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: The healing process involves the restoration of the body’s structural integrity. The extracellular matrix, blood cells, cytokines, and growth factors are all involved in this dynamic, intricate, multicellular process. Hemostasis, the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the maturation phase are all included. Opuntia ficus-indica oil (OFI) and Punica grantum (PGS) oil are extensively used natural treatments that are regarded as advantageous for their sedative, spasmolytic, and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as for angiogenesis promotion, fibroblast increase, collagen production and deposition, and extracellular-matrix remodeling. Materials and methods: Twenty-four New Zealand rab
... Show MoreBiologically active natural compounds are molecules produced by plants or plant-related microbes, such as endophytes. Many of these metabolites have a wide range of antimicrobial activities and other pharmaceutical properties. This study aimed to evaluate (in vitro) the antifungal activities of the secondary metabolites obtained from Paecilomyces sp. against the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani. The endophytic fungus Paecilomyces was isolated from Moringa oleifera leaves and cultured on potato dextrose broth for the production of the fungal metabolites. The activity of Paecilomyces filtrate against the radial growth of Rhizoctonia solani was tested by mixing the filtrate with potato dextrose agar medium at concentrations of 15%,
... Show MoreBiologically active natural compounds are molecules produced by plants or plant-related microbes, such as endophytes. Many of these metabolites have a wide range of antimicrobial activities and other pharmaceutical properties. This study aimed to evaluate (in vitro) the antifungal activities of the secondary metabolites obtained from Paecilomyces sp. against the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani. The endophytic fungus Paecilomyces was isolated from Moringa oleifera leaves and cultured on potato dextrose broth for the production of the fungal metabolites. The activity of Paecilomyces filtrate against the radial growth of Rhizoctonia solani was tested by mixing the filtrate with potato dextrose agar medium at concentrations of 15%,
... Show MoreThe green method was chosen for the preparation of nano iron oxide due to its simplicity, ease of preparation, and purity, compared to other methods. Nano iron oxide was made using a substance that causes precipitation and a coating from the alcoholic extract of orange leaves from Iraq. It was examined structurally and spectrally using several techniques, including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The diagnosis proved that the nano iron oxide was successfully prepared in a spherical form and with an average size of 71.1 nm. The nano iron oxide particles were tested for their ability to remove crystal
... Show MoreBackground: Bone density is a major factor that affect mini implant primarily stability; no Iraqi studies have evaluated bone density related to mini-implant placement for orthodontic anchorage at age 13 -15 years. The present research aims to evaluate gender, side and site differences in the bone density at various orthodontic implant sites for the maxillary alveolar bone. Materials and methods: Twenty nine individuals (16 males and 13 females) had subjected to clinical examination, then 64-multislice computed tomography scan data were evaluated and bone density was measured in Hounsfield unit at 21 points (9 points for each side and 3 points between the right and left central incisors) . Results: The results obtained showed that there ar
... Show MoreA newly developed analytical method was conducted for the determination of Ketotifen fumarate (KTF) in pharmaceuticals drugs via quenching of continuous fluorescence of 9(10H)-Acridone (ACD). The method was applied using flow injection system of a new homemade ISNAG fluorimeter with fluorescence measurements at ± 90◦ via 2×4 solar cell. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 1-45 mmol/L, with correlation coefficient r = 0.9762 and the limit of detection 29.785 µg/sample from the stepwise dilution for the minimum concentration in the linear dynamic ranged of the calibration graph. The method was successfully applied to the determination of Ketotifen fumarate in two different pharma
... Show MoreCircular thin walled structures have wide range of applications. This type of structure is generally exposed to different types of loads, but one of the most important types is a buckling. In this work, the phenomena of buckling was studied by using finite element analysis. The circular thin walled structure in this study is constructed from; cylindrical thin shell strengthen by longitudinal stringers, subjected to pure bending in one plane. In addition, Taguchi method was used to identify the optimum combination set of parameters for enhancement of the critical buckling load value, as well as to investigate the most effective parameter. The parameters that have been analyzed were; cylinder shell thickness, shape of stiffeners section an
... Show MoreThis study examines the removal of ciprofloxacin in an aqueous solution using green tea silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs). The synthesized Ag-NPs have been classified by the different techniques of SEM, AFM, BET, FTIR, and Zeta potential. Spherical nanoparticles with average sizes of 32 nm and a surface area of 1.2387m2/g are found to be silver nanoparticles. The results showed that the ciprofloxacin removal efficiency depends on the initial pH (2.5-10), CIP (2-15 mg/L), temperature (20-50°C), time (0-180 min), and Ag-NPs dosage (0.1-1g/L). Batch experiments revealed that the removal rate with ratio (1:1) (w/w) were 52%, and 79.8% of the 10 mg/L of CIP at 60, and 180 minutes, respectively with optimal pH=4. Kinetic models for adsorpti
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