Purpose: To evaluate the effect of intravitreal Aflibercept injection on wet AMD both functionally and anatomically after loading doses. The secondary aim is to evaluate the effect of risk factors including (gender, age, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes meatus) on the patient’s response. Study Design: Interventional case series. Place and Duration of Study: Al-Haitham Eyes Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, from November 2021 and September 2022. Methods: Fifty eyes of 47 patients with treatment naïve wet AMD were selected through convenient sampling. Data were collected for age, gender, smoking, and chronic disease. Clinical examination, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), optical coherence tomography angiography, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography SD-OCT were performed at baseline and then at 16 weeks, after three one-monthly injections of Aflibercept 2 mg/ 0.05 ml intravitreally. Results: Mean age was 68.23 ± 8.5 years. Mean difference in BCVA was 0.37 ± 0.03 (P = 0.000) and mean difference in central macular thickness was 105.72 ± 45.05 (P value < .0000) at 16 weeks. CNV was associated with intra-retinal fluid in 52% of cases, subretinal fluid in 72%, pigment epithelial detachment in 20%, intraretinal hemorrhage in 6% and subretinal hemorrhage in 4%. Studying associations between the responses of Aflibercept with the general features of the patients as age, gender, chronic diseases and smoking status, revealed no statistically significant difference. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that aflibercept is effective for the treatment of patients with wet AMD both functionally and anatomically after the loading doses. The presence of intraretinal fluid at presentation had a negative effect on the vision.
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars are anisotropic in nature and have high tensile strength in the fiber direction. The use of High-Strength Concrete (HSC) allows for better use of the high-strength properties of FRP bars. The mechanical properties of FRP bars can yield to large crack widths and deflections. As a result, the design of concrete elements reinforced with FRP materials is often governed by the Serviceability Limit States (SLS). This study investigates the short-term serviceability behavior of FRP RC I-beams. Eight RC I-beams reinforced with carbon-FRP (CFRP) and four steel RC I-beams, for comparison purposes, were tested under two-point loading.
Deformations on the concrete and crack widths and spacing are measured and
A New developed technique to estimate the necessary six elastic constants of homogeneous laminate of special orthotropic properties are presented in this paper for the first time. The new approach utilizes the elasto-static deflection behavior of composite cantilever beam employing the famous theory of Timoshenko. Three extracted strips of the composite plate are tested for measuring the bending deflection at two locations. Each strip is associated to a preferred principal axis and the deflection is measured in two orthogonal planes of the beam domain. A total of five trails of testing is accomplished and the numerical results of the stiffness coefficients are evaluated correctly under the contribution of the macromechanic
... Show MoreThe launch of the EU’s Eastern Partnership in 2009 intended to signal a new, elevated level of EU engagement with its Eastern neighborhood. Yet there remain several long-simmering and potentially destabilizing conflicts in the region, with which EU engagement thus far has been sporadic at best. The Union’s use of its Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) in the region and to help solve these disputes has been particularly ad hoc and inconsistent, wracked by inter-institutional incoherence and undermined by Member States’ inability to agree on a broad strategic vision for engagement with the area.
The three CSDP missions deployed to the region thus far have all suffered from this incoherence to various extents. In particu
... Show MoreAbstract The strategic performance of the United States depends on dealing with the Middle East countries and its variants on several bases and motives that enabled them to achieve American hegemony and invest its interests at the expense of the region countries. Within this performance, the administration of the United State President Donald Trump presented the Strategic Document on December 18, 2017, which focused on the principle of "America First", to determine the direction of future US strategic performance in the formulation of means of cooperation and intersections or hostility in addition to interests and threats.The future vision of the Arab region and the Middle East as a whole, this strategy is based on the fact that
... Show MoreAPDBN Rashid, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 2023
The Kurds' positions were characterized by insistence on their rights during the monarchy and choosing various solutions to obtain independence. After the revolution of July 14, 1958, the Kurds welcomed it, and the leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party sent a telegram to the Free Officers Organization congratulating them on the new era in order to build sound and correct relations between the two parties. However, the military conflict was renewed between the Iraqi government and the Kurds and continued even after the coup of February 8, 1963, and all the subsequent negotiating and peaceful attempts to resolve the Kurdish problem until 1966. It was a state of double contradiction for both parties that thwarted the peaceful attempts. The
... Show MoreThe extraction of Eucalyptus oil from Iraqi Eucalyptus Camadulensis leaves was studded using water distillation methods. The amount of Eucalyptus oil has been determined in a variety of extraction temperature and agitation speed. The effect of water to Eucalyptus leaves (solvent to solid) ratio and particle size of Eucalyptus leaves has been studied in order to evaluate the amount of Eucalyptus oil. The optimum experimental condition for the Eucalyptus oil extraction was established as follows: 100˚C extraction temperature, 200 rpm agitation speed; 0.5 cm leave particle size and 6:1 ml: g amount of water to eucalyptus leaves Ratio.
By optimizing the efficiency of a modular simulation model of the PV module structure by genetic algorithm, under several weather conditions, as a portion of recognizing the ideal plan of a Near Zero Energy Household (NZEH), an ideal life cycle cost can be performed. The optimum design from combinations of NZEH-variable designs, are construction positioning, window-to-wall proportion, and glazing categories, which will help maximize the energy created by photovoltaic panels. Comprehensive simulation technique and modeling are utilized in the solar module I-V and for P-V output power. Both of them are constructed on the famous five-parameter model. In addition, the efficiency of the PV panel is established by the genetic algorithm
... Show More