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
Previous data indicated the effectiveness of silibinin as intraocular pressure (IOP) - lowering agent. The present study was performed to evaluate the interaction of silibinin with pilocarpine or cyclopentolate in lowering IOP in normotensive rabbits. The effects of topically instilled silibinin hemisuccinate solution (0.75%) alone or adjunctly combined with 2% pilocarpine or 1% cyclopentolate on the IOP of normotensive rabbits were evaluated using indentation tonometry. The results showed that 0.75% solution of silibinin was found more potent than pilocarpine (2% drops) in lowering IOP of normotensive rabbits, while their combination results in longer duration of action. Moreover, the elevated IOP values produced by cyclopentolate (1%drops
... Show MorePrevious data indicated the effectiveness of silibinin as intraocular pressure (IOP) - lowering agent. The present study was performed to evaluate the interaction of silibinin with pilocarpine or cyclopentolate in lowering IOP in normotensive rabbits. The effects of topically instilled silibinin hemisuccinate solution (0.75%) alone or adjunctly combined with 2% pilocarpine or 1% cyclopentolate on the IOP of normotensive rabbits were evaluated using indentation tonometry. The results showed that 0.75% solution of silibinin was found more potent than pilocarpine (2% drops) in lowering IOP of normotensive rabbits, while their combination results in longer duration of action. Moreover, the elevated IOP values produced by cyclopentolate
... Show MoreBackground:Nocturnal Enuresis is a common problem affecting 20% of five years old children and up to 2% of adolescent and young adult. Although it is a self limiting benign condition, it has social and psychological impact on the child and his family. Many pathophysiological theories had been suggested, but none is confirmed. Hypercalciuria has been suggested to be associated with higher incidence of nocturnal enuresis. Objectives:The aim of our study to test the value of Ca/Cr ratio, on random urine sample, in diagnosing hypercalciuria in enuretic children. Type of study: Cross sectional study.Methods:Forty four enuretic children were enrolled in this study and forty five children without nocturnal enuresis were taken as control group.
... Show MoreThis study investigated the outcome of Alstonia boonei stem bark on liver enzymes after inducing the Wistar albino rats with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). This effect of plant extract was compared with silymarin – a drug commonly used for the treatment of chronic hepatocyte disorder. The plant sample was extracted with ethanol; acute toxicity study of the extract was performed on eighteen Wistar mice, while 30 rats were sacrificed for liver enzymes assay. The rats were divided into six clusters: each cluster has five rats, culster 1 served as control and was given 2 mL/kg b.w - distilled water; clusters 2 – 6 were CCl4 induced. Cluster 2 was untreated but served as the negative control while cluster 3 wa
... Show MoreThe relative strength index (RSI) is one of the best known technical analysis indicators; it provides the speculators by prior signals about the future stock’s prices, and because the speculations in shares of companies which listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange have a high degree of risk, like risk of shares prices felling, so the speculators became committed to use some methods to reduce these risks, and one of these methods is the technical analysis by using the relative strength index (RSI) which enable the speculators of choosing the right time for buy and sell the stocks and the right time to enter or leave the market by using the historical rice data. And from here the problem of the research formulated as “Is the using of
... Show MoreHigh performance liquid chromatography was applied for the separation and identification of four antharquinone derivatives, aloe emodin, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion. The separation was carried out using Eurospher 100, C18 column (4.6 mm i.d. x 250 mm, 5 µm) under the following conditions: acetonitile (solvent A) and water: acetic acid (99.9: 0.1 v/v, pH 3.5)( solvent B) as a mobile phase with isocratic elution with 30% solvent B at flow rate 0.8 ml/min. The detection wavelength was set at 254 nm. The four antharquinone derivatives were isolated from the Iraqi rhubarb, Rheum ribes root by preparative TLC, their structures were identified by 1H NMR and used as standards for HPLC analysis. The percentages of alo
... Show MoreThis study was done to compare the morphometric parameters of placentas in well controlled patients with preeclampsia, diabetes, and preeclampsia-diabetes with that of normal uncomplicated placentas. Patients & Methods: A total of Twenty four placentas were freshly collected. Six placentas for control group and eighteen placentas for complicated group (preeclamptic-diabetic and preeclamptic--diabetic subgroups). The placentas were grossly examined (shape, number of cotyledons, weight, and thickness). After suitable fixation, tissue processing and sectioning, the sections were stained by hematoxylin and eosin to study the general morphology and morphometry of the following parameters: number of terminal villi, number of syncytial knots, numb
... Show MoreThe beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly destructive pest of vegetables and field crops. Management of beet armyworm primarily relies on synthetic pesticides, which is threatening the beneficial community and environment. Most importantly, the BAW developed resistance to synthetic pesticides with making it difficult to manage. Therefore, alternative and environment-friendly pest management tactics are urgently required. The use of pesticidal plant extracts provides an effective way for a sustainable pest management program. To evaluate the use of pesticidal plant extracts against BAW, we selected six plant species (Lantana camara, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon citratus, Nicotiana tabacum ,
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