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
Hydrocarbon displacement at the pore scale is mainly controlled by the wetness properties of the porous media. Consequently, several techniques including nanofluid flooding were implemented to manipulate the wetting behavior of the pore space in oil reservoirs. This study thus focuses on monitoring the displacement of oil from artificial glass porous media, as a representative for sandstone reservoirs, before and after nanofluid flooding. Experiments were conducted at various temperatures (25 – 50° C), nanoparticles concentrations (0.001 – 0.05 wt% SiO2 NPs), salinity (0.1 – 2 wt% NaCl), and flooding time. Images were taken via a high-resolution microscopic camera and analyzed to investigate the displacement of the oil
... Show MoreHydrocarbon displacement at the pore scale is mainly controlled by the wetness properties of the porous media. Consequently, several techniques including nanofluid flooding were implemented to manipulate the wetting behavior of the pore space in oil reservoirs. This study thus focuses on monitoring the displacement of oil from artificial glass porous media, as a representative for sandstone reservoirs, before and after nanofluid flooding. Experiments were conducted at various temperatures (25 – 50° C), nanoparticles concentrations (0.001 – 0.05 wt% SiO2 NPs), salinity (0.1 – 2 wt% NaCl), and flooding time. Images were taken via a high-resolution microscopic camera and analyzed to investigate the displacement of the oil at dif
... Show MoreThe Iraqi culture faced a set of challenges that can be diagnosed with the most prominent features as follows:
- The dominance of authoritarian political systems which entails authoritarian regimes with the absence of contemporary political concepts of human rights.
- The prevalence of non- informed cultural systems which have the shortage of capabilities that enable them to activate cultural elements in positive references, historical, or seclusion on itself and not be able to interact with the current active cultures.
- Stagnant economic conditions have not had a decent life for individuals, or a certain level of well-being, as well as poor services and others.
- Social life controlled by the prevai
This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic adaptation among a sample of gifted students in intermediate and high schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study also seeks to examine the differences between group means in emotional intelligence and academic adaptation due to demographic variables (gender and school level). In addition, the study aims to examine the role of emotional intelligence in predicting the level of academic adaptation. The researcher performed the descriptive, correlational, predictive, and comparative approaches to collect the data from a sample comprised of (309) gifted students using the emotional intelligence scale developed by Bar-on (2000), whi
... Show MoreThe theater can be considered a media that the effectiveness of its tools and the perceptions it produces cannot be abandoned according to patterns or aesthetic artistic trends, and at the same time it carries a large amount of information that can be worked on activating it with conscious directions within the elements of the theatrical performance, and these can be counted The study is an attempt to trace the functioning of the communication and media elements in the structure of the theatrical performance, as the study included: An introduction that defines the research problem and its importance, which crystallized around the following question: Does the media communication through theatrical presentation form its desired effectivene
... Show MoreGaucher disease (GD), which is due to a deficiency in the lysosomal enzyme β-glucocerebrosidase, is a rare genetic disorder. It is characterized by a wide variety of clinical manifestations and severity of symptoms, making it difficult to manage. A cross-sectional hospital-based genetic study was undertaken with 32 pediatric patients. We recruited 21 males and 11 females diagnosed with GD, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.91:1. The mean age of the study population was 8.79 ± 4.37 years with an age range from 8 months to 17 years. We included patients on clinical evaluation from 2011 to 2019. An enzyme assay test was used to measure β-glucosidase enzyme activity in leukocytes and the GBA gene s
To determine the relationship between chronic hepatitis B virus and autoimmune celiac disease, seventy five patients with chronic hepatitis B virus of ages (8-70) years have been investigated and compared with 50 healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure antiGliadin antibodies IgA and IgG by ELISA test and anti-reticulin antibodies IgA and IgG by IFAT. There were significant elevation (P<0.05) in the concentration of AGA IgA and IgG antibodies compared to control group. The prevalence of AGA antibodies IgA and IgG was 8% and 9.33% respectively. There were a highly significant differences (P<0.01) between studies groups. The prevalence of antireticulin antibodies ARA IgA and IgG was 6.67% and 4.0% respectively i
... Show MoreIn the spreading of the Internet, mobile smart devices, and interactive websites such as YouTube, the educational video becomes more widespread and deliberative among users. The reasons for its spread are the prevalence of technologies, cheap cost, and easy to use. However, these products often lack to the distinction in video production. By following videos of an educational channel on YouTube, some comments found to discuss the lack of the content presented to motivate the learners, which lead to reduce the viewers of the videos. Therefore, there is an important decision to find general standards for the design and production of educational videos. A list of standards has been drawn up to help those interested in producing educational
... Show MoreIn the spreading of the Internet, mobile smart devices, and interactive websites such as YouTube, the educational video becomes more widespread and deliberative among users. The reasons for its spread are the prevalence of technologies, cheap cost, and easy to use. However, these products often lack to the distinction in video production. By following videos of an educational channel on YouTube, some comments found to discuss the lack of the content presented to motivate the learners, which lead to reduce the viewers of the videos. Therefore, there is an important decision to find general standards for the design and production of educational videos. A list of standards has been drawn up to help those interested in producing educational
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