Background: Quality of life in brain tumor patients is an emerging issue and has prompted neurosurgeons to recon¬sider the need for cognitive assessment in the course of treatment. To date there has been a lack of comprehensive neuropsychological assessment performed preoperatively and in the acute postoperative period in our hospitals.Objectives: to establish the effects of tumors and their surgical treatment, from a neuropsychological perspective, on cognitive functioning in patients with cerebral Gliomas. Methods: This is a prospective study conducted in the Neurosurgical Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, during the period from January 1999 to January 2001. Any patient admitted during the period of the study with clinical history, signs, symptoms, and contrast enhanced MRI suggesting a cerebral glioma and confirmed by postoperative histopathological results of glioma has been included in this study. While multifocal lesions, long-lasting epilepsy, use of antiepileptic therapy, multiple cranial lesions, previous cranial surgery, any chronic illness, and histopathological result of other tumors were exclusion criteria. All patients were at their first operation for brain tumors. Patients were examined by analyzing several functional domains (intelligence, executive functions, memory, language, praxis, gnosis and mood state) in order to establish the effect of tumor and surgery on cognition.Results: 29 patients who fulfilled the selection criteria were included. Mean duration of clinical history was 5 months (range 1–9 months). At baseline, using test- and domain-based criteria, 79% and 38% of patients, respectively, were impaired, the former related to tumor factors such as edema (P < 0.05), larger size (P < 0.05) and higher grade (P = 0.001). Verbal memory, visuospatial memory and word fluency were the most frequently affected functions, partly associated with depression. Postoperatively, 38% and 55% of patients, respectively, were unchanged, 24% and 21% improved, and 38% and 24% worsened; 24% and 62% of patients were intact, respec-tively.Conclusions: The extent of removal did not influence the outcome. Improvement involved previously impaired functions and was correlated with high-grade tumors. Worsening regar¬ded executive functions was related to tumor size and was partly explained by radiological findings on postoperative MRI. This prospective study, focusing on the effects of tumor and surgery, showed that tumor significantly affects cognitive func¬tions, mainly due to the mass effect and higher grading. Surgical treatment improved the functions most frequently affected preoperatively and caused worsening of execu¬tive functions soon after operation, leaving the overall cognitive burden unchanged and capable of improvement prospectively.
Background: Sclerotherapy is a simple treatment modality for treatment of infantile hemangioma and slow-flow vascular malformations; Polidocanol is a mild sclerosing agent that is traditionally used in treatment of varicose veins. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness, treatment outcome, and complications of polidocanol foam sclerotherapy for infantile hemangioma and slow-flow vascular malformations. Materials and methods: Between March 2013 and December 2014, seventeen patients with infantile hemangioma and slow-flow vascular malformations treated with polidocanol 1% foam sclerotherapy. Foam was prepared by Tessari’s method. Injection performed under general or local anesthesia, injections were repeated (if necessary) on mon
... Show MoreIron slag is a byproduct generated in huge quantities from recycled remnants of iron and steel factories; therefore, the possibility of using this waste in the removal of benzaldehyde from contaminated water offers an excellent topic in sustainability field. Results reveal that the removal efficiency was equal to 85% for the interaction of slag and water contaminated with benzaldehyde at the best operational conditions of 0.3 g/100 mL, 6, 180 min, and 250 rpm for the sorbent dosage, initial pH, agitation time, and speed, respectively with 300 mg/L initial concentration. The maximum uptake capacity of iron slag was 118.25 mg/g which was calculated by the Langmuir model. Physical sorption may be the major mechanism for the removal of
... Show MorePersistence of antibiotics in the aquatic environment has raised concerns regarding their potential influence on potable water quality and human health. This study analyzes the presence of antibiotics in potable water from two treatment plants in Baghdad City. The collected samples were separated using a solid-phase extraction method with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) cartridge before being analyzed. The detected antibiotics in the raw and finished drinking water were analyzed and assessed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), with fluorometric detector and UV detector. The results confirmed that different antibiotics including fluoroquinolones and
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor utilized for the treatment of hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus infections; and is now one of the most widely used antiretroviral drug. However, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate can induce nephrotoxicity, which may be attributed to the interaction between such drug and the organic anion transporters (hOAT1, and OAT3) with consequent changes in levels of some parameters that may have a role in nephrotoxicity. Thiazide diuretics have high to intermediate potency of inhibition of OAT1s and OAT3; thus, it may possess nephroprotective effects. This study was designed to investigate whether hydrochlorthiazide has nephroprotective effects on tenofovir diso
... Show MoreLimited importance of research in a stand on the most important difficulties faced by both faculty and parents to communicate with each process to follow up on their children, and the analysis and inventory of the obstacles that hinder the educational process, and work to develop a vision of how to address these constraints and the important role of technology in the treatment of problems of the society so as to develop frameworks future to minimize the errors and the problems they face, and the development outlook for future generations in order to promote the educational level, especially that Iraq is going through a change in conditions in all sectors. Through the questionnaire, which includes questions set that was made on a sample o
... Show MoreA dose of ten grams of the roots and leaves of Nettle (Urtica dioica) dissolved in (200)ml of boiled water then covered for (10)min. was given to a sample of (15) patients attending to the herbal department of ministry of health complaining of malnutrition and low Hb(hemoglobin) concentration and PCV(packed cell volume) levels with absence of any other predisposing factors disease inorder to find the effects of these roots and leaves on Hb and PCV levels for different periods of time in relation to age and sex variations . The study have shown that this mixture has a high significant effect (p<0.001) in elevating (Hb) concentration and PCV levels on those patients according to the differences recorded from the start of the basic period unt
... Show MoreBoth methotrexate and vitamin D3 are used in combination for the treatment of various diseases. The aim of this study is to highlight the effect of vitamin D3 on methotrexate-induced jejunum damage using biochemical and histopathological studies. Seven groups of both sexes of rats were selected and treated as follows: (Group I and Group II) : control 1,control 2 (I.P normal saline) daily for 14 and 21 days respectively ; (Group III and Group IV) :vitamin D3 groups (500 IU/rat/day) orally for 14 and 21 days, respectively;(Group V): once daily dose of methotrexate 20mg/kg, I.P injected for 4 days;(Group VI):vitamin D3 (500 IU/rat/day) once daily for 14 days and methotrexate (20 mg/kg I.P) injected only at day 10;.(Group
... Show MoreThe application of ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) processes in the handling of raw produced water have been investigated in the present study. Experiments of both ultrafiltration and nanofiltration processes are performed in a laboratory unit, which is operated in a cross-flow pattern. Various types of hollow fiber membranes were utilized in this study such as poly vinyl chloride (PVC) UF membrane, two different polyether sulfone (PES) NF membranes, and poly phenyl sulfone PPSU NF membrane. It was found that the turbidity of the treated water is higher than 95 % by using UF and NF membranes. The chemical oxygen demand COD (160 mg/l) and Oil content (26.8 mg/l) were found after treatment according to the allowable limits set
... Show MoreA study in the treatment and reuse of oily wastewater generated from the process of fuel oil treatment of gas turbine power plant was performed. The feasibility of using hollow fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membrane and nanofiltration (NF) membrane type polyamide thin-film composite in a pilot plant was investigated. Three different variables: pressure (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 bars), oil content (10, 20, 30 and 40 ppm), and temperature (15, 20, 30 and 40 ᵒC) were employed in the UF process while TDS was kept constant at 150 ppm. Four different variables: pressure (2, 3, 4 and 5 bar), oil content (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 ppm), total dissolved solids (TDS) (100, 200,300 and 400 ppm), and temperature (15, 20, 30 and 40 ᵒC) were manipulated with the h
... Show MoreThe present work provides to treat real oily saline wastewater released from drilling oil sites by the use of electrocoagulation technique. Aluminum tubes were utilized as electrodes in a concentric manner to minimize the concentrations of 113400 mg TDS/L, 65623 mg TSS/L, and the ions of 477 mg HCO3/L, 102000 mg Cl/L and 5600 mg Ca/L presented in real oily wastewater under the effect of the operational parameters (the applied current and reaction time) by making use of the central composite rotatable design. The final concentrations of TDS, TSS, HCO3, Cl, and Ca that obtained were 93555 ppm (17.50%), 11011 ppm (83.22%), 189ppm (60.38%), 80000ppm (22%), and 4200 ppm (25%), respectively, under the optimum values of the operational parameters
... Show More