Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways in which many cells and cellular elements play a role. The treatment guidelines recommend theuse of a second controller drug in addition to medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) rather than the use of high doses ICS alone in the treatment of moderate-severe persistent asthma. This study was conducted to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of three treatment regimens in Iraqi patients with moderate-severe persistent asthma.The study included three groups; each group included 15 patients. Patients were administered beclomethasone inhaler alone 1500-2000 μg/day, beclomethasone inhaler 750-1000 μg/day plus oral controlled release aminophylline tablets 450 mg/day or beclomethasone inhaler 750-1000 μg/dayplus oral montelukast tablets 10 mg/day for 4-5 weeks. Patients were followed 2 weeks and 4-5 weeks after the baseline visit. In all of the three groups,significant improvements were noticed in pulmonary function test parameters (FEV1, FVC, FEF50%) and the asthma symptom records (day-time symptoms,night-time symptoms, number of salbutamol puffs per 24 hours), while there were no significant differences among the groups. Regarding side effects, onlythe group of inhaled steroid plus aminophylline tablets showed discontinuation of drug therapy in some patients which could be attributed to the development of serious side effects.It was concluded that the administration of a second controller agent was important to use lower doses of inhaled beclomethasone. It was concluded alsothat montelukast was associated with a lower incidence of serious side effects than aminophylline which could make aminophylline an alternative to montelukast as combination therapy with medium doses ICS in the treatment of moderate-severe persistent asthma
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the foremost cause of end-stage renal disease. Early detection of DN can spare diabetic patients of severe complications. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of red cell distribution width (RDW) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the detection of DN in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This cross-sectional study included a total of 130 patients with T2DM, already diagnosed with T2DM. The albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) in urine samples was calculated for each patient, according to which patients were divided into two groups: with evidence of DN when ACR ? 30 mg/g, and those with no evidence of DN when ACR < 30 mg/g. According to multivariate analysis, each of disease duration (OR
... Show MoreThe current research deals with spatial relations as a tool to link urban landmarks in a homogeneous composition with monumental sculptures, by identifying these landmarks and the extent of their impact on them, which constitutes an urgent need to evaluate the appropriate place and its effects on them, so that this analytical study is a critical approach adopted in artistic studies of monumental models in Arabcapitals .The current research came in four chapters, the first chapter of which dealt with the research problem, its importance and the need for it, then its objectives that were determined in revealing the spatial relations and their impact on
... Show MoreE-Learning packages are content and instructional methods delivered on a computer
(whether on the Internet, or an intranet), and designed to build knowledge and skills related to
individual or organizational goals. This definition addresses: The what: Training delivered
in digital form. The how: By content and instructional methods, to help learn the content.
The why: Improve organizational performance by building job-relevant knowledge and
skills in workers.
This paper has been designed and implemented a learning package for Prolog Programming
Language. This is done by using Visual Basic.Net programming language 2010 in
conjunction with the Microsoft Office Access 2007. Also this package introduces several
fac
In this study, the plasma formed by the preparation of Se and Tin (Sn) using a Nd: YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm in air, which was then studied using the technique of optical emission spectrum, was presented (OES).The laser-induced plasma parameters such an electron temperature (Te) were identified using two-ratio methods, using Stark broadening methods to determine the density of electrons (ne). According to the findings, there is a correlation between the amount of laser energy that is applied and the increase in the emission intensity of the spectral lines. In the case of Se plasma, an increase in laser energy causes a rise in the temperature of the electrons. While increasing the temperature of the elec
... Show MoreSynthesis of sedimentologic, paleocurrent, and organic geochemistry data of the Lower Permian Ga’ara Formation from the Western Desert, western Iraq, shows good hydrocarbon potentiality and deposition by high sinuosity and mixed-load channels, likely by a meandering river system. The Ga’ara Formation includes kaolinitic mudstone beds of various colors and channelized quartzitic sandstone beds. Based on the lithofacies identification, five lithofacies associations have been recognized: channel-floor, point-bar, abandoned channel plug, crevasse splay, and interchannel flood basin. In addition, the paleocurrent analysis and sandstone percentage map indicate a variation of the paleoflow spatially and temporally with a general di
... Show MoreIn education, exams are used to asses students’ acquired knowledge; however, the manual assessment of exams consumes a lot of teachers’ time and effort. In addition, educational institutions recently leaned toward distance education and e-learning due the Coronavirus pandemic. Thus, they needed to conduct exams electronically, which requires an automated assessment system. Although it is easy to develop an automated assessment system for objective questions. However, subjective questions require answers comprised of free text and are harder to automatically assess since grading them needs to semantically compare the students’ answers with the correct ones. In this paper, we present an automatic short answer grading metho
... Show MoreReliable data transfer and energy efficiency are the essential considerations for network performance in resource-constrained underwater environments. One of the efficient approaches for data routing in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) is clustering, in which the data packets are transferred from sensor nodes to the cluster head (CH). Data packets are then forwarded to a sink node in a single or multiple hops manners, which can possibly increase energy depletion of the CH as compared to other nodes. While several mechanisms have been proposed for cluster formation and CH selection to ensure efficient delivery of data packets, less attention has been given to massive data co
The multicast technology implements a very high-efficiency point-to-multipoint data transmission over IP networks (IPv4 and IPv6). Multicast reduces network load, eliminates traffic redundancy, and saves network bandwidth. Therefore, multicast used widely in LAN/WAN applications such as online games, video conferencing and IPTV. The multicast technology implements varied protocols such as DVMRP(Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol), MOSPF(Multicast Open Shortest Path First), or PIM-DM (Protocol Independent Multicast- Dense Mode) which considered source tree type, while PIM-SM (Protocol Independent Multicast- Sparse Mode) and CBT (Core Based Tree) uses shared tree. Current paper focuses on the performance evaluation of the two multi
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