Background: Acute appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency. The diagnosis of this condition is still essentially clinical and there is difficulty in the clinical diagnosis, especially among elderly, children and patients with a typical presentation, so early and accurate diagnosis of acute appendicitis is important to avoid its complications.Objectives: To evaluate the degree of accuracy of Alvarado scoring system in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.Method: Two hundred patients were admitted to the Alkindy Teaching Hospital from January 2011 to april 2014- presented with symptoms and signs suggestive of acute appendicitis. After examination and investigations all patients were given a score according to Alvarado scoring 10 (8 variables) and they were classified accordingly to 6 groups of scores (score 5, score 6, score 7, score 8, score 9 and score 10). All the patients underwent appendectomy and the appendix specimens were sent for histopathological examination and the patients were divided into two groups:1-patients 7 score (164 patients)2-patients <7 score (36 patients)-We calculate the percentage of appendix proved to be inflamed by histopathology in each group of these 6 scoring groups.Results: The patients ages range from (7-64 years).One hundred six patients were male, 94 patients were female with male: female ratio of 1.24:1.Out of 200 patients, 168 patients had inflamed appendix proved by histopathological study, including 93 male and 75 female, while 32 patients have a normal appendix (13 male, 19 female).The Alvarado sensitivity found to be 83%, specificity is 59%, diagnostic accuracy of 85%, positive predictive value of 92% and negative predictive value of 59%.The diagnostic accuracy of the Alvarado score was found to be increased with the increase in the Alvarado score as it was 81% with Alvarado score 7 it was 100% in Alvarado score 10.Conclusion : Alvarado scoring system is a useful tool in diagnosis of acute appendicitis because it is simple, with high diagnostic accuracy rate and this accuracy increase proportionally to the increase in the degree of the score.Alvarado scoring system is a useful tool in diagnosis of acute appendicitis because it is simple, with high diagnostic accuracy rate and this accuracy increase proportionally to the increase in the degree of the score
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Hyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis occurs due to excess release of thyroid hormone. These hormones regulate the body’s energy balance and have effects on adipokine level. There are several reports suggesting interrelation between adipokines (resistin and leptin) with thyroid dysfunction. Objectives: This study was established to investigate the effect of thyroid hormones in hyperthyroidism state on the level of some adipokines, leptin and resistin; in comparison with control. Patients and Methods: The present study included 50 Iraqi female patients with hyperthyroidism with age ranged between 30-58 years and 30 healthy controls with age ranged between 30-53 years. Serum samples were collected from study groups. The levels of thyroid hormon
... Show MoreThe increase in the number of trucks and other heavy vehicles in Iraqi highways lead to cracking and deteriorations in the flexible highway. The use of polymermodified asphalt may solve this problem to match the required performance standards. This study investigates the effects of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer on the performance behaviour of Iraqi bitumen binder. The characteristics of bitumen binder were analysed to observe the compatibility of bitumen with SBS polymer. The bitumen binder was mixed with three different contents of SBS (4%, 4.5%, and 5%) by weight of asphalt cement. Viscosity tests were conducted on the SBS polymer-modified asphalt at 135 oC and 165 oC in addition to conventional binder tests. The prepar
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Twenty five vaginal swabs from outpatients' healthy women were collected from Kamal Al-Samarai Hospital, Baghdad, to isolate and identify of Lactobacillus acidophilus. Three isolates were diagnosed as L. acidophilus which represents 15% of the total number of lactic acid bacterial (LAB) isolates; other LAB types represent 65% (20 isolates).The ability of L. acidophilus to produce surlactin was detected after measuring its biological activity to inhibit the adhesion of biofilm formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to surfaces using test tube method. It was found that all isolates were able to produce surlactin but the activity of surlactin was varying in each isolate. Surlactin produced by isolates 1 and 13 was the most effective. Biological appl
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The study was conducted to measure diatom species diversity in the lotic ecosystem across the Wasit Province for 12 months. The quantitative study of diatoms (phytoplankton) was investigated in the Tigris river. The density of algae was ranged from 60989 cell×103/l to 112780.82 cell×103/l in the five sites. These algae were belonging to 39 genera. The richness index values ranged from 1.53 at site 5 in January 2016 to 6.34 at site 1 and June2015. Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H´) was 2.33 in February 2016 and 3.72 in June 2015 both values at site 3, whereas Evenness index was 0.54 at site 5 in March2016 and 0.98 at site 1 in both August2015 and May2016. The lack of homogeneity of the appearance of species indicates the dominance of a
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Reciprocal Teaching is an interactive method that is used to improve reading comprehension. Using this teaching strategy, teachers and students take turns leading discussions regarding sections of text using the four strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing. This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of using reciprocal teaching on improving female college students' achievement in reading comprehension. To fulfill the aim of the study, the researcher has adopted two null hypotheses: first, there is no significant difference between the achievement of students' who practice the reciprocal teaching technique and that of students who do not practice it. Second, there is no statistically significant difference
... Show MoreSpent catalysts for sulfuric acid production have large amount of vanadium and due to environmental authority it is required to reduce the vanadium contain of the spent catalyst. Experimental investigation was conducted to study the vanadium recovery from spent catalyst via leaching process using sodium hydroxide to study the effect of process variables (temperatures, sodium hydroxide molarities, leaching time and particle size) on vanadium recovery. The effect of process variables (temperature, particle size,molarities of sodium hydroxide and leaching time) on the percentages of vanadium recovery were investigated and discussed .It was found that the percentage of vanadium recovery increased with increasing temperature up to 100 , incre
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