Background: Differentiation between malignant and benign vertebral compression fracture is often problematic. This is precisely difficult in elderly who are predisposed to benign compression caused by osteoporosis .Establishing correct diagnosis is of great importance in determining the treatment andprognosis.A study was performed to determine which magnetic resonance imaging findings are useful in discrimination between metastatic and acute osteoporotic compression fractures of the spine. Recently MRI is being increasingly used for evaluation of these fractures.Objectives: The aim of this study is to establish the correct diagnosis of malignant and benign compression vertebral fracture by MRI to determine treatment and prognosis.Methods: MRI of (45 )patients with vertebral compression fracture who underwent MRI of spine during 2 years period ( 2004-2006) in Neuro surgical hospital were retrospectively reviewed by an expedient radiologist , A collapsed vertebra were considered to be acute if there was recent history of back pain of less than 3moths. All MRI sequences needed for spine examination was done( T1WI SE, T2WI GE STIR, and Mylography ) and Gadolinium contrast medium was given to all patients..Results: Of total 45 patients (31male, 14 female, their age range between 18-72years) , The criteria used to differentiate between benign andmalignant collapse spine on MRI was based on the signal intensity, morphology and contrast enhancement for the correct diagnosis. Homogenous and diffuse abnormal signal intensity, posterior convexity and involvement of pedicles are sign that are strongly suggestive of malignant collapse .Conversely, a band like area of low signal intensity adjacent to depressed end plateand preservation of signal intensity of vertebra suggest benign nature of the collapse.Conclusions: We found that MRI features is helpful in differentiation of malignant and benign compression fractures in majority of cases, and if initial MRI finding are equivocal correlation with other images technique, follow up and biopsy in selected cases helpful in arriving correct diagnosis
The presence of alkaloids in Crassula ovata is a topic that is still unexplored, as there are no published studies on the matter. This study demonstrates the presence of an alkaloid compound (and its class) for the first time in Crassula ovata. The plant material was defatted with n-hexane, and a Soxhlet apparatus was used for the extraction process, while the acid-base method was used for the isolation of alkaloids from the chloroform fractions. The quaternary alkaloid was precipitated from the aqueous layer spontaneously, in high quantity. By using standard spectroscopic methods (including liquid chromatography - mass spectroscopy) we were able to clarify the structure of the precipi¬tated compound as a tetrahydroprotoberberine a
... Show MoreIn the present work, 9-fluorenone-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester (1) was prepared from 9-fluorenone-2-carboxylic acid and then converted into the acid hydrazide (2). Compound (2), is the key intermediate for the synthesis of several series of new compounds such as substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (3-6) were synthesized from the condensation of different substituted benzoic acids with compound (2) using POCl3 as condensing agent. Treatment of compound (2) with formic acid gave the N-formyl hydrazide (7), which upon refluxing with phosphorous pentoxide in benzene yielded the corresponding 5-(9-fluorenone-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (8). Reaction of hydrazide (2) with phenyl isocyanate to give N-phenyl semicarbazide derivative (9), then thi
... Show MoreThe synthesis of zeolite NaX from locally available kaolin has been studied. The operating conditions for zeolite NaX production from kaolin with good crystallinity were as follows; a gel formation step of metakaolin in alkaline medium in presence of additional silica to crystallize the zeolite was achieved at 60 oC for 1 hr,and with stirring. In ageing step of the reactants at room temperature for 5 days and crystallization step at 87±2 oC for 24 hr. The catalytic activity of catalyst prepared from local kaolin was studied by using cumene cracking as a model for catalytic cracking and compared with standard HY zeolite and HX zeolite catalysts. The activity test was carried out in a laboratory continuous flow unit with fixed bed reactor
... Show MoreNew 1,2,4-triazole derivatives of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MB) are reported. Ethyl (benzimidazole-2-yl thio) acetate (1) has been prepared by condensing 2-mercaptobenzimidazole with ethylchloroacetate. The ester (1) on reacting with hydrazine hydrate gave the corresponding acetohydrazide(2)which was reacted separately with phenylisocyanate and phenylisothiocyanate, followed by ring closure in an alkaline medium giving 3-[(benzimidazole-2-yl thio) methyl]-4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole-5-ol and 3-[(benzimidazole-2-yl thio) methyl]-4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole-5-thiol respectively (6,7). Reaction of acetohydrazide (2) with CS2 and ethanol/KOH, gave dithiocarbazate salt (8). Cyclization of (8) with hydrazine hydrate gave 3-[(benzimi
... Show MoreA large amount of thermal energy is generated from burning hazardous chemical wastes, and the temperature of the flue gases in hazardous waste incinerators reaches up to (1200 °C). The flue gases are cooled to (40°C) and are treated before emission. This thermal energy can be utilized to produce electrical power by designing a system suitable for dangerous flue gases in the future depending on the results of much research about using a proto-type small steam power plant that uses safe fuel to study and develop the electricity generation process with water tube boiler which is manufactured experimentally with theoretical development for some of its parts which are inefficient in experimental work. The studied system gen
... Show MoreThe objective of this study was to isolate and identify the asparaginase-producing bacteria, then purify and characterize the enzyme in order to investigate their properties in the future. Fifteen local bacterial isolates were isolated from various sites in the city of Baghdad, identified by conventional morphological and biochemical procedures, and confirmed using vitek 2 methods, and submitted to primary screening processes for asparaginase production. For secondary screening, eight isolates with the greatest yellow zone ability on a specific solid medium were chosen. Bacillus sp. was reported to have the highest enzyme production (7.5 U/mg proteins). After 24 hours of incubation, submerged fermentation yielded optimal conditi
... Show MoreIn this work the production of activated carbon (AC) from Imperata is done by microwave assisted Potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation and using this activated carbon for the purpose of the uptake of amoxicillin (AMX) by adsorption process from aqueous solution. The effects for irradiation power (450-800W), irradiation time (6-12min) as well as impregnation ratio (0.5-1 g/g) on the AMX uptake and yield AMX uptake at an initial concentration of AMX (150 mg/g). The optimum conditions were 700 W irradiation power, 10 min time of irradiation, as well as 0.8 g/g impregnation ratio with 14.821% yield and 12.456 mg/g AMX uptake. Total volume of hole and the area of the surface (BET) are 0.3027 m³/g, and 552.7638 m²/g respectively. The properti
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