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.
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Background: One of the drawbacks of vital teeth bleaching is color stability. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of tea and tomato sauce on the color stability of bleached enamel in association with the application of MI Paste Plus (CPP-ACPF). Materials and Methods: Sixty enamel samples were bleached with 10% carbamide peroxide for two weeks then divided into three groups (A, B and C) of 20 samples each. After bleaching, the samples of each group were subdivided into two subgroups (n=10). While subgroups A1, B1 and C1 were kept in distilled water, A2, B2, and C2 were treated with MI Paste Plus. Then, the samples were immersed in different solutions as follow: A1 and A2 in distilled water (control); B1 and B2 in black
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The relationship of hyperuricemia to kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension and the risk of cardiovascular diseases remain controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of uric acid (UA) levels to find the higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with end stage renal disease that have diabetic nephropathy (DN), nephropathy with hypertension (NH) and patients with both diabetic nephropathy with hypertension (DNH). This study deals with 115 patients with end-stage renal disease under hemodialysis sub-grouped into 35 patients with (DN), 40 patients with (NH), and 40 patients with (DNH). Some biochemical parameters were determined in the serum of all participants such as HbA1c, fasting blood glucose (FBG), UA, urea,
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Background: Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is the most common painful oral mucosal disease, affecting approximately 20% of the population. RAS presents with a wide spectrum of severity ranging from a minor nuisance to complete debility. Many of factors thought to have been involved in its etiology; that might have at the same time a direct or indirect impact upon oxidant/antioxidant system and trigger free radicals production. The aim of this study was to determine the possible association of oxidant/total antioxidant status and recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). Subjects, materials and methods: The study consisted of thirty patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis and thirty healthy controls from which saliva and blood samples we
... Show MoreEndometrial Cancer (EC) is one of the most common malignancy of the female reproductive system. With an increasing incidence, it is important to improve the new prognosis ways for its pre-diagnosis that must be early, accurate and effective. This study aimed to search for biological (like some new interleukins) which could help in early diagnosis of EC before the hysterectomy. Currently not enough research is being done exploiting linking between the interleukins submitted in this study and EC. Epically IL-36 and IL-38, which have been recently described and are still under study in the world. This study is the first of its kind in Iraq. Fifty-five patients with EC (mainly in their first or second stage, due to early diagnosis and who ne
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Background: One of the most prevalent procedures in oral surgery is the removal of impacted mandibular third molars, typically accompanied by trismus, edema, and pain. Several methods and biomaterials were implemented to mitigate or avoid these surgical problems. Objectives: To evaluate the efficiency of chlorhexidine gel (WISDOM®) in minimizing postoperative sequelae associated with the impacted mandibular third molar that will be surgically extracted and its role in promoting early soft tissue closure of the surgical site. Methods: The study design was a double-masked and randomized, controlled clinical study that included healthy patients needing the removal of a mandibular third molar through surgery. The participants were rand
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Microbiological contamination by fungi impacts the quality and safety of wheat grain storage. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cold plasma in restricting the growth of the fungus, Aspergillus niger, which was isolated from wheat grains. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating at atmospheric pressure generated cold plasma that was used to treat the fungus, and the impact of this treatment was investigated at various periods 1, 2, 4, 6, and 15 minutes. The results revealed a highly significant decrease in the growth and number of spores of Aspergillus niger compared to the controls. This study revealed an efficient technique for enhancing wheat grain storage that could be a foundation for further large-scale studies.
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Chronic inflammation can induce proliferative events and posttranslational DNA modifications in prostate tissues through oxidative stress. The miR-155 expression is abnormally increased in tumors. Therefore, this study aims to explore the clinical significance of serum TNF-α and IL-1α as well as miR-155 expression in prostate cancer (PC) patients.
A total of 50 blood samples from patients diagnosed with prostate cancer were collected from the Oncology Department, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, along with samples from 50 healthy volunteers. Serum TNF-α and IL-1α levels in Iraqi males with prostate cancer were estimated by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent
assay (ELISA). The total RNA was extracted from all subjects and con
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Helicobacter pylori (HP) is the etiopathogenic agent of gastric and duodenal disorders ranging from gastritis to malignancy. It is also associated with many extraintestinal diseases, including cardiovascular disease and its associated risk factors. To evaluate the link between HP infection and some cardiovascular risk factors by studying the effects of HP infection on body mass index, blood pressure, and serum lipid profile among patients having gastritis with and without HP infection. A crosssectional study included 1214 patients who had gastritis diagnosed by gastroscopy examination. Those patients were in the age range of 30-65 years and they were divided according to their gender into 725 females and 489 males depending on the 1
... Show MoreHelicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most common human pathogens in the world. Several studies that have investigated the correlation between H. pylori infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) found that H. pylori infection is more frequent in the patients, while the results of other studies were unclear. This paper aims to investigate the interrelation between the infection with H. pylori and type 2 DM in Dohuk governorate, Iraq. Eighty four diabetes patients (41 males, 43 females) and 92 healthy controls were involved in this study. H. pylori status was assessed in serum samples by using ELISA test. Out of the 84 patients,
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