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
This thesis aims to study the effect of addition polymer materials on mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete, and also to assess the influence of petroleum products (kerosene and gas oil) on mechanical properties of polymer modified self-compacting concrete (PMSCC) after different exposure periods of (30 ,60 ,90 ,and 180 days).
Two type of curing are used; 28 days in water for SCC and 2 days in water followed 26 days in air for PMSCC.
The test results show that the PMSCC (15% P/C ratio) which is exposed to oil products recorded a lower deterioration in compressive strength's values than reference concrete. The percentages of reduction in compressive strength values of PMSCC (15% P/C ratio) was
... Show MoreStudies from our laboratory have shown that Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an ingredient found in marijuana plant Cannabis sativa, can attenuate acute lung injury induced by Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB). In the current study, we investigated the role of THC on the metabolism of SEB-activated lymphocytes. To this end, we determined metabolic potential of SEB-activated lymphocytes treated with vehicle or THC by performing the Cell Mito Stress Test. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in THC-treated cells was decreased when compared to vehicle-treated group whereas the extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) was similar in both the groups. Specifically, electron transport chain inhi
solation of candida spp. From cancer patients who suffered oral candidiasis due to immunodeficiency
An experimental program was conducted to determine the residual of composite Steel Beams-Reinforced Concrete (SB-RC) deck floors fabricated from a rolled steel beam topped with a reinforced concrete slab, exposed to high temperatures (fire flame) of 300, 500, and 700ºC for 1 hour, and then allowed to cool down by leaving them in the lab condition to return to the ambient temperature. The burning results showed that, by exposing them to a fire flame of up to 300ºC, no serious permanent deflection occurred. It was also noticed that the specimen recovered 93% of 19.2 mm of the deflection caused by burning. The recovered deflection of burned composite SB-RC deck floor at 500ºC was 40% of 77.9 mm of the deflection caused by burning with a res
... Show MoreThe sensitivity of SnO2 nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide hybrid to NO2 gas is discussed in the present work using density functional theory (DFT). The SnO2 nanoparticles shapes are taken as pyramids, as proved by experiments. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) edges have oxygen or oxygen-containing functional groups. However, the upper and lower surfaces of rGO are clean, as expected from the oxide reduction procedure. Results show that SnO2 particles are connected at the edges of rGO, making a p-n heterojunction with a reduced agglomeration of SnO2 particles and high gas sensitivity. The DFT results are in
This paper discusses a comparative study to relate parametric and non-parametric mode decomposition algorithms for response-only data. Three popular mode decomposition algorithms are included in this study: the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm with the Natural Excitation Technique (NExT-ERA) for the parametric algorithm, as well as the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for the non-parametric algorithms. A comprehensive parametric study is provided for (i) different response types, (ii) excitation types, (iii) system damping, and (iv) sensor spatial resolution to compare the mode shapes and modal coordinates of using a 10-DOF building model. The mode decomposition results are also compared using
... Show MoreThe numerical analysis was conducted to studying the influence of length to diameter ratio (L/D) on the behavior of the soil treated with sand columns treated with 8% sodium silicate for both floating and end bearing type by using finite element method (Plaxis 3D Foundation ) for isolated foundation of real dimensions. The analysis’s study indicate that in the floating type the best improvement ratio was achieved at (L/D=8) when using columns with a diameter of (0.5, 0.7), but when using columns with a diameter of 0.3 m, it was noticed that the bearing improvement ratio increases with increasing (L/d). While the results of the analysis for end bearing type show that the higher improvement ratio was achieved at (L/D=4) when using columns w
... Show MoreBackground: Bloody diarrhea plays a major role in
morbidity and mortality especially in developing
countries, it is usually a sign of invasive enteric
infection, there is a thought that amoebic dysentery is
more common than bacillary dysentery in Iraq, and
from 1989 to 1997 amoebic dysentery increase from
20000to 550000 patients.
Objectives: This study aims to:
1. Outline the incidence of various infectious causes of
bloody diarrhea in Erbil district.
2. Assess the effect of multiple factors like age, sex,
source of water supply, etc... On the incidence of
amebic and bacillary dysentery.
3. To provide baseline data for making strategic plan to
reduce the diarrhoeal mortality and morbidity.
Met
This research presents and discuss the results of experimental investigation carried out on geogrids model to study the behavior of geogrid in the loose sandy soil. The effect of location eccentricity, depth of first layer of reinforcement, vertical spacing, number and type of reinforcement layers have been investigated. The results indicated that the percentage of bearing improvement a bout (22 %) at number of reinforced layers N=1 and about (47.5%) at number of reinforced layers N=2 for different Eccentricity values when depth ratio and vertical spacing between layers are (0.5B and 0.75B) respectively
ABSTRACT : Fifteenth isolates of C. sakazakii were obtained from previous studies of the sample (infant formula, cerebrospinal fluid and blood). All isolates C. sakazakii identification based on microscopic, biochemical test and confirmed by 16SrRNA. We studied the movement of all isolates and study adhesion to polystyrene plate, adhesion and invasion to Esophageal adenocarcinoma (SKG-GT-4) for four isolates [Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF5), Bloods (B 1), Dialak (A1c), Novolac Allernova (C1)] and its cytotoxicity. Results showed that all isolates can move after 4 hours of incubation and increased after 8 hours, the isolates moved to different distances strong, medium, and weak. The results showed that the number of C. sakazakii colony adherent t
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