Background: Acute appendicitis is a common surgical
problem that is associated with an acute-phase reaction.
Previous studies have shown that cytokines and acutephase proteins are activated and may serve as indicators for
appendicitis.
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate of serum
levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in correlation to the severity
to acute appendicitis.
Methods: This is a prospective study from December 2008
to March 2009 of patients who had appendectomy in
Department of Surgery, Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital -
Baghdad/Iraq. Serum for estimating levels of interleukin-6
(IL-6) was taken pre-operatively. Depending on the
macroscopic evidence during the operation and the
histopathological examination of the specimens, the
patients were separated into 3 groups, group one with
negative appendectomy (normal appendix), group two with
non-complicated acute appendicitis (catarrhal,
suppurative), and group three with complicated acute
appendicitis (perforated, gangrenous). The
histopathological results were correlated with IL-6 values
statistically.
Results: A total number of 50 patients were included in
this study, 28 male (56%) and 22 female (44%). The mean
age was 23 year (ranged from 7 to 50). On histological
examination, there were 7 patients (14%) in group one, 29
patients (58%) in group two, and 14 patients (28%) in
group three. Serum IL-6 values gave true negative results
in 6%, true positive results in 82%, false negative results in
4%, and false positive results in 8%. We determined,
therefore, in the present study the sensitivity, specificity,
and accuracy of serum IL-6 were calculated as 95.34%,
42.85%, and 88% respectively.
Conclusion: Laboratory results should be considered to be
integrated within the clinical assessment. If used critically,
IL-6 can provide surgeons with complementary
information in discerning the necessity for urgent
operation
Nanomaterials have an excellent potential for improving the rheological and tribological properties of lubricating oil. In this study, oleic acid was used to surface-modify nanoparticles to enhance the dispersion and stability of Nanofluid. The surface modification was conducted for inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) TiO₂ and CuO with oleic acid (OA) surfactant, where oleic acid could render the surface of TiO2-CuO hydrophobic. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the surface modification of NPs. The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of adding modified TiO₂-CuO NPs with weight ratio 1:1 on thermal-physical propertie
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The operation and management of water resources projects have direct and significant effects on the optimum use of water. Artificial intelligence techniques are a new tool used to help in making optimized decisions, based on knowledge bases in the planning, implementation, operation and management of projects as well as controlling flowing water quantities to prevent flooding and storage of excess water and use it during drought.
In this research, an Expert System was designed for operating and managing the system of AthTharthar Lake (ESSTAR). It was applied for all expected conditions of flow, including the cases of drought, normal flow, and during floods. Moreover, the cases of hypothetical op
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The content of Furocoumarin derivatives (Psoralens) of Ruta Chalepensis L. (Whole plant) was studied by simple extraction with petroleum ether (b.p. 60-80Co). The results indicated that the plant contains a total of about (0.015%).
Investigation of these compounds by thin layer chromatography (TLC) revealed the presence of at least four compounds of which methoxsalen (8-methoxypsoralen) was isolated. It was identified and authenticated with a standard by spectral method, IR, NMR, Mass spectra and HPLC.This plant could be considered as a good source for supplying this compound, which is widely used in dermatological preparations.
High temperature superconductors with a nominal composition HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ
for different values of pressure (0.2,0.3, 0.5, 0.6, 0.9, 1.0 & 1.1)GPa were prepared by
a solid state reaction method. It has been found that the samples were semiconductor
P=0.2GPa.while the behavior of the other samples are superconductor in the rang
(80-300) K. Also the transition temperature Tc=143K is the maximum at P is equal to
0.5GPa. X-ray diffraction showed a tetragonal structure with the decreasing of the
lattice constant c with the increasing of the pressure. Also we found an increasing of
the density with the pressure.
This paper deals with prediction the effect of soil re-moulding (smear) on the ultimate bearing capacity of driven piles. The proposed method based on detecting the decrease in ultimate bearing capacity of the pile shaft (excluding the share of pile tip) after sliding downward. This was done via conducting an experimental study on three installed R.C piles in a sandy clayey silt soil. The piles were installed so that a gap space is left between its tip and the base of borehole. The piles were tested for ultimate bearing capacity according to ASTM D1143 in three stages. Between each two stages the pile was jacked inside the borehole until a sliding of about 200mm is achieved to simulate the soil re-moulding due to actual pile driving. The re
... Show MoreThe paper reports the influence of annealing temperature under vacuum for one hour on the some structural and electrical properties of p-type CdTe thin films were grown at room temperature under high vacuum by using thermal evaporation technique with a mean thickness about 600nm. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the formation of CdTe cubic phase at all annealing temperature. From investigated the electrical properties of CdTe thin films, the electrical conductivity, the majority carrier concentration, and the Hall mobility were found increase with increasing annealing temperatures.
The design, construction and investigation of experimental study of two compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs) with tubular absorber have been presented. The performance of CPCs have been evaluated by using outdoor experimental measurements including the instantaneous thermal efficiency. The two CPCs are tested instantly by holding them on a common structure. Many tests are conducted in the present work by truncating one of them in three different levels. For each truncation the acceptance half angle (θc) was changed. Geometrically, the acceptance half angle for standard CPC is (26o). For the truncation levels for the other CPC 1, 2 and 3 the acceptance half angle were 20o, 26o and 5
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