Background: Quality of life in brain tumor patients is an emerging issue and has prompted neurosurgeons to recon¬sider the need for cognitive assessment in the course of treatment. To date there has been a lack of comprehensive neuropsychological assessment performed preoperatively and in the acute postoperative period in our hospitals.Objectives: to establish the effects of tumors and their surgical treatment, from a neuropsychological perspective, on cognitive functioning in patients with cerebral Gliomas. Methods: This is a prospective study conducted in the Neurosurgical Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, during the period from January 1999 to January 2001. Any patient admitted during the period of the study with clinical history, signs, symptoms, and contrast enhanced MRI suggesting a cerebral glioma and confirmed by postoperative histopathological results of glioma has been included in this study. While multifocal lesions, long-lasting epilepsy, use of antiepileptic therapy, multiple cranial lesions, previous cranial surgery, any chronic illness, and histopathological result of other tumors were exclusion criteria. All patients were at their first operation for brain tumors. Patients were examined by analyzing several functional domains (intelligence, executive functions, memory, language, praxis, gnosis and mood state) in order to establish the effect of tumor and surgery on cognition.Results: 29 patients who fulfilled the selection criteria were included. Mean duration of clinical history was 5 months (range 1–9 months). At baseline, using test- and domain-based criteria, 79% and 38% of patients, respectively, were impaired, the former related to tumor factors such as edema (P < 0.05), larger size (P < 0.05) and higher grade (P = 0.001). Verbal memory, visuospatial memory and word fluency were the most frequently affected functions, partly associated with depression. Postoperatively, 38% and 55% of patients, respectively, were unchanged, 24% and 21% improved, and 38% and 24% worsened; 24% and 62% of patients were intact, respec-tively.Conclusions: The extent of removal did not influence the outcome. Improvement involved previously impaired functions and was correlated with high-grade tumors. Worsening regar¬ded executive functions was related to tumor size and was partly explained by radiological findings on postoperative MRI. This prospective study, focusing on the effects of tumor and surgery, showed that tumor significantly affects cognitive func¬tions, mainly due to the mass effect and higher grading. Surgical treatment improved the functions most frequently affected preoperatively and caused worsening of execu¬tive functions soon after operation, leaving the overall cognitive burden unchanged and capable of improvement prospectively.
The importance of specifying proper aggregate grading for achieving satisfactory performance in pavement applications has long been recognized. To improve the specifications for superior performance, there is a need to understand how differences in aggregate gradations within the acceptable limits may affect unbound aggregate base behavior. The effects of gradation on strength, modulus, and deformation characteristics of high-quality crushed rock base materials are described here. Two crushed rock types commonly used in constructing heavy-duty granular base layers in the State of Victoria, Australia, with three different gradations each were used in this study. The gradations used represent the lower, medium, and upper gradation li
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This paper presents a numerical simulation for the combined effect of surface roughness and non-Newtonian behavior of the lubricant on the performance of misaligned journal bearing. The modified Reynolds equation to include the effect of non-Newtonian lubricant and bearing surface roughness has been formulated. The model accounts for the lubricant viscosity dependence on temperature and shear rate. In order to make a complete thermo-hydrodynamic analysis (THD) of rough surface misaligned journal bearing lubricated with non-Newtonian lubricant, the modified Reynolds equation coupled with the energy, heat conduction equations, the equation related the viscosity and temperature with appropriate boundary conditions have been solved simultane
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Background: Whey protein is the green-yellow colored, liquid portion of the milk, and it is also called the cheese serum, it is obtained after the separation of curd, during the coagulation of the milk. It contains a considerable amount of α-helix pattern with an evenly distributed hydrophobic and hydrophilic as well as basic and acidic amino acids along with their polypeptide chain. The major whey protein constituents include β-lactoglobulin (β-LG),α-lactalbumin (α-LA), immunoglobulins (IG), bovine serum albumin (BSA), bovine lactoperoxidase (LP), bovine lactoferrin (BLF) and minor amounts of a glycol macro peptide (GMP). Osseointegration can be defined as a process that is immune driven which leads to the formatio
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A microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a new approach to bioelectrochemical systems. It provides a more sustainable way to electrical power production, saltwater desalination, and wastewater treatment at the same time. This study examined three operation modes of the MDC: chemical cathode, air cathode, and biocathode MDC, to give clear sight of this system's performance. The experimental work results for these three modes were recorded as power densities generation, saltwater desalination rates, and COD removal percentages. For the chemical cathode MDC, the power density was 96.8 mW/m2, the desalination rate was 84.08 ppm/hr, and the COD removal percentage was 95.94%. The air cathode MDC results were different
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A freshwater bivalve plays a crucial function in aquatic habitats as the filtered water and burrowing mussels mix the sediment, thus increasing oxygen content and making the ecosystem healthier. The aim of the study is to see how chlorpyrifos affects biochemical markers in freshwater mussel Unio tigridis. About 180 individuals per taxon and water samples were collected from the Qandil water resource on the Greater Zab River, Erbil Province, Iraq. Once arrived at the lab, the individuals were kept in aquaria with river water and an air-conditioned room Temperature: 25±2 and Light: 12h/12h and acclimatized to laboratory conditions for seven days in aged tap water. The mussel's identification molecularly and the DNA sequence of t
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This study aimed to identify the changes in total protein in saliva and sera samples of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma in comparison to those of healthy controls. These changes were followed using electrophoresis (PAGE). Meanwhile, determinations of albumin, globulin and albumin to globulin ratio were carried out on sera samples only.Two groups were the participants in the present study, 18 patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC), and 20 ages and gender matched healthy controls.
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The aim of this study was spot light to the possibility of confection between hepatitis C&G viruses in Iraqi patients. The groups was studied included two groups as follow: 1- first group: its (Infected group) the patients of this group have Anti-HCV abs in their serum by using Indirect ELISA technique. 2- second group: its (Control group) the persons of this group have no Anti-HCV abs in their serum by using indirect ELISA technique. The result of this study was observed there was two patients from the first group have Anti-HGVabs in their serum with infection percent 2.70%, also the same result was found in the second group wich mean there was two persons have Anti-HGVabs in their serum with infection percent 8.33% .So when we comparin
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It was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 fem
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Gypseous soil is a collapsible soil, which causes large deformations in buildings that are constructed on it. Various methods have been used to minimise this effect, such as replacing the gypseous soil or using soil stabilisation (grouting or soil improvement). This study was carried out on four types of gypseous soils that have different properties and various gypsum contents. The testing was carried out on remoulded samples to evaluate the compressibility of gypseous soil under different conditions. The samples were grouted with acrylate liquid. The relationships between the injection pressure and the radius of flow, between time of injection and radius of flow, and between time and quantity of acrylate liquid are investigated on
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