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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All major organs may be impacted by the connective disease systemic lupus erythematosus, a separate risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Adhesion molecules like intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecules (VCAM) can detect endothelial damage and dysfunction, which appear to play a crucial role. This study investigated whether people with SLE had elevated subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis risk factors. Traditional CAD risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia cannot entirely explain this elevation. It is thought that immunological dysfunction also increases CAD risk in SLE patients. The study aimed to assess early endothelial changes in SLE Iraqi female patients w
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The hazardous metabolic effects of treating schizophrenia patients with olanzapine comprise serotonin 2C receptor (5-HT2C) antagonists. Metabolic side effects of antipsychotic drugs, including lipid abnormalities, disturbed glucose metabolism, and weight gain, can have a major impact on treating psychiatric patients. The intent of this study was to investigate whether there is an associated link between the genetic polymorphism at -759C>T in the promoter region of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2C receptor (HTR2C) gene and the metabolic syndrome driven by olanzapine in schizophrenia patients. A cross-sectional study that involved fifty hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. The patients were split into two groups (metabolic and non-metab
... Show MoreABSTRACT : Diabetes mellitus stands for a set of metabolic diseases that if they are not managed, they can initiate threatening life problems. This study hypothesizes that insulin-like growth factor-1 level can be used as a biomarker for early diagnosing renal problems in patients with type 2 diabetic disease. This study included 30 recently identified type 2 diabetic patients with acute renal malfunction who had an entrance in National Diabetic Center,AL-Mustansiriyah University.They have beenin the Center from October 2018 up to end of April 2019. Their age range has been (40-62) years. Comprehensive clinical investigationhas beencompleted for each patient to discount other diabetic complications like cardiac, neurologic and eye complicat
... Show MoreBackground: The association of olanzapine with hyperglycemia, an elevated lipid profile, and high blood pressure was early recognized after its approval and has become of increased concern. Objective: To determine the association of olanzapine use with blood sugar levels, lipid profiles, and blood pressure in hospitalized Iraqi patients with schizophrenia. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 50 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-V diagnostic criteria and had taken olanzapine for at least two years was carried out between November 2022 and February 2023 at two facilities in Baghdad, Iraq (Ibn Rushd Psychiatric Teaching Hospital and Al Rashad Hospital
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The pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which represents over 90% of pancreatic cancer cases,
has the highest proliferative and metastatic rate in comparison to other pancreatic cancer compartments. This
study is designed to determine whether small nucleolar RNA, H/ACA box 64 (snoRNA64) is associated with
pancreatic cancer initiation and progression. Gene expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO)
repository have shown that snoRNA64 expression is reduced in primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer as
compared to normal tissues based on statistical analysis of the in Silico analysis. Using qPCR techniques,
pancreatic cancer cell lines include PK-1, PK-8, PK-4, and Mia PaCa-2 with differ
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The current study was carried out to study a high injection dose of the ethanolic extract thymus vulgaris leaf (500 ug /Kg) against the immune response combination with partially purified extracted Lipopolysaccharide ( LPS) from Proteus mirablis.Study groups were included four groups; Group I :treated with normal saline. Group II : treated with LPS antigen, Group III: injected subcutaneously ((500 ug /Kg) from ethanolic extract thymus vulgaris, group IV : injected subcutaneously (500 ug /Kg) from ethanolic extract thymus vulgaris leaf and LPS antigen, the immunological assays were measured through the phagocytic activity as (non specific immunity) after day 8 by using the phagocytic activity index.After day I4 the lymphocyte proliferations
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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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