ABSTRACTBackground: cochlear implants are electronic devices that convert sound energy into electrical signals to stimulate ganglion cells and cochlear nerve fibers. These devices are indicated for patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing losses who receive little or no benefit from hearing aids. The implant basically takes over the function of the cochlear hair cells. The implant consists of external components (microphone, speech processor and transmitting coil) and internal components (receiver stimulator and electrode array). The implant is inserted via a trans mastoid facial recess approach to the round window and scala tympani.Objectives: to determine the effectiveness and safety of non fixation method in cochlear implantation.Methods: a prospective study carried out from September 2009 to September 2012 in Gazi Hariri Hospital. Eighty patients with congenital severe –profound sensorineural hearing loss prepared for cochlear implantation involved in the study and divided into 2 groups. Group A includes 40 patients in whom the internal device was fixed to the skull by nylon suture materials through small burr holes on both sides of the well. Group B includes 40 patients in whom the internal device placed in a tight sub pericranial pocket without nylon fixation to the skull. All patients followed postoperatively for 6 months observing wound healing and local complications (hematoma, infection, wound dehiscence, device extrusion and migration).Results: mean age 4.2 years and male-female ratio was 1.3:1.Group A: 1 patient (2.5%) developed minor wound infection treated conservatively. Three patients (7.5%) developedsevere wound infection with wound breakdown and device extrusion despite the use of antibiotics and local rotational flaps, the device was explanted in those 3 patients. Two patients (5%) developed hematoma without history of trauma and treated conservatively. One patient (2.5%) had device migration without affection of its function.Group B: 2 patients developed minor wound infection treated conservatively. One patient (2.5%) had severe wound infection ends up with wound dehiscence and device extrusion despite the use of antibiotics and local rotational flaps. Explantation of the device was done for this patient. Hematoma occurred in one patient (2.5%) without history of trauma and treated conservatively. Another one patient (2.5%) developed device migration without impairment of its function.Conclusion: creation of sub pericranial pocket without internal device fixation by nylon materials is an effective and reliable method in cochlear implantation without compromising the patient safety or device performance.Key words: cochlear implantation, non- fixation, sub pericranial pocket
Azo dyes like methyl orange (MO) are very toxic components due to their recalcitrant properties which makes their removal from wastewater of textile industries a significant issue. The present study aimed to study their removal by utilizing aluminum and Ni foam (NiF) as anodes besides Fe foam electrodes as cathodes in an electrocoagulation (EC) system. Primary experiments were conducted using two Al anodes, two NiF anodes, or Al-NiF anodes to predict their advantages and drawbacks. It was concluded that the Al-NiF anodes were very effective in removing MO dye without long time of treatment or Ni leaching at in the case of adopting the Al-Al or NiF-NiF anodes, respectively. The structure and surface morphology of the NiF electrode were inves
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Pollutants generation is strongly dependant on the firing temperature and reaction rates of the gaseous reactants in the gas turbine combustion chamber. An experimental study is conducted on a two-shaft T200D micro-gas turbine engine in order to evaluate the impact of injecting ethanol directly into the compressor inlet air on the exhaust emissions. The study is carried out in constant speed and constant load engine tests. Generally, the results showed that when ethanol was added in a concentration of 20% by volume of fuel flow; NOx emission was reduced by the half, while CO and UHC emissions were almost doubled with respect to their levels when burning conventional LPG fuel alone.
The research involves using phenol – formaldehyde (Novolak) resin as matrix for making composite material, while glass fiber type (E) was used as reinforcing materials. The specimen of the composite material is reinforced with (60%) ratio of glass fiber.
The impregnation method is used in test sample preparation, using molding by pressure presses.
All samples were exposure to (Co60) gamma rays of an average energy (2.5)Mev. The total doses were (208, 312 and 728) KGy.
The mechanical tests (bending, bending strength, shear force, impact strength and surface indentation) were performed on un irradiated and irrad
... Show MoreSolar energy usage in Iraq is facing many issues; one of those is the accumulation “of the dust on the surface of the solar module which” would highly lower its efficiency. The present work study the effect of dust accumulation” on installing fixed solar modules with different inclined angles 15o, 33o, 45o, 60o. Evaluation of the solar modules performance under different circumstance conditions such as rain, wind and humidity are considered in study of dust effect on solar module performance. The results show that the lowest output average efficiencies of solar modules occurs at 15o horizontally inclined angle are 7.4% , 6.7% , 8.0% , 8.1%, and 8.4% for the cor
... Show MoreHepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease that affects14 million people. Feasible research was conducted for identifying the genotypes and allele frequency of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-28β genes and their predictive role in disease incidence in Iraqi patients. The SNPs (rs28416813, rs4803219, rs11881222, and rs8103142) of IL-28β have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases. Ninety eight (98) HCV patients were included in this research; with average age ± SE (42.28 ± 3.44) years. Also, 80 healthy people (with average age ± SE (29.40 ± 2.84) years) were included as a control group. The SNPs were detected by allele-specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) using specific primers. The re
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