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.
This research includes the synthesis of some new N-Aroyl-N \ -Aryl thiourea derivatives namely: N-benzoyl-N \ -(p-aminophenyl) thiourea (STU1), N-benzoyl-N \ -(thiazole) thiourea (STU2), N-acetyl-N ` -(dibenzyl) thiourea (STU3). The series substituted thiourea derivatives were prepared from reaction of acids with thionyl chloride then treating the resulted with potassium thiocyanate to affored the corresponding N-Aroyl isothiocyanates which direct reaction with primary and secondary aryl amines, The purity of the synthesized compounds were checked by measuring the melting point and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and their structure, were identified by spectral methods [FTIR,1H-NMR and 13C-NMR].These compounds were investigated as a
... Show MoreThe treatment of migraine headache targets the neurovascular mechanism and involves the use of serotonin receptor antagonists. Some of these drugs are used for the treatment of acute attacks; while others are effective as prophylactic measures to decrease the duration and frequency of attacks. Pizotifen, a 5-HTA antagonist, is one of the prophylactic drugs for which the clinical use resulted in low outcomes in reducing migraine symptoms. Melatonin, a serotonin derived neurohormone, was reported to exert many functions like sleep induction, anti-inflammatory, neurovascular regulation, cytoprotection and modulation of neurotransmitter release. In the view of the involvement of serotonin in the pathophysiology of migraine a
... Show MoreBackground: This study aimed to determine the value of Beta angle for a sample of Iraqi adults with class I skeletal and dental relations and to verify the existence of sexual dimorphism and to find out the relation between this angle and other craniofacial measurements. Materials and Methods: Sixty dental students (23 males and 37 females) with an age ranged between 20-31 years old and having class I skeletal and dental relations were chosen for this study. Each student was subjected to clinical examination and digital true lateral cephalometric radiograph. The radiographs were analyzed using AutoCAD 2007 computer program to measure the angular and linear variables. Descriptive statistics were obtained for the measurements for both genders
... Show MoreThin films of (CdO)x (CuO)1-x (where x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition. The CuO addition caused an increase in diffraction peaks intensity at (111) and a decrease in diffraction peaks intensity at (200). As CuO content increases, the band gap increases to a maximum of 3.51 eV, maximum resistivity of 8.251x 104 Ω.cm with mobility of 199.5 cm2 / V.s, when x= 0.5. The results show that the conductivity is ntype when x value was changed in the range (0 to 0.4) but further addition of CuO converted the samples to p-type.
Background: Hyperfunction of the muscles of the upper lip is considered as the most common cause of excessive gingival display (EGD). The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of botulinum toxin (BT) injection as a conservative treatment for EGD due to muscular hyperfunction and to compare the outcome of 2 injection methods. Material and methods: This study included 40 participants who were randomly assigned into 2 groups of 20 each, The first group received 2.5IU BT injection at 1 point per side (2-points group), while the second group received a total of 5 IU of BT at 2 points per side (4-points group). The outcome variables were the reduction in the central and lateral gingival display expressed as the difference between
... Show MoreIn this work, a ceramic model has obtained from Iraqi bentonite as a base material with limited additions of alumina and silica. The selected material can bear temperatures higher than the bearing temperature of bentonite as it achieved tolerance temperatures (1300°C) based on X-ray diffraction patterns. It was found that the addition of alumina and silica led to the occurrence of basic phases such as mullite, quartz, cordierite and feldspar in percentages that depended on the percentage of addition in the mixture and the firing temperature, which was (1000-1300)°C.
In this research is to study the influence of the aging heat treatment on the pitting corrosion resistance of martensitic stainless steel (MSS), where a number of specimens from martensitic stainless steel were subjected to solution treatment at 1100 oC for one hour followed by water quenching then aging in the temperatures range (500-750) oC for different holding times (1,5,10,15&20) hr. Accelerated chemical corrosion test and immersion chemical corrosion test were performed on samples after heat treatment. The results of the research showed that the pitting corrosion resistance is significantly affected by the aging temperature. Where found that the aging samples at a temperature of 500 °C have the highest ra
... Show MoreSansevieriatrifasciata was studied as a potential biosorbent for chromium, copper and nickel removal in batch process from electroplating and tannery effluents. Different parameters influencing the biosorption process such as pH, contact time, and amount of biosorbent were optimized while using the 80 mm sized particles of the biosorbent. As high as 91.3 % Ni and 92.7 % Cu were removed at pH of 6 and 4.5 respectively, while optimum Cr removal of 91.34 % from electroplating and 94.6 % from tannery effluents was found at pH 6.0 and 4.0 respectively. Pseudo second order model was found to best fit the kinetic data for all the metals as evidenced by their greater R2 values. FTIR characterization of biosorbent revealed the presence of carboxyl a
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