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
A faunistic review of the genus Chaitophorus Koch, 1854, including four species in Iraq is given; the distribution data of each species and their hosts have been recorded. In this investigation the poplar leaf aphid Ch. populialbae (Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1841) is recorded here for the first time in Iraq on popular trees Populus euphratica Oliv. during the period from November 2016 to April 2017 in Baghdad province.
A brief description for apterous viviparous female of this species is given; and a key to the species of the genus Chaitophorus is constricted.
The current study aims to develop a teaching design in accordance with cluster thinking strategies and explore the effect of this teaching design on students’ achievement in science. To this end, the null hypothesis was adopted: there is no statistically significant difference at the level of (0, 05) between experimental group who adopted the teaching design in learning science and control group who follow the traditional method in learning the same subject. To test the null hypothesis, total of (74) students from Al-Alaama Hussain Mahfooth intermediate school were selected intentionally for the academic year 2016-2017. The sample divided into two equal groups when all the variables (age, prior achievement of science,
... Show MoreThe pretreatment process can be considered one of the important processes in wastewater treatment, especially coagulation process to decrease the strength of many pollutants. This paper focused on using powdered date seeds as natural coagulant in addition to chemical coagulants (alum and ferric chloride) to find the optimum dosage of each coagulant that makes efficient removal of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from domestic wastewater as a pretreatment process, then finding the optimum combined dosages of date seeds with alum, date seeds with ferric chloride that make efficient removal for both pollutants. Concerning turbidity, the optimum dosage for date seeds, alum and ferric chloride were 40 mg/l (79%), 70
... Show MoreThe melting duration in the photovoltaic/phase-change material (PV/PCM) system is a crucial parameter for thermal energy management such that its improvement can realize better energy management in respect to thermal storage capabilities, thermal conditions, and the lifespan of PV modules. An innovative and efficient technique for improving the melting duration is the inclusion of an exterior metal foam layer in the PV/PCM system. For detailed investigations of utilizing different metal foam configurations in terms of their convective heat transfer coefficients, the present paper proposes a newly developed mathematical model for the PV/PCM–metal foam assembly that can readily be implemented with a wide range of operating condition
... Show MoreIraq has suffered since 1991 from international sanctions imposed on it by the dictatorial regime that existed at the time, invading Kuwait, which led to the decline of the status of Iraq and the isolation of international and regional (Arab) and clear Iraq as a strange entity living within its regional environment, after April 2003 did not change much In fact, there were no signs of détente before the Arab League summit in Baghdad in 2011, and the signs of a break in the stalemate in inter-relations over the past years have become evident. Disruption and refraction was not high (Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, Syrian Arab Republic, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait). Each side is governed by perceptions about Iraq, es
... Show MoreNimodipine (NMD) is a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker useful for the prevention and treatment of delayed ischemic effects. It belongs to class ? drugs, which is characterized by low solubility and high permeability. This research aimed to prepare Nimodipine nanoparticles (NMD NPs) for the enhancement of solubility and dissolution rate. The formulation of nanoparticles was done by the solvent anti-solvent technique using either magnetic stirrer or bath sonicator for maintaining the motion of the antisolvent phase. Five different stabilizers were used to prepare NMD NPs( TPGS, Soluplus®, HPMC E5, PVP K90, and poloxamer 407). The selected formula F2, in which Soluplus
has been utilized as a stabilizer, has a par
... Show MoreBackground: Nowadays there is an increasing of the emphasis on aesthetic, dentist have been concerned about providing aesthetics and functional removable partial dentures to their patients and this was make the mission more difficult because of the goal now is achieving optimal aesthetic of the denture - while maintaining retentive, stable, and conservative to the health of supporting tooth and supporting tissue. The traditional use of metal clasp like cobalt-chromium, gold, stainless-steel and titanium hampers esthetics because of its obvious display conflicts with patient’s prosthetic confidentiality. Acetal resin (poly oxy methylene) may be used as alternative denture clasp material. This material was promoted primarily on the basis of
... Show MoreA new ligand [N-(4-methoxy benzoyl amino)-thioxo methyl ] leucine (MBL) was prepared from the reaction of (4-methoxy benzoyl isothiocyanate with leucine acid in molar ratio (l:l), it was characterized by elemental analysis (C.H.N.S), FT-IR, UV-Vis, 1H and 13C-NMR. The complexes of the bivalent ions (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg ) have been prepared and characterized too. The structural was established by elemental analysis (C.H.N.S), FT-IR, UV-Vis spectra, conductivity measurements atomic absorption and magnetic susceptibility and determination of molar ration (M:L). The complexes showed characteristic behavior of tetrahedral geometry around the metal ions except with (Cu) complex showed square planer.