Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived mitral annular displacement (MAD) utilizes the speckle tracking technique to measure strain vectors, which provides accurate estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).Objectives: To validate the accuracy of mitral annular displacement (MAD), assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE), as a surrogate for determination of left ventricular systolic function in comparison to 2-Dimensions Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases.Methods : This cross-sectional study included patients who referred to outpatient department of Ibn Albitar Center for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad, Iraq, between October 2012 and April 2013. STE continuously tracked annular motion throughout the cardiac cycle in the apical 4- and 2-chamber views. LVEF for each patient was measured by both Simpson method and STE-derived MAD.Results: This study included 100 patients, of them (35%) had ischemic heart disease (IHD), (10%) had dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), (10%) had valvular heart disease (VHD), (25%) had normal echocardiography, and (20%) had hypertensive heart disease (HHD).There was significant correlation between EF % (derived by MAD) and EF % (derived by Simpson method) in patients with different heart diseases. This correlation was good in normal subjects (r=0.673), and those with IHD(r=0.896), DCM (r=0.724) and VHD (r=0.935), while in HHD it was moderately correlated (r=0.455). There was slight under-estimation of LVEF derived by MAD (a mean value of difference 0.846 %; p =0.022). In subgroup analysis, this difference was seen only in patients with HHD (a mean value of difference 3.145 %; p <0.001), while it was absent in other subgroups.Conclusion: STE-derived MAD provides easy, fast, and accurate assessments of global longitudinal systolic function. LVEF derived by MAD was correlated well with LVEF derived by Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases
Background Commonly heard statements such as “Christmas comes around more quickly each year” suggest that the passage of time between annual events can become distorted, leading to the sensation of time passing more quickly than normal. At present however, it is unclear how prevalent such beliefs are and, what factors are predictive of it. Aim To explore the prevalence of beliefs that annual events such as Christmas (Study 1 UK sample) and Ramadan (Study 2 Iraqi sample) feel like they come around more quickly each year. To establish the association between distortions to the passage of time between annual events and emotional wellbeing, event specific enjoyment, memory function and self-reported attention to time. Methods Participants c
... Show MoreThe Iranian nuclear program was one of the most prominent issues in the international arena, in light of Iran's insistence on using it in various ways, and according to international changes, it came under pressure from the American side to impose packages of sanctions, which continued to our time, as it went to Russia and China to gain support in developing its nuclear activities. And, by virtue of the common interests that are linked between them, Iran has received great support from the last two countries in all fields to reach the final agreement in 2015, regarding asserting the peace of these activities, in addition to lifting all restrictions represented in the previous sanctions according to the Security Council resolutions, Aldo
... Show MoreOver the past decades, several studies have examined the subcellular localization of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) P6 protein by tagging it with GFP (P6-GFP). These investigations have been essential in the development of models for inclusion body formation, nuclear transport, and microfilament-associated intracellular movement of P6 inclusion bodies for delivery of virions to plasmodesmata. Although it was shown early on that the translational transactivation function of P6-GFP was comparable to wild type P6, it has not been possible to incorporate a P6-GFP gene into an infectious clone of CaMV. Consequently, it has not been possible to formally prove that a P6-GFP fusion is comparable in function to the unmodified P6 protein. Here w
... Show MoreBroadcasting across satellites has become an important media phenomenon and largely available for watchers. As the receiver can see the events at the very moment and at any spot in the world. This study aims to discover the degree of the extent of exposure of Iraqi people to the news broadcasting satellites in Arabic language, (Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Al Ekhbariya Satellite Channels) as one of the media that serves the public; and to discover the range of these Satellite Channels in covering the local Iraqi situation in different sides and aspects; and to know the significance of the Iraqi people in watching those news programmers; and state the motives behind the Iraqi public's dependence on these channels.
The
... Show MoreThis study develops a systematic density functional theory alongside on-site Coulomb interaction correction (DFT + U) and ab initio atomistic thermodynamics approachs for ternary (or mixed transitional metal oxides), expressed in three reservoirs. As a case study, among notable multiple metal oxides, synthesized CoCu2O3 exhibits favourable properties towards applications in solar, thermal and catalytic processes. This progressive contribution applies DFT + U and atomistic thermodynamic approaches to examine the structure and relative stability of CoCu2O3 surfaces. Twenty-five surfaces along the [001], [010], [100], [011], [101], [110] and [111] low-Miller-indices, with varying surface-termination configurations were selected in this study.
... Show MoreThe contemporary art culture is considered a resultant of preceding human civilizations from the early days. At the same time, it got closer to the local privacy, because the contemporary Iraqi potter worked hard to create new art, refusing to base his art on the early works, creating art pieces that contains properties to inherited art and their form significance, in order to create a new identity of his own, bringing an empowerment to his deepened civilization, with the goal to create national identity ideas from one hand, and entity and locality from another. Europeans also followed the direction of our civilization, such as (Picasso, Henry Moore, Barbra Hurth, Brankouzi, Hans Arp,..etc). From this point of view comes the importance o
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the impact of employees’ retention strategy on organizational memory. This research is historical, descriptive, and analytical. The sample consists of 158 faculty members in five private colleges in Baghdad. The technique used to analyze the data is SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), and SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The research concludes that the employees retaining strategy plays a vital role in retaining employees and hence maintains organizational memory. The findings and recommendations of this research assure the administrations of private colleges that employees retention strategy play a vital role in retaining its employee and hence maintains organizational memory. T
... Show MoreIn this study, poly4-(nicotinamido)-4-oxo-2-butenoic acid (PNOE) was prepared by the electro polymerization of 4-(nicotinamido)-4-oxo-2-butenoic acid (NOE) monomer on a 316 stainless steel (St.St) which acts as an anticorrosion coating. Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and cyclic voltammetry were used to diagnose the structure and the properties of the prepared polymer layer. The corrosion behavior of the uncoated and coated 316 St.St were evaluated by using an electro chemical polarization technique in 0.2 M hydrochloric acid solution as a corrosive medium at a temperature range of 293 to 323 K. Nano materials, such as nano ZnO and graphene were added in di
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