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 this paper, a FPGA model of intelligent traffic light system with power saving was built. The intelligent traffic light system consists of sensors placed on the side's ends of the intersection to sense the presence or absence of vehicles. This system reduces the waiting time when the traffic light is red, through the transition from traffic light state to the other state, when the first state spends a lot of time, because there are no more vehicles. The proposed system is built using VHDL, simulated using Xilinx ISE 9.2i package, and implemented using Spartan-3A XC3S700A FPGA kit. Implementation and Simulation behavioral model results show that the proposed intelligent traffic light system model satisfies the specified operational req
... Show MoreParasitic diseases can affect infection with COVID-19 obviously, as protective agents, or by reducing severity of this viral infection. This current review mentions the common symptoms between human parasites and symptoms of COVID-19, and explains the mechanism actions of parasites, which may prevent or reduce severity of this viral infection. Pre-existing parasitic infections provide prohibition against pathogenicity of COVID-19, by altering the balance of gut microbiota that can vary the immune response to this virus infection.
The Humidification-Dehumidification (HDH) desalination technique offers a viable solution for providing freshwater to populations in water-scarce, remote areas. This study experimentally investigates a novel humidifying method by cross airflow over water-wetted pottery tubes, which function as a humidifier, incorporating a thermoelectric cooler to condense water vapor for freshwater production. To optimize freshwater production and thermal efficiency, meticulous design of these components and appropriate operational parameters are selected. Experiments were performed in three environments with differing temperatures and relative humidity levels, while air velocity varied from 1.02 to 1.89 m/s, and thermoelectric cooler voltage ranged from 6
... Show MoreIn this research, salbutamol sulphate (SAS) has been determined by a simple, rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric method. Salbutamol sulphate in this method is based on the coupling of SAS with diazotized ρ- bromoaniline reagent in alkaline medium of Triton X-100 (Tx) to form an orange azo dye which is stable and water-soluble. The azo dye is exhibiting maximum absorption at 441 nm. A 10 - 800 µg of SAS is obeyed of Beer's law in a final volume of 20 ml, i.e., 0.5- 40 ppm with ε, the molar absorptivity of 48558 L.mol-1.cm-1 and Sandell's sensitivity index of 0.01188 µg.cm-2. This new method does not need solvent extraction or temperature control which is well applied to determine SAS in d
... Show MoreBuckling analysis of a laminated composite thin plate with different boundary conditions subjected to in-plane uniform load are studied depending on classical laminated plate theory; analytically using (Rayleigh-Ritz method). Equation of motion of the plates was derived using the principle of virtual work and solved using modified Fourier displacement function that satisfies general edge conditions. The eigenvalue problem generated by using Ritz method, the set of linear algebraic equations can be solved using MATLAB for symmetric and anti-symmetric, cross and angle-ply laminated plate considering some design parameters such as aspect ratios, number of layers, lamination type and orthotropic ratio. The results obtained g
... Show MorePolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorder. To determine the metabolic disorders in women with PCOS, (25) women with PCOS ages (15 - 47) years have been investigated and compared with (20) healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure fasting blood sugar, (anti-GAD Ab, anti β-islet cell Ab by IFAT) and measured insulin level by ELISA. There was significant elevation in the concentration of fasting blood sugar than in control groups (p ≤ 0.05) and there was negative results for anti-GAD Ab and anti β-islet cell Ab by IFAT test for serum of women with PCOS, while there was significant differences in the insulin level for women with PCOS compared with control groups (p ≤ 0.05),
... Show MoreAbstract A description study was carried through out the present study aimed to assess health education provided by nurses to patient with gall stone "obstructive jaundice". The study was conducted at 4 teaching hospital, Baghdad teaching hospital, Al-Karama teaching hospital, Al-Yarmook teaching hospital, Al-Kendy teaching hospital where choloecystectomy was performed, in the period from first of June 2004 to end of July 2004. Data were collected through the use of questionnaire an interview from which was developed for the purpose of the present study. A non-probability (purposive) sample which was consist
Background:Periodontal diseases are infectious diseases in which periodontalpathogens trigger chronic inflammatory and immune responses. Interleukine-6 is a multifunctional cytokine playing a central role in inflammation and tissue injury.The aim of the study IS to determine the level of Interleukin-6(IL-6) in saliva of patients with chronic periodontitis compared to healthy subjects. Materials and Methods:The total subjects of the present study is 60, divided into 3 groups; 20 patients with chronic periodontitis with pocket depth(PD ≥4 mm)(group I), 20 patients with pocket depth(PD <4 mm) with clinical attachment loss (group II), and 20 healthy controls with pocket probing depth (PPD ≤ 3 mm) without clinical attachment loss (g
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