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.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors that influence the perforation, regardless of the presence of H. pylori infection, in a sample of Iraqi patients with peptic ulcers, admitted to Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital. A total of 90 patients who had perforated peptic ulcer participated in this study. The diagnosis was based on history, clinical examination, laboratory and radiological investigations and was confirmed intraoperatively. A number of probable risk factors for perforation were investigated. Eighty participants were males and 10 were females (male to female ratio 8:1). About 42.2% of patients were in their fifth decade of life. Forty-nine (54.4%) patients were asymptomatic be
Objectives: With the advent of ongoing novel modalities toward the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/NEU - positive malignancies, the serious side effects of chemoradiotherapy have been minimized. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the patterns of immunohistochemical expression of the promising therapeutic target (HER2/NEU) among Iraqi patients with medulloblastoma in an attempt to provide basic histological information’s that would help in future clinical researches.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 42 formalin - fixed paraffin - embedded tissue blocks represent cases of surgically removed medulloblastomas were retrieved from the archived materials in a specialized surgical ho
... Show MoreMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, immune mediated disease of the central nervous system, mostly affecting young adults with mean age of 30 years, twice as high in women compared to men. The etiology of MS is not fully elucidated. MS symptoms are directly related to demyelination and axonal loss, along with other psychological symptoms, can result in functional limitations, disability and reduced quality of life (QoL). The QoL assessments in patients with a chronic disease may contribute to improving treatment and could even be of prognostic value. The goals of this study were to compare the QoL of Iraqi patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS),using three different diseas
... Show MoreBackground: A recent discoveries used for reconstruction in maxillofacial surgery is the composite bone graft materials. The availability of collagen I matrix make our choice to use this material in surgery .It is biomaterials that its structure could be modified by simple techniques. Studies to find a new materials use for bone reconstruction is to overcome the disadvantages of autogenous bone and the synthetic resorbable bone substitutes.
Objectives: This study was done to evaluate the effect of biphasic calcium phosphate collagen composite (ccpc) on healing of bone defects after oral surgical procedures.
Type of the study: A cross sectional study.
Method: It involved 60 patients, 35 male and 25 female, age (15-
... Show MoreBackground: Helicobacters are motile curved, oxidase and catalase positive,
gram negative rods similar in morphology to vibrios. The cells have polar flagella
and are often attached at their ends given pairs "S" shapes or seagull
appearance.
Object i ves: The present study was undertaken to estimate the serodiffusion of
H. pylori and hepatitis A virus (HAV) in 300 patients attending two centers in
Baghdad.
Metthods:: HAV was determined by the detection of HAV-IgM in the serum samples. Detection of H. pylori was by ELISA and endoscopic examination.
Resul t s: The serodiffusion of H. pylori was 40% (n=120). Out of the 120
patients infected with H. pylori, 50(41 .6%) patients were diagnosed clinically to
have g
Background: Bowel cancer is the most prevalent digestive system cancer and is the 4th largest cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In Iraq, colon and rectal cancer (CRC) is the 6th most common malignancy in males and the 5th in females. This cancer is sluggish in growth, which gives a window of opportunity to screen for both precursor lesions and early cancer. The Cluster of Differentiation 47 (CD47) protein is a type of transmembrane glycoproteins found on nearly all human cells, including non-hematopoietic and hematopoietic cells. CD47 promotes CRC growth by triggering angiogenesis and apoptosis of tumor cell. Objectives: To evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of (CD47) in various colorectal samples from Iraqi patients
... Show MoreThe problem of noise in the Baghdad airport has been examined in this study; and noise measurement and survey studies have been carried out at four high noise level (operation, training and development, quality system, and information and technology) zones located in this region. Noise exposure is a common hazard to workforce in general although at varying degrees depending on the occupation, as many workers are exposed for long periods of time to potentially hazardous noise. A questionnaire was completed by 122 workers during this study in order to determine the physical, physiological, and psycho-social impacts of the noise on workers and to specify what kind of measurements have been taken both by the employers and workers for protection
... Show MoreThe problem of noise in the Baghdad airport has been examined in this study; and noise measurement and survey studies have been carried out at four high noise level (operation, training and development, quality system, and information and technology) zones located in this region. Noise exposure is a common hazard to workforce in general although at varying degrees depending on the occupation, as many workers are exposed for long periods of time to potentially hazardous noise. A questionnaire was completed by 122 workers during this study in order to determine the physical, physiological, and psycho-social impacts of the noise on workers and to specify what kind of measurements have been taken both by the employers and workers for protection
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to investigate the main causes of the family violence and its
social effects.
The study reveals that main factors causes of the violence are interaction between
multi-factors.
The study shows that the poverty, low educational level, house crowded, large family
size, all of these variables causes of the violence, and then causes of family disorganization
and juvenile delinquency.
The study contain of three sections:
First: Focused on the causes of the violence.
Second: The interaction between multi factors.
Third: Social effects of family violence.