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
Hypertension is one of the main causes of heart disease; beta- blockers play a crucial role in the management of patients with essential hypertension. Bisoprolol is one of the widely used drugs for the treatment of hypertension. Bisoprolol tablets were prepared by two methods (direct and wet) using different proportion and types of diluents, different binder types and forms, then evaluated for, weight variation, hardness, friability, disintegration time and dissolution rate. The results were compared with a reference Bisoprolol tablet.
Both methods of preparation wet and direct compression method gave good results, which are consistent with the requirements of British Pharmacopeia and United States Pharmacopeia. It was found that
... Show MoreBackground: Accurate measurement of a patient’s height and weight is an essential part of diagnosis and therapy, but there is some controversy as to how to calculate the height and weight of patients with disabilities. Objective: This study aims to use anthropometric measurements (arm span, length of leg, chest circumference, and waist circumference) to find a model (alternatives) that can allow the calculation of the height and the body weight of patients with disabilities. Additionally, a model for the prediction of weight and height measurements of patients with disabilities was established. Method: Four hander patients aged 20-80 years were enrolled in this study and divided into two groups, 210 (52.5%) male and 190 (47.5%) fe
... Show MoreThis study examines Agence France Presse’s (AFP) media treatment of the Great Return Marches in order to identify its contents, the issues it gave attention to, its sources, attitude, techniques, objectives, the journalistic forms used in covering events and the typographic elements used to highlight them.
This descriptive study employed the survey methodology through the use of content analysis method, and the methodology of mutual relations through the use of the case study method. The data was collected by means of a content analysis form. The study was based on the Agenda Setting Theory in the analysis of the study results.
The study sample included (116) news texts from AFP collected during the period from 20/3/2018 to
The specifications of lubricating oil are fundamentally the final product of materials that have been added for producing the desired properties. In this research, spherical nanoparticles copper oxide (CuO) and titanium oxides (TiO2) are added to SAE 15W40 engine oil to study the thermal conductivity, stability, viscosity of nano-lubricants, which are prepared at different concentrations of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.5%, and 1% by weight, and also their pour point, and flash point as five quality parameters. The obtained results show that CuO nanoparticles in all cases, give the best functionality and effect on engine oil with respect to TiO2. With 0.1 wt. % concentration, the thermal conductivity of CuO/oil and TiO2/
... Show MoreThis study aims to explore the potential mediation role of person-centeredness between the effects of the work environment and nurse reported quality and patient safety. A quantitative cross-sectional survey collected data from 1055 nurses, working in medical and surgical units, in twelve Malaysian private hospitals. The data collection used structured questionnaires. The Hayes macro explored the mediation effect of person-centeredness between the associations of work environment dimensions and care outcomes, controlling nurses’ demographics and practice characteristics. A total of 652 nurses responded completely to the survey (61.8% response rate). About 47.7% of nurses worked 7-h shifts, and 37.0% were assigned more than 15 pati
... Show MoreCultivation of the green seaweed Enteromorpha compressa was performed under natural laboratory spring environmental conditions of temperature, light intensity and photoperiod to study the salinity tolerance of this intertidal green macroalga. Cultivation was carried out under artificial seawater (ASW) of different concentrations (18, 35, 53 and 106 g/l sea salt) compared to the control using natural seawater (NSW). Growth rate and pigment content of the cultivated alga were recorded at regular intervals during the experimental duration. Antioxidant activity of the crude ethanolic extract and its fractions (petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and acetone) was performed against DPPH radical scavenging assay and compared to
... Show MoreGas sensors are essential for detecting noxious gases that have a detrimental effect on people's health and welfare. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are the fundamental component of gas detectors. CQDs and graphene (Gr) were prepared using the electrochemical method. The gas sensitivity of these materials was evaluated at different temperatures (150, 200, 250 °C) to assess their effectiveness. Subsequently, experiments were conducted at different temperatures to ascertain that the combination of CQDs and Gr, with various percentages of Gr and CQDs, exhibited superior gas sensitization properties compared to CQDs alone. This was evaluated based on criteria such as sensitivity, recovery time, and reaction time. Interestingly, the combination was
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