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
There is a natural problem raised by the issue of media performance. As a separate activity and express its own capabilities. This problem can be framed in the form of a question: Is media performance merely a reflection of the activity of other sectors of society, especially political and economic, and what links them to other societal sectors of interrelated relations? Is the media limited to mere transfer, or is it an industry with its own mechanisms and rules? The answer may seem somewhat complicated if we handle media with research and study in general, but the issue may be less complicated when it comes to Arab media, because its data may add another setback to the overall Arab setbacks.
Media plays an important role in shaping the mental image of their audiences for individuals, groups and organizations, States and peoples. It is the window through which overlooks the masses on events and issues, and in the light of their exposure to these means are their opinions and impressions.
Despite the importance of direct experiences in shaping opinions, drawing pictures and impressions, it is inevitable to rely on these means as individuals can not engage in direct experiences with thousands of events, issues and topics that concern their community and other societies.
There is no doubt that media is of great importance at the present time, because of its significant impact in the management of the course of pol
... Show MoreBackground:Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) problems refer to a group of heterogeneous pain and dysfunction conditions involving the mastication, reducing life quality of the patients. Arthrocentesis is a simple and less invasive surgical method for the treatment of inflammatory-degenerative disease than other conservative procedures and better than arthroscope. This clinical study aimed at evaluating the benefit of arthrocentesis with injection of hyaluronic acid in the management of inflammatory-degenerative disease of the TMJ. Material and methods: Eighty consecutive patients were enrolled in this study with pain symptoms of TMJ, insufficient masticatory efficiency during function and limitation of mouth opening; they were assessed with
... Show MoreThe study aimed to establish the association of miR-153-3p expression with treatment response to IM in CML patients. Sixty CML patients were included and divided into two groups consistent with their response to treatment whether sensitive or resistant to IM. Ten healthy normal participants were enrolled as control group. RNA was extracted from serum to work out miR-153-3p expression utilizing real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The primers were supplied by Macrogen Inc. Twenty seven patients were sensitive to imatinib and 33 were resistant to imatinib. The ratio of male to female was 1.14:1. The bulk (58%) of patients were within the age range of 41-60 years. Weight and gender did not significantly diffe
... Show MoreThis studay was performd on 30 serum specimens of patients having type II diabetes with cardiac disease, and 40 normal specimens were investigated as control group.The activity rate of AAP in patients (125.31± 3.28)I.U/L and activity rate of AAP in normals (6.76±2.21) I.U/L, in addition purification of AAP from serum patients having type II diabetes with cardiac diaease by using dialysis bag and gel filtration (Sephadex G-50). The results of the study reveal that Alanine aminopeptidase (AAP) activity of type II diabetes with cardiac disease patients' serum show a high signifiacant increase (p<0.001) compare to normal subject .
Irisin is a novel myokine and adipokine, its role during pregnancy and its association with some metabolic risk factors especially pre-pregnancy body mass index (pre-BMI) need more evaluation. The aim of the study is to find whether the pre-BMI could predict irisin levels during normal pregnancy and to clarify associations of irisin with some pathological parameters.
Irisin levels were estimated by ELISA in sera of 59 normal pregnant women who enrolled from December 2016 to May 2017 at Maternity Hospital, Zakho city, Kurdistan region (Iraq). Thirty-two normal-weight pregnant (pre-BMI≤24.9 kg/m2, Age=24.03 mean±3.7standard deviation) and 27 overweight/obese-pregnant (pre-BMI>25 kg/m2, Age=27.6 mean±3.9
... Show MoreEndothelin-I (ET-I) is one of the potent vasoconstrictors secreted from endothelial cells when needed. Many studies revealed the elevation of serum ET-I with human diabetes and microangiopathies. Since insulin resistance is a case of mixed diabetic and pre-diabetic cases, many risk factors beyond obesity and inflammation are proposed. The current study aims to demonstrate the association between serum ET-I and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Sera of 73 subjects were enrolled currently (control= 35 subjects, and 38 with T2DM for more than 7 years), aged (40-60) years old, with distinct body mass index (BMI) ≤ 25 for control volunteers and (BMI) ≥ 25 for obesity and diabetes
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