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: One of the recommended methods for reducing aerosol contamination during the daily regular usage of high-speed turbine and ultrasonic scaling is the use of preprocedural mouth rinse. Several agents have been investigated as a preprocedural mouth rinse. Chlorhexidine significantly reduce the viable microbial content of aerosol when used as a preprocedural rinse. Studies have shown that cetylpridinum chloride (CPC) mouthwash is equally effective as chlorhexidine in reducing plaque and gingivitis. This study compared the effect of 0.07% CPC to 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) as preprocedural mouth rinses in reducing the aerosol contamination by high-speed turbine. Materials and Methods: 36 patients were divided into three gro
... Show MoreIn this study, we introduce new a nanocomposite of functionalize graphene oxide FGO and functionalize multi wall carbon nanotube (F-MWCNT-FGO).The formation of nanocomposite was confirmed by FT-IR ,XRD and SEM. The magnitude of the dielectric permittivity of the (F-MWCNT-FGO) nanocomposite appears to be very high in the low frequency range and show a unique negative permittivity at frequencies range from 400 Hz to 4000Hz. The ac conductivity of nanocomposite reaches 23.8 S.m-1 at 100Hz.
Background: The finite element method (FEM) is expected to be one of the most effective computational tools for measuring the stress on implant-supported restorations. This study was designed using the 3D-FEM to evaluate the effect of two adhesive luting types of cement on the occlusal stress and deformation of a hybrid crown cemented to a mono-implant. Materials and Method: The mono-screw STL file was imported into the CAD/CAM system library from a database supported by De-Tech Implant Technology. This was to assist in the accurate reproduction of details and design of a simulated implant abutment. Virtually, a digital crown was designed to be cemented on an abutment screw. A minimum occlusal thickness of 1mm and marginal fitting of 1.2
... Show MoreThe Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) version of the random matrix theory (RMT) has been used to study the level density following up the proton interaction with 44Ca, 48Ti and 56Fe.
A promising analysis method has been implemented based on the available data of the resonance spacing, where widths are associated with Porter Thomas distribution. The calculated level density for the compound nuclei 45Sc,49Vand 57Co shows a parity and spin dependence, where for Sc a discrepancy in level density distinguished from this analysis probably due to the spin misassignment .The present results show an acceptable agreement with the combinatorial method of level density.
... Show MoreQuantum dots of CdSe, CdS and ZnS QDs were prepared by chemical reaction and used to fabricate organic quantum dot hybrid junction device. QD-LEDs were fabricated using ITO/TPD: PMMA/CdSe/Al, ITO/TPD: PMMA/CdS/Al and ITO/TPD: PMMA/ZnS/Al QDs devices which synthesized by phase segregation method. The hybrid white light emitting devices consists, of two-layers deposited successively on the ITO glass substrate; the first layer was of N, N’-bis (3-methylphenyl)-N, N’-bis (phenyl) benzidine (TPD) polymer mixed with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymers in ratio 1:1, while the second layer was 0.5wt% from each type of the (CdSe, CdS and ZnS) QDs for each device.The optical properties of QDs were characterized by UV-Vis. and photolum
... Show MoreOffline handwritten signature is a type of behavioral biometric-based on an image. Its problem is the accuracy of the verification because once an individual signs, he/she seldom signs the same signature. This is referred to as intra-user variability. This research aims to improve the recognition accuracy of the offline signature. The proposed method is presented by using both signature length normalization and histogram orientation gradient (HOG) for the reason of accuracy improving. In terms of verification, a deep-learning technique using a convolution neural network (CNN) is exploited for building the reference model for a future prediction. Experiments are conducted by utilizing 4,000 genuine as well as 2,000 skilled forged signatu
... Show MoreIn recent decades, drug modification is no longer unusual in the pharmaceutical world as living things are evolving in response to environmental changes. A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as aspirin is a common over-the-counter drug that can be purchased without medical prescription. Aspirin can inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandin by blocking the cyclooxygenase (COX) which contributes to its properties such as anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antiplatelet and etc. It is also being considered as a chemopreventive agent due to its antithrombotic actions through the COX’s inhibition. However, the prolonged use of aspirin can cause heartburn, ulceration, and gastro-toxicity in children and adults. This review article hi
... Show MoreImage steganography is undoubtedly significant in the field of secure multimedia communication. The undetectability and high payload capacity are two of the important characteristics of any form of steganography. In this paper, the level of image security is improved by combining the steganography and cryptography techniques in order to produce the secured image. The proposed method depends on using LSBs as an indicator for hiding encrypted bits in dual tree complex wavelet coefficient DT-CWT. The cover image is divided into non overlapping blocks of size (3*3). After that, a Key is produced by extracting the center pixel (pc) from each block to encrypt each character in the secret text. The cover image is converted using DT-CWT, then the p
... Show MoreBackground: Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a group of conditions affecting the reticuloendothelial system. It includes Letterer-Siwe disease, Hand-Schuller-Christian disease and eosinophilic granuloma and most often presents in childhood. Materials and methods: Twenty-five cases of LCH were diagnosed histologically and confirmed by CD1a antibody and assessed immunohistochemically using anti-RANKL and anti-RANK antibodies to evaluate osteoclastogenic mechanism. Results: Regarding jaw cases, there was a significant correlation between CD1a and RANK (P=0.016). While in the skull, highly significant correlation existed between RANK and RANKL (p=0.001). Among the sites, there was no statistically significant difference found for each
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