Acromegaly is a condition that results from excessive growth hormone production by the anterior pituitary gland. Prolidase (PLD) is the only known human enzyme that can hydrolyze dipeptides with an amino acid at their C terminus. Reports indicate that PLD activity serves as a marker for oxidative stress in numerous disorders such as diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, chronic liver diseases, and osteoporosis. The current study aims to estimate the values of PLD, its correlation with the rest of the parameters, and ROC in acromegaly patients. A group of 61 patients with confirmed acromegaly were collected from the National Diabetic Center, Mustansyrriah University, and 60 control groups were analyzed in the same place for the parameters of the biochemical study. Acromegalic patients had changes in the levels of biochemical markers like PLD, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1, and fasting blood glucose. There was a high difference (p < 0.001) between the patient group and the healthy control group. The current study shows that PLD levels are higher in patients with acromegaly than in the healthy control group. The sensitivity and specificity for PLD were high in the patient group versus the healthy control. The PLD may be a novel biomarker of acromegaly activity, and there may be an increase in fasting blood glucose, growth hormone, and IGF-1 in acromegaly patients.
Background: The stethoscope is a tool that doctors use daily in the examination of patients and it can take part in the transmission of health care-associated infections. In a single day it may come in direct contact with multiple patients and the intra hospital environment may be contaminated by various type of bacteria and possibly transmit to others.
Objective:- The study was to know the attitude and knowledge about the stethoscope hygiene behavior among physicians and to determine the types of bacterial agents that can contaminate stethoscopes.
Type of the study: The study was a cross-sectional study
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... Show MoreThe important parameter used for determining the probable application of miscible displacement is the MMP (minimum miscibility pressure). In enhanced oil recovery, the injection of hydrocarbon gases can be a highly efficient method to improve the productivity of the well especially if miscibility developed through the displacement process. There are a lot of experiments for measuring the value of the miscibility pressure, but they are expensive and take a lot of time, so it's better to use the mathematical equations because of it inexpensive and fast. This study focused on calculating MMP required to inject hydrocarbon gases into two reservoirs namely Sadi and Tanomaa/ East Baghdad field. Modified Peng Robenson Equation of State was
... Show MoreThis paper is concerned with the numerical solutions of the vorticity transport equation (VTE) in two-dimensional space with homogenous Dirichlet boundary conditions. Namely, for this problem, the Crank-Nicolson finite difference equation is derived. In addition, the consistency and stability of the Crank-Nicolson method are studied. Moreover, a numerical experiment is considered to study the convergence of the Crank-Nicolson scheme and to visualize the discrete graphs for the vorticity and stream functions. The analytical result shows that the proposed scheme is consistent, whereas the numerical results show that the solutions are stable with small space-steps and at any time levels.
Increasing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of silicon solar cells by improving their junction properties or minimizing light reflection losses remains a major challenge. Extensive studies were carried out in order to develop an effective antireflection coating for monocrystalline solar cells. Here we report on the preparation of a nanostructured cerium oxide thin film by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) as an antireflection coating for silicon solar cell. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of a cerium oxide nanostructure film are investigated as a function of the number of laser pulses. The X-ray diffraction results reveal that the deposited cerium oxide films are crystalline in nature and have a cubic fluorite. The field
... Show MoreSeepage through earth dams is one of the most popular causes for earth dam collapse due to internal granule movement and seepage transfer. In earthen dams, the core plays a vital function in decreasing seepage through the dam body and lowering the phreatic line. In this research, an alternative soil to the clay soil used in the dam core has been proposed by conducting multiple experiments to test the permeability of silty and sandy soil with different additives materials. Then the selected sandy soil model was used to represent the dam experimentally, employing a permeability device to measure the amount of water that seeps through the dam's body and to represent the seepage line. A numerical model was adopted using Geo-Studio software i
... Show MoreAortic valve replacement (AVR) is the gold standard method for management of severe aortic stenosis (AS), with transcatheter balloon valvoplasty (BAV) increasingly used as palliative option for calcified valve in experienced hand. In the AVR era, BAV was not considered a long-term definitive treatment for severe calcific AS due to a high restenosis rate and short durability of gradient improvement. However, it continues to have an important role as a bridge-to-decision or bridge-to-intervention in cases where definitive therapy must be delayed due to clinical instability, imaging uncertainty or failed trial of surgical valve replacement. We report a case of heavily calcified AS in an adolescent female, in which the calcification in
... Show MoreThis research is carried out to investigate the externally post-tensioning technique for strengthening RC beams. In this research, four T-section RC beams having the same dimensions and material properties were casted and tested up to failure by applying two mid-third concentrated loads. Three of these beams are strengthened by using external tendons, while the remaining beam is kept without strengthening as a control beam. Two external strands of 12 mm diameter were fixed at each side of the web of the strengthened beams and located at depth of 200 mm from top fiber of the section (dps). So that the depth of strands to overall depth of the section ratio (dps
... Show MoreEchocardiography is a widely used imaging technique to examine various cardiac functions, especially to detect the left ventricular wall motion abnormality. Unfortunately the quality of echocardiograph images and complexities of underlying motion captured, makes it difficult for an in-experienced physicians/ radiologist to describe the motion abnormalities in a crisp way, leading to possible errors in diagnosis. In this study, we present a method to analyze left ventricular wall motion, by using optical flow to estimate velocities of the left ventricular wall segments and find relation between these segments motion. The proposed method will be able to present real clinical help to verify the left ventricular wall motion diagnosis.