Back ground: Several devices with different physical bases have been developed for the clinical measurement of corneal thickness, they classified into 4 categories: Scheimpflug photography based, Slit –Scanning topography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) based and ultrasound (US) based.Objective:To evaluatethe precision of the new Scheimpflug –Placido disc corneal topography in measurement of corneal thickness and to compare the measured values with that obtained by US pachymetry.Methods: Setting of this study is Lasik center in Eye Specialty Private Hospital. Baghdad. Iraq.Eyes of healthy subjects were examined with the Sirius topography.3 consecutive measurements of central (CCT)and thinnest (TCT) corneal thicknesses were obtainedand the measurements repeated within 1 week. The within –subject standard deviation (Sw),test-retest repeatability ,coefficient of variation (CoV),and interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated to evaluate intra session repeatability and intersession reproducibility. For US pachymetry (Tomey-SP 100) only CCT was measured. Comparison ofthe measurements that obtained by the 2 devices done by paired t-test.Results: The topography provides high intrasession repeatability with test-retest and CoV close to 6μm and0.4%, respectively for both CCT and TCT. The inter session reproducibility also high with test-retest and CoV close to 8μm and 0.5%, respectively.ICC was higher than 0.97 for repeatability and reproducibility . Anarrow 95% limit of agreement was found between the pachymetry obtained by topography and US pachymetry measurements.Conclusions :The topography has been used showed high intrasession repeatability and intersession reproducibility of CCT and TCT measurements in healthy eyes .Absence of statistically significant differences suggest that the topography -TCT and the US pachymetry - CCT can be used interchangeably in subject with normal cornea.Financial Disclosure: No financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.
Background : Shoulder pain is a common problem that can pose difficult diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for the family physician It is the third most common musculoskeletal complaint in the general population, and account for 5% of all general practitioners musculoskeletal consults
Objective: To determine the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography compared with the physical examination for detection of rotator cuff tears in painful shoulder syndrome.
Method: Prospective study was done on seventy patients (48 male, 22 female), age ranged between 30-70 years (mean age 50 years), From February 2007 to July 2011, were subjected to comparative study in Al-Kindy teaching hospital with rotator cuff tears, including physical and ul
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy among the Iraqi population. Affected patients exhibit different clinical behaviours according to the molecular subtypes of the tumour. AIM: To identify the clinical and pathological presentations of the Iraqi breast cancer subtypes identified by Estrogen receptors (ER), Progesterone receptors (PR) and HER2 expressions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The present study comprised 486 Iraqi female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. ER, PR and HER2 contents of the primary tumours were assessed through immunohistochemical staining; classifying the patients into five different groups: Triple Negative (ER/PR negative/HER2 negative), Triple Positive (ER/PR positive/HER2 positive), Luminal A (ER
... Show MoreMaximizing the water productivity for any agricultural system is considered an adaptation to the potential climate change crisis. It is required, especially in arid and semi-arid environments in Iraq. Therefore, this study assessed the potential impact of climate change on the different environments in the Qadissiya and Nineveh provinces. The ensemble of six GCM models employed for the regional climate model of the HCLIM-ALADIN in high-resolution 10*10 km2 and Aqua-Crop was used to examine the response of water productivity and yield of winter wheat. With and without CO2 concentration changing under different water regimes in the near term (2020-2040
Linear motor offers several features in many applications that require linear motion. Nevertheless, the presence of cogging force can deteriorate the thrust of a permanent magnet linear motor. Using several methodologies, a design of synchronous single sided linear iron-core motor was proposed. According to exact formulas with surface-mounted magnets and concentrated winding specification, which are relying on geometrical parameters. Two-dimensional performance analysis of the designed model and its multi-objective optimization were accomplished as a method to reduce the motor cogging force using MAXWELL ANSYS. The optimum model design results showed that the maximum force ripple was approximatrly reduced by 81.24%compared to the origina
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This work involves the manufacturing of MAX phase materials include V2AlC and Cr2AlC using powder metallurgy as a new class of materials which characterized by regular crystals in lattice. Corrosion behavior of these materials was investigated by Potentiostat to estimate corrosion resistance and compared with the most resistant material represented by SS 316L. The experiments were carried out in 0.01N of NaOH solution at four temperatures in the range of 30–60oC. Polarization resistance values which calculated by Stern-Geary equation indicated that the MAX phase materials more resistant than SS 316L. Also cyclic polarization tests confirme
... Show MoreObjective : To study the effect of some risk factors like age, smoking and Diabetes mellitus (DM) among patients with
certain cardiovascular diseases (Angina pectoris and Myocardial infarction), in addition to the assessment of the Creactive
protein (CRP) in the sera of those patients.
Methodology: The study was carried out on (100) subjects who were hospitalized in the Iraqi Center of heart Diseases
in Baghdad city and were suffering from Myocardial InfarcƟon (MI) (16) and Angina Pectoris (AP) (79) or from both (5)
over a period from September 2009 to June 2010. The results of paƟents were compared with those of (30) healthy
and age-matched individuals as a control group. Data were obtained from patients who were alr
A model using the artificial neural networks and genetic algorithm technique is developed for obtaining optimum dimensions of the foundation length and protections of small hydraulic structures. The procedure involves optimizing an objective function comprising a weighted summation of the state variables. The decision variables considered in the optimization are the upstream and downstream cutoffs lengths and their angles of inclination, the foundation length, and the length of the downstream soil protection. These were obtained for a given maximum difference in head, depth of impervious layer and degree of anisotropy. The optimization carried out is subjected to constraints that ensure a safe structure aga
... Show MoreBackground: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is the result of an initial episode of acute otitis media and is characterized by a persistent discharge from the middle ear through a tympanic perforation for at least 2 weeks duration. It is an important cause of preventable hearing loss, particularly in the developing world.Objective: To get an overview on the bacterial ear infection profile in general and to assess the antibiotic resistance of Pseudomonal infection (PS) particularly since it is usually the commonest infection to cause otitis media and the most difficult to treat due to the problem of multi drug resistance..Methods: A cross sectional study was done which included 405 patients of CSOM patients, 196 (48%) case were mal
... Show MoreRock engineers widely use the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rocks in designing
surface and underground structures. The procedure for measuring this rock strength has been
standardized by both the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) and American Society
for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Akram and Bakar(2007).
In this paper, an experimental study was performed to correlate of Point Load Index ( Is(50))
and Pulse Wave Velocity (Vp) to the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of Rocks. The effect
of several parameters was studied. Point load test, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and
Pulse Wave Velocity (Vp) were used for testing several rock samples with different diameters.
The predicted e
Background : The hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is defined as the triad of liver disease, arterial deoxygenation, and pulmonary vascular dilatation. The reported prevalence of HPS in cirrhotic patients varies between 5% -17.5%.Objective : To estimate the prevalence of hepatopulmonary syndrome among patients with chronic liver disease and portal hypertension and to study the correlation between HPS and the severity of liver disease.Patients and methods : Thirty patients were studied for the presence of HPS using transthoracic contrast echocardiography for detection of pulmonary vasodilatation. Arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) was determined in erect and supine position using a pulse oximeter , (SaO2 ≤ 92 % in supine position and/or a d
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