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: Periodontal diseases are inflammatory diseases affecting the supporting tissues of the teeth. One of the leading environmental factors that are closely related not only to the risk but also to the prognosis of periodontitis is smoking. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of smoking on periodontal health status and to measure the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in smokers and nonsmokers chronic periodontitis patients, also it aimed to test the correlation between the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and the clinical periodontal parameters. Materials and Methods: Five milliliters samples of un-stimulated whole saliva and full-mouth clinical periodontal recordings (plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing,
... Show MoreThe effect of mental and physical health on the feelings of subject welfare is known as health-related quality of life. The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a common respiratory diseases. Assessment of health-related quality of life is considered important in such chronic disease. The objective of the current study was to measure health-related quality of life in a sample of chronic obstructive pulmonary patients in AL- Diwanyia city/Iraq. This study was carried out on 150 already diagnosed COPD patients who attended to the Center of Respiratory Diseases/AL-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital during September 2019 to January 2020. The Arabic version of St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire was used to asses
... Show MoreType 2 diabetes mellitus is often characterized by hyperglycemia as a result of increased insulin resistance in hepatic/peripheral tissues and pancreactic B-cell dysfunction. Approximately 92% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus demonstrate insulin resistance, however hyperglycemia is always a consequence of insulin deficiency. This study was done on 120 patients newly diagnosed diabetes type 2 characterized by dyslipidemia that is increased triglycerides and decreased HDL. Hypoglycemia and weight gain are common problem with oral sulfonyl urea drugs. In this work three different oral hypoglycemic drugs repaglinide and glibenclamide (insulin secretagogues) and rosiglitazone (insulin sensitizer) were used for treatment of patients w
... Show MoreThe purified frog skin peptides were tested on leukemic patients lymphocytes, which revealed effects of cytotoxicity. Four frogs (Rana ridibunda) were stimulated by single intra-peritoneal injection of norepinephrine-HCl . Five different peptides;1(18) A, 2(19) L, 3(20) I,4(21) E and 5(22) Y were isolated and quantified. The peptide 3(20)I had 5.87% of hemolysis, while healthy human lymphocytes cytotoxic activity was for 2(19)L with inhibition( -10.4%).All peptides were subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results revealed peptides 1(18)A, 2(19)L, 3(20)I which appeared as low as 10 KDa marker. Theoretically, the whole polypeptide had a molecular weight 7488.61 Dalt
... Show MoreBackground: Facial disfigurement can be the result of a congenital anomaly, trauma or tumor surgery, in many cases the prosthetic rehabilitation is indicated. Maxillofacial prosthetic materials should have desirable and ideal physical, aesthetic, and biological properties and those properties should be kept for long period of time in order to reach patient acceptance. Silicone elastomer are the most commonly used material for facial restoration because of its favorable properties mechanically and physically as the biocompatibility and good elasticity. Aim of this study: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of addition of Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) Nano fillers in different concentrations on tear strength and hardness of VST 50F room tempe
... Show MoreThis paper presents a three-dimensional Dynamic analysis of a rockfill dam with different foundation depths by considering the dam connection with both the reservoir bed and water. ANSYS was used to develop the three-dimensional Finite Element (FE) model of the rockfill dam. The essential objective of this study is the discussion of the effects of different foundation depths on the Dynamic behaviour of an embanked dam. Four foundation depths were investigated. They are the dam without foundation (fixed base), and three different depths of the foundation. Taking into consideration the changing of upstream water level, the empty, minimum, and maximum water levels, the results of the three-dimensional F