three different disease-modifying therapies (DMTs),administeredorally,subcutaneously,andbyslowinfusion;namely,fin-golimod, interferon beta-1b (IFNβ-1b), and natalizumab, respectively. Aswell as to assess the individual differences among these therapies about theireffectiveness, convenience and global satisfaction also to assess the role ofcertain predictors on treatment satisfaction. Patient satisfaction with medi-cation assessed by the Treatment Satisfaction Questi
... Show MoreAbstract:
Objective: To know the effect of televised media violence on the relationship of Children's primary school with mates and identify association between the demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status for primary school children and their relation with exposure to televised violence media.
Methodology: simple probability sample of 221 children were selected from 1425 children are learning in schools in Al-Nasiriyah City.
Results: Results of the current study showed that (53.8%) of children exposed to Televised media violence be relationship with their mates weak, (46.2%) of them have their relationship with their mates good, as well as the study showed that the presence significant correlation with males genders
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the main cause of female infertility. The role of insulin resistance in the development of polycystic ovary is actively discussed here. The study included patients with PCOS without insulin resistance (n = 48) and with insulin resistance (n = 39). The comparison groups were patients with no history of PCOS: a control group without insulin resistance (n = 46) and a group of patients with insulin resistance (n = 45). The following parameters were determined in patients: FSH, LH, TSH, T3f, T4f, PRL, E2, 17-OHd, Pr, AMH, Test total, Testf, DHEAS, DHEASs, SHBG, ACTH, cortisol, IRI, IGF-1, C-peptide, and glucose level. The HOMA-IR index and the LH / FSH ratio and t
... Show MoreTo observe the effect of media of the internal pressure on the equivalent stress distribution in the tube, an experimental study is done by constructing a testing rig to apply the hydraulic pressure and three dies are manufactured with different bulging configurations (square, cosine, and conical). In the other part, ANSYS APDL is generated to analyze the bulging process with hydraulic and rubber (natural and industrial) media. It was found that when the media is a rubber, the stress is decreased about 9.068% in case of cosine die and 5.4439% in case of conical die and 2.8544% in case of square die. So, it can be concluded that the internal pressure in the rubber media is much better than in hydraulic media. Also, the force needed for fo
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to investigat integrated system for in vitro growth of paulownia plants by assessing the efficacy of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) as an alternative to autoclave in sterilizing culture medium. Therefore, this study was devised to compare autoclave sterilization at three different times (5, 10, and 15) minutes and three different concentrations of ClO2 (0, 0.4, 0,8, 1) mg/L. The results showed that, compared with (0.4) mg/L concentration, concentrations of (0.8 and 1) mg/L are more effective at sterilizing the culture medium. ClO2 sterilization improved individual single node growth more than autoclave sterilization. Since ClO2 is non-toxic, it could be used as a safe alternative to autoclave when propagating paulown
... Show MoreIn the present paper, the features of democratization of vocabulary in the language of mass media are tackled. Particularly, the functions of this phenomenon in the context of language as an ontological reality are analysed. As well, the growing role of the language of the media, and the language of politics as an integral part pertaining to it, is noted. Further, attention is paid to the excessive saturation of the language of the media along with the literary language, by means of evaluation which may include negative results.
In this concern, scholars had different views, specifically in relation to the use of colloquial vocabulary along with some vernacular profess
... Show MoreThis research was conducted in order to monitor and measure the dimensions of media policy in satellite channels directed from the point of view of the communicator, and this research is classified among the descriptive studies, as the researcher used the survey method to answer the questions that were formulated in light of the research problem represented by the main question: What are the dimensions of media policy in Directed satellite channels? .
To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher used the following tools:
The questionnaire, in order to survey the attitudes of communicators about the extent to which the media policy during crises reflects on their professional standards. The research community is represente