chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common respiratory disease with episodes of exacerbation. Variable factors including infectious pathogen can predispose for this exacerbation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of intestinal protozoa in COPD exacerbation. A total of 56 patients with COPD were included in this study. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the frequency of exacerbation during the last 6 months: those with ≤1 exacerbation (32 patients) and those with ≥2 exacerbations (24 patients). Stool specimens from each patient were collected two times (one week interval) examined for intestinal parasite. In univariate analysis, rural residence and parasitic infection were more common among patients with frequent exacerbation (45.83% and 33.33%, respectively) than patients with non-frequent exacerbation (18.75% and 9.38%, respectively) with significant differences. However, in multivariate analysis, only body mass index >25 kg/m2 (OR=4.59, 95%CI=1.18-17.86, P=0.028) and parasitic infection (OR=5.51, 95%CI=1.01-30.18, P=0.049) were independently associated with COPD exacerbation. These data indicate a significant association between frequent COPD exacerbation and infection with some intestinal protozoa. However, the cause-effect relationship is debatable.
Background: DVT is a very common problem with a very serious complications like pulmonary embolism (PE) which carries a high mortality,and many other chronic and annoying complications ( like chronic DVT, post-phlebitic syndrome, and chronic venous insufficiency) ,and it has many risk factors that affect its course, severity ,and response to treatment. Objectives: Most of those risk factors are modifiable, and a better understanding of the relationships between them can be beneficial for better assessment for liable pfatients , prevention of disease, and the effectiveness of our treatment modalities. Male to female ratio was nearly equal , so we didn’t discuss the gender among other risk factors. Type of the study:A cross- secti
Addition of bioactive materials such as Titanium oxide (TiO2), and incorporation of bio inert ceramic such as alumina (Al2O3), into polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been adopted as an effective approach to improve bone-implant interfaces. In this paper, hot pressing technique has been adopted as a production method. This technique gave a homogenous distribution of the additive materials in the proposed composite biomaterial. Different compositions and compounding temperatures have been applied to all samples. Mechanical properties and animal model have been studied in all different production conditions. The results of these new TiO2/Al2O3/PEEK biocomposites with different
... Show MoreAdverse drug reactions (ADR) are important information for verifying the view of the patient on a particular drug. Regular user comments and reviews have been considered during the data collection process to extract ADR mentions, when the user reported a side effect after taking a specific medication. In the literature, most researchers focused on machine learning techniques to detect ADR. These methods train the classification model using annotated medical review data. Yet, there are still many challenging issues that face ADR extraction, especially the accuracy of detection. The main aim of this study is to propose LSA with ANN classifiers for ADR detection. The findings show the effectiveness of utilizing LSA with ANN in extracting AD
... Show MoreThis study presents an adaptive control scheme based on synergetic control theory for suppressing the vibration of building structures due to earthquake. The control key for the proposed controller is based on a magneto-rheological (MR) damper, which supports the building. According to Lyapunov-based stability analysis, an adaptive synergetic control (ASC) strategy was established under variation of the stiffness and viscosity coefficients in the vibrated building. The control and adaptive laws of the ASC were developed to ensure the stability of the controlled structure. The proposed controller addresses the suppression problem of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) building model, and an earthquake control scenario was conducted and simulat
... Show MoreThe rise in the general level of prices in Iraq makes the local commodity less able to compete with other commodities, which leads to an increase in the amount of imports and a decrease in the amount of exports, since it raises demand for foreign currencies while decreasing demand for the local currency, which leads to a decrease in the exchange rate of the local currency in exchange for an increase in the exchange rate of currencies. This is one of the most important factors affecting the determination of the exchange rate and its fluctuations. This research deals with the currency of the European Euro and its impact against the Iraqi dinar. To make an accurate prediction for any process, modern methods can be used through which
... Show MoreThis research is carried out to investigate the behavior of self-compacting concrete (SCC) two-way slabs with central square opening under uniformly distributed loads. The experimental part of this research is based on casting and testing six SCC simply supported square slabs having the same dimentions and reinforcement. One of these slabs was cast without opening as a control slab. While, the other five slabs having opening ratios (OR) of 2.78%, 6.25%, 11.11%, 17.36% and 25.00%. From the experimental results it is found that the maximum percentage decrease in cracking and ultimate uniform loads were 31.82% and 12.17% compared to control slab for opening ratios (OR
... Show MoreIn this work, a composite material was prepared from Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with different weight percent of grain and calcinations kaolin at temperature of (850oC) using single screw extruder and a mixing machine operated at a temperature between (190-200oC). Some of mechanical and physical properties such as tensile strength, tensile strength at break, Young modulus, and elongation at break, shore hardness and water absorption were determined at different weight fraction of filler (0, 2, 7, 10 and 15%). It was found that the addition of filler increases the modulus of elasticity, elongation at break, shore hardness and impact strength; on other hand, it decreases the tensile strength and tensile strength
... Show MoreAbstract: Aluminum alloys grade 6061-T6 are characterized by their excellent properties and processing characteristics which make them ideal for varieties of industrial applications under cyclic loading, aluminum alloys show less fatigue life than steel alloys of similar strength. In the current study, a nanosecond fiber laser of maximum pulse energy up to 9.9 mJ was used to apply laser shock peening process (LSP) on aluminum thin sheets to introduce residual stresses in order to enhance fatigue life under cyclic loading Box-Behnken design (BBD) based on the design of experiments (DOE) was employed in this study for experimental design data analysis, model building and optimization The effect of working parameters spot size (ω), scannin
... Show MoreMany researchers consider Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine mode as a promising alternative to combustion in Spark Ignition and Compression Ignition Engines. The HCCI engine runs on lean mixtures of fuel and air, and the combustion is produced from the fuel autoignition instead of ignited by a spark. This combustion mode was investigated in this paper. A variable compression ratio, spark ignition engine type TD110 was used in the experiments. The tested fuel was Iraqi conventional gasoline (ON=82).
The results showed that HCCI engine can run in very lean equivalence ratios. The brake specific fuel consumption was reduced about 28% compared with a spark ignition engine. The experimental tests showed that the em
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