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.
Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) process offers various advantages like the fabrication of the ceramic coatings and bodies with dense packing, good sinterability and homogenous microstructure. The variables namely (applied potential, deposition time and sintering temperature) affected the development of hydroxyapatite (HAP) coatings. The coating weight and thickness were found to increase with the increase in applied potential or coating time. Sintering temperature was found to affect in change phases of the metal, furthermore the firing shrinkage of the HAP coating on a constraining metal substrate leads to serve cracking. XRD Characterization indicates the formation of a contamination free phase pure, and the optical micrographs show th
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Two of the main advantages of segmental construction are economics, as well as the rapid construction technique. One of the forms of segmental construction, for structural elements, is the segmental beams that built-in short sections, which referred to segments. This research aims to exhibit a new technique for the fabrication of short-span segmental beams from wedge-shaped concrete segments and carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) in laminate form. The experimental campaign included eight short-span segmental beams. In this study, two selected parameters were considered. These parameters are; the number of layers of CFRP laminates and the adhesive material that used to bond segments to each other, forming short-span segmental be
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The aim of this work is to evaluate the onc-electron expectation values < r > from the radial electronic density funetion D(r) for different wave ?'unctions for the 2s state of Li atom. The wave functions used were published in 1963,174? and 1993 , respectavily. Using " " ' wave function as a Slater determinant has used the positioning technique for the analysis open shell system of Li (Is2 2s) State.
This paper deals with the determination of stresses and deflections of clamped circular diaphragm strengthened by one or two ring-shaped concentric ribs, under uniform static and dynamic pressures. The simulation has been achieved by using the well-known engineering software finite element package MSC/NASTRAN.
As a design study, the effect of using a clamped ring, and the effect of using a ring-shaped rib on both surfaces of diaphragm instead of one, has been discussed in this work. To show the effectiveness of this study, results of this work have been compared with published data [1].
In the conclusion, the authors underline the validity of the&n
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A non-parametric kernel method with Bootstrap technology was used to estimate the confidence intervals of the system failure function of the log-normal distribution trace data. These are the times of failure of the machines of the spinning department of the weaving company in Wasit Governorate. Estimating the failure function in a parametric way represented by the method of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). The comparison between the parametric and non-parametric methods was done by using the average of Squares Error (MES) criterion. It has been noted the efficiency of the nonparametric methods based on Bootstrap compared to the parametric method. It was also noted that the curve estimation is more realistic and appropriate for the re
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The present paper focuses in a particular on the study of the biochar production conditions by the thermal pyrolysis of biomass from local Iraqi palm fronds, in the absence of oxygen. The biochar product can be used as soil improvers. The effect of temperature on the extent of the thermal pyrolysis process was studied in the range from 523 to 773K with a residence time of 15 minutes and nitrogen gas flow rate of 0.1 l/min. The produced biochar was characterized as will as biomass and degradation products. The results showed that the rate of biochar production decreases with the increasing in temperature, also it was noted that the normalized biochar surface area and pore size increases with the increasin
... Show MoreMethotrexate (MTX), a folate antagonist agent, is mainly used in treatment of malignant tumors and autoimmune diseases. The present study was undertaken to determine whether antioxidant vitamin (vitamin A) could ameliorate methotrexate induced oxidative stress in male rabbits. Twenty male rabbits were randomly assigned into four groups. Group 1: control group, Group 2: MTX-treated group (received 20 mg/kg MTX intraperitoneally), Group 3: Vit.A treated group received 5000 IU Vit.A orally) and Group 4: MTX+Vit.A treated group received MTX 20 mg/kg plus 5000 IU vit.A). After 4 weeks of treatment, blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture to determine the serum malondialdehyde (MDA), as a good indicator for lipid peroxidation and
... Show MoreIn this paper, an adaptive integral Sliding Mode Control (SMC) is employed to control the speed of Three-Phase Induction Motor. The strategy used is the field oriented control as ac drive system. The SMC is used to estimate the frequency that required to generates three phase voltage of Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) invertor . When the SMC is used with current controller, the quadratic component of stator current is estimated by the controller. Instead of using current controller, this paper proposed estimating the frequency of stator voltage since that the slip speed is function of the quadratic current . The simulation results of using the SMC showed that a good dynamic response can be obtained under load
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