Analyzing plantar pressure trajectories is crucial for assessing foot behavior in dynamic gait stability. We propose the identification of foot symmetry and the detection of deformities by analyzing the trajectories of the center of pressure (CoP) and peak pressure (PP). First, using a foot pressure mapping system, plantar pressure data are acquired during a normal gait cycle. After the data have been acquired, post processing extracts both the CoP and PP trajectories over the spatiotemporal domain of foot motion for each foot independently. For this purpose, we used the optical flow technique which accurately estimates the direction of foot motion. The extracted trajectories of each foot are then segmented into, the medial and lateral regions. This segmentation is essential for assessing symmetries and deformities of the foot. Our focus is on two types of foot deformities, flat and high-arched which are compared with a control population that we used to evaluate any errors in our proposed approach. The results show that our hybrid symmetry index, which includes CoP and PP trajectories along the butterfly medial region, has better sensitivity than traditional metrics. The medial region analysis thus seems to more effective at distinguishing between pathological and normal gait patterns
Simple and sensitive batch and Flow-injection spectrophotometric methods for the determination of Procaine HCl in pure form and in injections were proposed. These methods were based on a diazotization reaction of procaine HCl with sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid to form diazonium salt, which is coupled with chromatropic acid in alkaline medium to form an intense pink water-soluble dye that is stable and has a maximum absorption at 508 nm. A graphs of absorbance versus concentration show that Beer’s law is obeyed over the concentration range of 1-40 and 5-400 µg.ml-1 of Procaine HCl, with detection limits of 0.874 and 3.75 µg.ml-1 of Procaine HCl for batch and FIA methods respectively. The FIA average sample throughput was 70 h-1. A
... Show MoreNeuro-ophthalmic disorders are often documented individually for each illness, with little data available on their overall incidence and pattern. The overall incidence of neuro-ophthalmic illnesses in Iraq is still not recorded. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical, demographic, and etiological features of patients seeking consultation at an Iraqi neuro-ophthalmology clinic. A prospective cross-sectional observational research was conducted at the Janna Ophthalmic Center in Baghdad, Iraq. The center serves a diverse patient population from various governorates. All newly diagnosed patients with neuro-ophthalmic disorders who visited the neuro-ophthalmological clinic, regardless of gender or age group, were included. The neuro-ophthalmo
... Show MoreBackground: It's believed that HBD-3 is involved in the tissue remodeling process of articular cartilage. Also, HBD-3 has anti-inflammatory properties. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assay human beta-defensine-3 (HBD-3) in serum from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and investigate its correlation with proinflammatory cytokines. Methods: In this case-control study, fifty-eight RA patients were aged 20–65 years, and 29 age-matched healthy subjects (HS) had no inflammatory rheumatic diseases. The disease activity score-28 joint erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) was used to measure RA activity. CRP, ACPA, HBD-3, TNF-α, and IL-1β were assessed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique (ELISA). Res
... Show MoreFifty patients(24 female and 26 male)with pressure ulcersassociated with different diseasesand attending AL-yarmouk Teaching Hospital in Baghdad were selected in this study. The duration of sample collection was from March to December 2018. All blood samples collected from patients were submitted to a blood culturing technique to examine bacteremia. The results showed that12 blood bacterial isolates were obtained. The isolated bacteria were subjected to Vitek-2, which is an accurate identification technique. The results of the blood culturing technique revealed that 33.3% were Gram negative bacteria, while 66.6% were Gram positive. Diagnosis by Vitek-2 showed that 33.3% wereStaphylococcus spp. , 33.3% were Enterococcus
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The current study presents numerical investigation of the fluid (air) flow characteristics and convection heat transfer around different corrugated surfaces geometry in the low Reynolds number region (Re<1000). The geometries are included wavy, triangle, and rectangular. The effect of different geometry parameters such as aspect ratio and number of cycles per unit length on flow field characteristics and heat transfer was estimated and compared with each other. The computerized fluid dynamics package (ANSYS 14) is used to simulate the flow field and heat transfer, solve the governing equations, and extract the results. It is found that the turbulence intensity for rectangular extended surface was larg
... Show MoreBackground: Polymeric composites have been widely used as dental restorative materials. A fundamental knowledge and understanding of the behavior of these materials in the oral cavity is essential to improve their properties and performance. The goal of this study was to measure water sorption of four composite resins containing different filler and resin matrix contents. Materials and method: Resin composite specimens giomer (Beautifil II) Filtek™ P90, Filtek™ Z350 XT, and Tetric N Ceram were prepared in a cylindrical mould of 3mm thickness and 6mm diameter (n=10) and light cured . All specimens placed in silica-gel desiccators at 37˚C for seven days, a constant weight was obtained. All samples were immersed in deionized distill
... Show MoreIn this work, diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were prepared from Cyclohexane. Thin films were deposited on quartz substrate by atmospheric pressure Argon plasma jet system. The plasma jet system was applying high voltage sinusoidal waves of frequency 28 kHz and potential difference of 7.5kV peak to peak across the electrodes. The effect of annealing at 400, 500 and 600 °C under vacuum for two hours on optical properties and structural properties of the DLC thin films were investigated. This effect was clarified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, UV-Visible absorption, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Raman Spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction patterns for the annealing DLC thin films show two broad peaks at 2θ, 26.62° and 51.58
... Show MorePressure retarded osmosis (PRO) can be considered as one of the methods for utilizing osmotic power, which is a membrane-based technology. Mathematical modeling plays an essential part in the development and optimization of PRO energy-generating systems. In this research, a mathematical model was developed for the hollow fiber module to predict the power density and the permeate water flux theoretically. Sodium chloride solution was employed as the feed and draw solution. Different operating parameters, draw solution concentration (1 and 2 M), the flow rate of draw solution (2, 3, and 4 L/min), and applied hydraulic pressure difference (0 - 90 bar) was used to evaluate the performance of PRO process of a hollow fiber module. The eff
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