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.
An extensive program of laboratory testing was conducted on ring footing rested on gypseous soil brought from the north of Iraq (Salah El-Deen governorate) with a gypsum content of 59%. There are limited researches available, and even fewer have been done experimentally to understand how to ring footings behave; almost all the previous works only concern the behavior of ring footing under vertical loads, Moreover, relatively few studies have examined the impact of eccentric load and inclined load on such footing. In this study, a series of tests, including dry and wet tests, were carried out using a steel container (600×600×600) mm, metal ring footing (100 mm outer diameter and 40 mm inner diameter) was placed in the m
... Show MoreThe purpose of the study is to analyze the extent of the impact of liquidity as an independent variable on profitability as an intermediate variable and the value of banks listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange as a dependent variable, as the research problem is summarized by the fact that most banks focus on profitability as a phased goal without focusing on maximizing its value as a strategic goal by enhancing the wealth of owners and shareholders. On the long term, the research community is represented by the banks listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange, while the research sample was deliberately chosen, which included three private banks such as Baghdad Commercial Bank, the Iraqi Commercial Bank and the Iraqi Investment Bank, an
... Show MoreThis work investigates the effect of earthquakes on the stability of a collective pile subjected to seismic loads in the soil layer. Plaxis 3D 2020 finite element software modeled pile behavior in dry soils with sloping layers. The results showed a remarkable fluctuation between the earthquakes, where the three earthquakes (Halabja, El Centro, and Kobe) and the acceleration peak in the Kobe earthquake had a time of about 11 seconds. Different settlement results were shown, as different values were recorded for the three types of earthquakes. Settlement ratios were increased by increasing the seismic intensity; hence the maximum settlement was observed with the model under the effect of the Kobe earthquake (0.58 g), where
... Show MoreAlthough its wide utilization in microbial cultures, the one factor-at-a-time method, failed to find the true optimum, this is due to the interaction between optimized parameters which is not taken into account. Therefore, in order to find the true optimum conditions, it is necessary to repeat the one factor-at-a-time method in many sequential experimental runs, which is extremely time-consuming and expensive for many variables. This work is an attempt to enhance bioactive yellow pigment production by Streptomyces thinghirensis based on a statistical design. The yellow pigment demonstrated inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy which showed lambda maximum of
... Show MoreNitrogen (N) is a key growth and yield-limiting factor in cultivated rice areas. This study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of different conditions of N application on rice yield and yield components (Shiroudi cultivar) in Babol (Mazandaran, Iran) during the 2015- 2016 season. A factorial experiment executed of a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) used in three iterations. In the first factor, treatments were four N amounts (including 50, 90, 130, and 170 kg N ha-1), while in the second factor, the treatments consisted of four different fertilizer splitting methods, including T1:70 % at the basal stage + 30 % at the maximum tillering stage, T2:1/3 at the basal stage + 1/3 at the maximum ti
... Show MoreBackground: Placenta is a chief cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and significant factor in fetal growth retardation. It undergoes different variations in weight, volume, structure, shape and function continuously throughout the gestation tosupport the prenatal life. Cautious examination of placenta can give information which can be useful in the management of complications in mother and the newborn. Objective: The present work has been attempted towards determination of the morphological ( macroscopic and microscopic) parameters of human full-term placentae and their relation with different parity and age group of mothers. Patients and Methods: A whole of 40 placentae were recently collected.They were divided into four groups
... Show MoreThis study was designed to investigate the effect of thyroid hormone disturbance on lipids profiles and liver functions. Eighteen mature male rats Rattus norvegicus were divided into three groups. The first and the second groups were injected subcutaneously with thyroxine (T4) and carbimazol (both at 600 µg/kg BW) respectively on alternate days, to produce recurrent periods of hyper and hypothyroidism .The control group which is the third group was injected with physiological saline. The process continued 4 weeks, after that, injection, blood specimens were collected to estimate serum levels of T3 and T4, Total cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG), High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) an
... Show More