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 use of bio-fruit waste has more attention in recent years because of the low cost of bio-fibers and the protection of the environment. In this study, the epoxy was reinforced with fruit residues (cantaloupe peel powder) in proportions (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% by weight) as results of mechanical tests such as impact, hardness, flexural and compression.
Adding sub microns particle size cantaloupe peels particles with a weight ratio of 7.5% improves the epoxy mechanical properties, like impact strength, hardness, flexural strength, and compression strength by 59.43%, 5.8%, 45.7%, and 118.2%, respectively.
Using X-ray diffraction, the crystallite size ( D) of cantaloupe peel the powder was about (3 nm).
In
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In this work, strains and dynamic crack growth were studied and analyzed in thin flat plate with a surface crack at the center, subjected to cycling low velocity impact loading for two types of aluminum plates (2024, 6061). Experimental and numerical methods were implemented to achieve this research. Numerical analysis using program (ANSYS11-APDL) based on finite element method used to analysis the strains with respect to time at crack tip and then find the velocity of the crack growth under cycling impact loading. In the experimental work, a rig was designed and manufactured to applying the cycling impact loading on the cracked specimens. The grid points was screened in front of the crack tip to measure the elastic-plas
... Show MoreMelanoides tuberculata (O. F. Müller, 1774), a freshwater snail native to eastern Mediterranean, eastern Africa, southeast Asia, southern Asia, India, and Malaysia, it is an effective invader and is now nearly globally distributed. This snail has been studied with interest because of its rapidly distributed, and because of being can serve as compatible intermediate host for many of trematodes in the world. We have summarized information from many articles in order to highlight the most important aspects of this invader snail life.
In regression testing, Test case prioritization (TCP) is a technique to arrange all the available test cases. TCP techniques can improve fault detection performance which is measured by the average percentage of fault detection (APFD). History-based TCP is one of the TCP techniques that consider the history of past data to prioritize test cases. The issue of equal priority allocation to test cases is a common problem for most TCP techniques. However, this problem has not been explored in history-based TCP techniques. To solve this problem in regression testing, most of the researchers resort to random sorting of test cases. This study aims to investigate equal priority in history-based TCP techniques. The first objective is to implement
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Finite Element Approach is employed in this research work to solve the governing differential equations related to seepage via its foundation's dam structure. The primary focus for this reason is the discretization of domain into finite elements through the placement of imaginary nodal points and the discretization of governing equations into an equation system; An equation for each nodal point or part, and unknown variables are solved. The SEEP / W software (program) is a sub-program of the Geo-Studio software, which is used by porous soil media to compensate for the problems of seepage. To achieve the research goals, a study was carried out on Hemrin dam, which located in the Diyala River 100 km northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Thus, o
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The goal of this work is demonstrating, through the gradient observation of a of type linear ( -systems), the possibility for reducing the effect of any disturbances (pollution, radiation, infection, etc.) asymptotically, by a suitable choice of related actuators of these systems. Thus, a class of ( -system) was developed based on finite time ( -system). Furthermore, definitions and some properties of this concept -system and asymptotically gradient controllable system ( -controllable) were stated and studied. More precisely, asymptotically gradient efficient actuators ensuring the weak asymptotically gradient compensation system ( -system) of known or unknown disturbances are examined. Consequently, under convenient hypo
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One hundred forty three of Klebsiellapneumoniae isolates had been collected from some hospitals in Baghdad city. The isolates were taken from different clinical specimens.Antimicrobial susceptibility test was carried out towards fifteen antimicrobial agents by using Vitek2 system with Antimicrobial susceptibility test cards. The results of antibiogram showed that the local isolates were possess highly resistance towards most antimicrobial agents under study. The high resistance wastoAmpicillin while the low resistance was to Imipenem.Two methods were used for detection of Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases (ESBLs) production; first methods by using of Vitek2 system,thesecondmethods by using of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to dis
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