Background: Intramedullary astrocytomas
account for about 1% of all CNS tumors and
6–8% of spinal cord tumors. The vast majority
of intramedullary astrocytomas are slowgrowing
lesions.
Objectives: The goal in this study was to
review a series of patients who underwent
surgical removal of intramedullary high-grade
astrocytomas, focusing on the functional
outcome and the effect of multimodality
treatment on the survival of patients with high
grade intramedullary astrocytoma.
Methods: Between June 1999 and June 2004,
22 patients underwent removal of
intramedullary high-grade astrocytomas in four
neurosurgical hospital in Baghdad/ Iraq
(Neurosurgical hospital, Al Shaheed Adnan
Hospital for Surgical Speeialticsa, Nursing
Home Hospital Lesions were located in the
cervical segment of the spinal cord in 12
patients, and patients.
Results: Histological examinations showed
10 Grade III astrocytomas and 12
glioblastomas. Only 2 of the 22 high-grade
astrocytomas could be completely removed. The
clinical postoperative status worsened in
14 patients (63.6%), was unchanged in seven
patients (31.8%), and there was one case of
intraoperative death (4.5%). None of the 22
patients showed improvement in their
neurological status postoperatively. In this series,
excluding the one intra-operative death, all
patients died of the progression of the
malignancy.
Conclusions: Surgical treatment did not
ameliorate the postoperative neurological status;
instead, in the majority of cases, it prompted a
worsening of the deficit. Radiotherapy and
chemotherapy have a little influence on the
length of survival. In this series, multimodality
treatment of intramedullary high-grade
astrocytomas has been shown to increase length
of survival without improving the neurological
status.
One of the most important problems facing the world today is the energy problem. The solution was in finding renewable energy sources such as solar energy. The solar energy applications in Iraq is facing many problems . One of the most important problems is the accumulation of dust on the solar panels surface which causes decreasing its performance sharply. In the present work, a new technique was presented by using two-axis solar tracking system to reduce the accumulated dust on the solar panel surface and compared it with the fixed solar panels which installed at tilt angles 30° and 45°. The results indicated that the maximum losses of the output power due to accumulation of dust on the fixed solar panels is about 31.4% and 23.1% res
... Show MoreBackground: Calcaneus is a spongy cancellous bone with rich blood supply , its fracture heals more rapidly providing no occurrence of infection and soft tissue injury around ,no gross malposition of fragments. The associated pain leads to a major impairment in life quality. The aim of treatment for calcaneal fractures is the decrease of pain and rebuilding of walking ability for patients with normal foot shape and the ability to wear normal foot wear. To reduce complications, a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of displaced intra-articular fractures of the calcaneus was preferred to use. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the closed reduction and percutaneous K. wire fixation of displaced intra-art
... Show MoreThe degradation performance of aqueous solution of pesticide Alachlor has been studied at solar pilot scale plant in two photocatalytic systems: homogeneous photocatalysis by photo-Fenton and heterogeneous photocatalysis with titanium dioxide. The pilot scale system included of compound parabolic collectors specially designed for solar photocatalytic applications, and installed at University of Baghdad, Department of Environmental Engineering back yard. The influence of different concentrations, H2O2 (200-2400 mg/l), Fe+2(5- 30 mg/l) and TiO2 (100-500 mg/l) and their relationship with the degradation efficiency were studied.
The COD removal efficienc
... Show MoreTo investigate the efficacy of polyether‐ether‐ketone (PEEK) wire as a fixed orthodontic retainer, by comparing its performance to other retainer wires and optimizing its adhesion to composite bonding materials.
Retainer wires of 15 mm segments were used, PEEK wires were prepared in cylindrical form with 0.8 mm diameter, and had two surface treatments namely air‐abrasion and conditioning with adhesive system. Three different metallic retainer wires were used for comparison and three tests were performed; two tests measured debonding force and associated wire deflec
Background: Calcaneus is a spongy cancellous bone with rich blood supply , its fracture heals more rapidly providing no occurrence of infection and soft tissue injury around ,no gross malposition of fragments. The associated pain leads to a major impairment in life quality. The aim of treatment for calcaneal fractures is the decrease of pain and rebuilding of walking ability for patients with normal foot shape and the ability to wear normal foot wear. To reduce complications, a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of displaced intra-articular fractures of the calcaneus was preferred to use.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the closed reduction and percutaneous K. wire fixation of displ
... Show MoreA new application of a combined solvent extraction and two-phase biodegradation processes using two-liquid phase partitioning bioreactor (TLPPB) technique was proposed and developed to enhance the cleanup of high concentration of crude oil from aqueous phase using acclimated mixed culture in an anaerobic environment. Silicone oil was used as the organic extractive phase for being a water-immiscible, biocompatible and non-biodegradable. Acclimation, cell growth of mixed cultures, and biodegradation of crude oil in aqueous samples were experimentally studied at 30±2ºC. Anaerobic biodegradation of crude oil was examined at four different initial concentrations of crude oil including 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 mg/L. Complete removal of crud
... Show MoreThe electric energy is one of the most important renewable energies used in the world as it is the main source for sustainable development and economic development through its use in (production, transport and distribution), and in Iraq, the electric power sector has suffered from many problems and obstacles, as providing electric current is one of the most prominent difficulties and challenges That successive governments and residents have faced since the early nineties of the last century and are still ongoing, and that Iraq has all the climatic conditions for developing the work of the electricity system from renewable energies such as solar and hydroelectric energy, as well as gas fields that have become a Basic pillar of pow
... Show MoreSphingolipids (SLs) are major structural constituents of eukaryotes, including the kinetoplastid parasite Leishmania. SLs are important for cellular trafficking and signaling and participate in different cell functions, such as, differentiation and cell death (apoptosis). In this study we have investigated the viability of Leishmania major wild type (W.T) and L. major knockout LmLCB2, one of two subunits of serine palmitoyl transferase (SPT) after treatment with myriocin (potent inhibitor of SPT) in order to detect the survival and proliferation of the parasites in vitro. This is to focus on the de novo sphingolipids biosynthesis pathway in both Leishmania wild type which can synthesize SPT and knockout Leishmania which genetically ablated
... Show MorePeripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with increased oxidative stress and impaired endothelial function. Ticagrelor treatment improves antioxidant properties in addition to its antiplatelet effects. This study investigated the impact of Ticagrelor treatment on serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels and other biochemical parameters in PAD patients. It also evaluated the potential diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of specific biomarkers based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Seventy individuals were categorized into healthy control (n=40), baseline PAD patients not on Ticagrelor (B-PAD, n=30), and same PAD patients after treated with Ticagrelor (A-PAD, n=30). Parameters measured included SOD concent
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