Background: Coronary artery disease remains the main cause of death despite several preventive programs. Epicardial adipose tissue is a visceral fat depot of the heart located along the large coronary arteries and on the surface of ventricles and apex. Intima media thickness is commonly recognized as the initial stage in the development of atherosclerosis. The development of ultrasound machines, advances in echocardiographic devices and high resolution transducers facilitate comprehensive analysis of epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and carotid –intima media thickness (C-IMT).
Aim: To investigate the relationship of echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and carotid –intima media thickness (C-IMT) with the severity of coronary artery disease.
Methods: A cross sectional multicenter diagnostic accuracy study carried out at Ibn Al-Nafis Cardiovascular Hospital, Ibn Al- Bitar Cardiology Center and Ghazi Al-Hariri Hospital –Iraqi Center for Cardiology during the period between October 2016 and May 2017 assessing. History regarding demographic data and risk factors was taken. Two dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic measurements were done. EFT was measured from parasternal long axis view perpendicular to the right ventricular free wall. C-IMT was measured according to that recommended by the American society of echocardiography (ASE).
Results: The current study demonstrated that the EFT has a direct and significant correlation with the number of involved vessels (P value ˂ 0.001, r= 0.770). The validity of EFT to discriminate between multiple vessels disease and no vessel involvement is excellent (AUC= 0.984, cut point > 8mm, sensitivity=92.9%, specificity= 93.3%). There is inverse and significant correlation between ejection fraction (EF) and three vessels disease (P value ˂ 0.001, r= -0.507). Also there is a direct and significant correlation between C-IMT and severity of CAD. ROC analysis for validity of C-IMT to discriminate between multiple vessels disease and no vessel involvement is excellent (AUC= 0.961, cut point > 1.04mm, sensitivity=92.9%. specificity=86.7%). C-IMT is fair to discriminate between single vessel disease and no vessel involvement (AUC=0.738, cut point ˃ 0.84mm, sensitivity 100%), so if correlated with age, C-IMT above 0.84 can be used as a cut off point for the prediction of CAD. Finally, EFT and C-IMT are more likely to reflect severity of CAD than their ratio.
Conclusions: C-IMT and EFT are simple and reproducible parameters that can be used as a screening tool for the presence and severity of CAD especially before symptoms appearance in high risk patients
In solar-thermal adsorption/desorption processes, it is not always possible to preserve equal operating times for the adsorption/desorption modes due to the fluctuating supply nature of the source which largely affects the system’s operating conditions. This paper seeks to examine the impact of adopting unequal adsorption/desorption times on the entire cooling performance of solar adsorption systems. A cooling system with silica gel–water as adsorbent-adsorbate pair has been built and tested under the climatic condition of Iraq. A mathematical model has been established to predict the system performance, and the results are successfully validated via the experimental findings. The results show that, the system can be operational
... Show MoreKlebsiella pneumoniae has been found in the urinary tract of some bladder cancer patients. Bacterial presence within tumor tissue may affect the tumor-microenvironment and consequently influence cancer behavior, development, and treatment response. This study investigated mesenchymal and stemness transdifferentiation of bladder cancer cell line due to environmental stress of K. pneumoniae. Cultures of urothelial bladder cancer cell line (T24) were infected with K. pneumoniae with different multiplicity of infection (MOI) for two and four days. Transdifferentiation-associated features were morphologically assessed.
Moreover, transdifferentiation markers were estimated using Q-PCR and immunohistoc
... Show MoreThe research includes synthesis and identification of novel three amino acids ligands complexes of some heavy metal (II) ions by using the amino acids like glycine, L-alanine and L-valine. New metal mixed ligand complexes with amino acids are prepared the reaction by reacting the three amino acids with the metals(II) chloride by using 50% ethanolic solution and 50% distall water in the molar ratio [1:1:1:1] ( M:Gly:Ala:Val) except for Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes were found after diagnosis the coordination with both Lalanine and L-valine. The prepared complexes identified by using physical properties, flame atomic absorption and conductivity measurements, in addition, mass, FT.IR and UV.vis spectrum as well magnetic moment data. The general
... Show MoreA simple , sensitive and accurate spectrophotometric method for the trace determination of bismuth (III) has been developed .This method is based on the reaction of bismuth (III) with arsenazo(III) in acid solution (pH=1.9) to form a blue water soluble complex which exhibits maximum absorption at 612nm .Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 2-85 ?g bismuth (III) in a final volume of 20 mL( i.e. 0.1 – 4.25?g.mL-1) with a correlation coefficient of (0.9981) and molar absorptivity 1.9×104 L.mol-1.cm-1 . The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) are 0.0633 and 0.0847 ?g.mL-1 , respectively . Under optimum conditions,the stoichiometry of the reaction between bismuth (III) and arsenazo(III) r
... Show MoreAbstract
This work involves the manufacturing of MAX phase materials include V2AlC and Cr2AlC using powder metallurgy as a new class of materials which characterized by regular crystals in lattice. Corrosion behavior of these materials was investigated by Potentiostat to estimate corrosion resistance and compared with the most resistant material represented by SS 316L. The experiments were carried out in 0.01N of NaOH solution at four temperatures in the range of 30–60oC. Polarization resistance values which calculated by Stern-Geary equation indicated that the MAX phase materials more resistant than SS 316L. Also cyclic polarization tests confirme
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: HLA-B27 can effect clinical presentation and course of ankylosing spondylitis. Different detection techniques of HLA-B27 are available with variable sensitivities and specificities. OBJECTIVE: To compare serologic and molecular diagnostic techniques of detecting HLA-B27 status and to correlate it with some clinical variables among ankylosing spondylitis patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 83 Iraqi patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Clinical and laboratory evaluations were reported. HLA-B27 status was determined in all patients by real-time PCR using HLA-B27 RealFast™ kit; ELISA method was used as well to detect soluble serum HLA-B27 antigens using Human Leukocyte Antigen® kit. RESULTS:
... Show MoreBackground: Klebsiella pneumoniae were considered as normal flora of skin, and intestine. It can cause damage to human lungs; the danger of this bacterium is related to exposure to the hospital surroundings. materials and methods: the detection of Klebsiella pneumoniae on morphological and biochemical tests and then assured with VITEK 2 system. Resistance to antibiotics was determined by Kirby-Baeur method. And genotyping of IMP-1 in isolates was done by PCR technique, then biofilm formation was identified by Micro titer plate method. Results: The present study included a collecting of 50 specimens from different clinical specimens, (blood 40%, urine 30%, sputum 20%, wound infection 10%); 10 isolates were identified as K
... Show More