Background: Skull secondary tumors are malignant bone tumors which are increasing in incidence.Objective: The objectives of this study were to present clinical features , asses the outcome of patients with secondary skull tumors ,characterize the MRI features, locations, and extent of secondary skull tumors to determine the frequency of the symptomatic disease.Type of the study: This is a prospective study.Methods: This is a prospective study from February 2000 to February 2008. The patients were selected from five neurosurgical centers and one oncology hospital in Baghdad/Iraq. The inclusion criteria were MRI study of the head(either as an initial radiological study or following head CT scan when secondary brain tumor is suspected , visible or palpabable skull mass is noted ) that revealed either calvarial or skull base metastases were included in this study.Results: During the period of the study 175 patients were included according the inclusion criteria. Primary sites were breast cancer (54.85%), lung cancer (14.28%), prostate cancer (6.28%), malignant lymphoma (5.14%), and others (19.42%). The mean time from primary diagnosis to skull metastasis diagnosis was 71 months for cases of breast cancer, 26 months for prostate cancer, 9 months for lung cancer, and 4 months for malignant lymphoma. Calvarial circumscribed intraosseous metastases were found most frequently (25.7%). The patients were mainly asymptomatic. However, some patients suffered from local pain or cranial nerve palsies that harmed their quality of life. Treatment, mainly for symptomatic cases, was by local or whole-skull irradiation.Conclusion: Secondary skull tumors are not rare, and most are calvarial circumscribed intraosseous tumors. MRI contribute to understanding their type, location, and multiplicity, and their relationship to the brain, cranial nerves, and dural sinuses. Radiation therapy improved the quality of life (QOL) of patients with neurological symptoms.
This research deals with a shrinking method concernes with the principal components similar to that one which used in the multiple regression “Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection: LASS”. The goal here is to make an uncorrelated linear combinations from only a subset of explanatory variables that may have a multicollinearity problem instead taking the whole number say, (K) of them. This shrinkage will force some coefficients to equal zero, after making some restriction on them by some "tuning parameter" say, (t) which balances the bias and variance amount from side, and doesn't exceed the acceptable percent explained variance of these components. This had been shown by MSE criterion in the regression case and the percent explained v
... Show MoreThere are risks and benefits with all medicines and estrogen replacement is no exception. In fact, estrogen replacement is one of the most controversial topics in Endocrinology. Anastatica hierochuntica L. is a popular treatment for the management of female reproductive disorders. The present research highlights the effect of aqueous extract of plant against conjugated estrogen(Premarin) in rabbits. Femal oryciolagus cuniculus rabbits were divided into four groups: the 1 st group, rabbits were orally administered (using a feeding solution )with daily dose(5 mL distilled water)for two months, the 2nd group, the rabbits were treated with conjugated estrogen (50 µg/kg b.w, body weight )for one month. The 3rd group, the rabbits were treated wi
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The increase in the number of trucks and other heavy vehicles in Iraqi highways lead to cracking and deteriorations in the flexible highway. The use of polymermodified asphalt may solve this problem to match the required performance standards. This study investigates the effects of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer on the performance behaviour of Iraqi bitumen binder. The characteristics of bitumen binder were analysed to observe the compatibility of bitumen with SBS polymer. The bitumen binder was mixed with three different contents of SBS (4%, 4.5%, and 5%) by weight of asphalt cement. Viscosity tests were conducted on the SBS polymer-modified asphalt at 135 oC and 165 oC in addition to conventional binder tests. The prepar
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Parasitic 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.
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Background: Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical abdominal emergency with a life time prevalence of 1 to 7 individuals. Because the clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis remains a challenge to surgeons, so different aids were introduced like different scoring systems, computer aided programs, ultrasonography, computerized tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging, Gastrointestinal tract contrast studies and laparoscopy to improve the diagnostic accuracy.
Objective: To evaluate ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in those patients clinically diagnosed with histopathology as gold standard.
Methods: A cross sectional study carried in Al-kindy Teaching
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Background: Removing dental plaque is important to maintain a good oral hygiene and prevent periodontal disease; this could not be accomplished by the use of toothbrush alone, it needs the help of interdental aids or intra-oral irrigator devices. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of using Waterpik flosser as adjunct to tooth brushing than using the dental floss with the brushing. Materials and methods: A single blind, six weeks study included 45 subjects divided into three groups of 15 subjects at each group. Group B (brushing) was instructed to use the toothbrush only, group BF (brushing & flossing) was instructed to use dental floss and tooth brushing while group BW (brushing and Waterpik flosser) was instructed to use Water
... Show MoreBio-diesel is an attractive fuel fordiesel engines. The feedstock for bio-diesel production is usually vegetable oil, waste cooking oil, or animal fats. This work provides an overview concerning bio-diesel production. Also, this work focuses on the commercial production of biodiesel. The objective is to study the influence of these parameters on the yield of produced. The biodiesel production affecting by many parameters such s alcohol ratio (5%, 10%,15 %, 20%,25%,30%35% vol.), catalyst loading (5,10,15,20,25) g,temperature (45,50,55,60,65,70,75)°C,reaction time (0-6) h, mixing rate (400-1000) rpm. the maximum bio-diesel production yield (95%) was obtained using 20% methanol ratio and 15g biocatalyst at 60°C.
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It is a well-known fact that publishing companies spend much money, time and energy in designing their book covers to attract potential customers. As the first thing people do when they buy or intend to buy a book is looking at its front cover. However, if there is a need to know more about the book, people usually look at the information on its back cover. This paper attempts to explore the persuasive function of blurbs beyond the constraints of the academic domain and consequently their connection with advertising discourse in two main sections: The first presents the concept of blurb and its structure while the second defines persuasion and shows the most prominent strategiesused in blurbs. Finally, this paper gives the conclusion tha
... Show MoreThe purpose of this research work is to synthesize conjugates of NSAIDs (ibuprofen, and naproxen) with sulfadiazine as possible mutual prodrugs to overcome the local gastric irritation of NSAIDs with free carboxyl group by formation of ester linkage that supposed to remain intact in stomach and may hydrolyze in intestine chemically or enzymatically; in addition to that attempting to target the synthesized derivative to the colon by formation of azo bond that undergo reduction only by colonic bacterial azoreductaze enzyme to liberate the parent compound to act locally (treatment of inflammation and infections in colon)