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.
Although the number of stomach tumor patients reduced obviously during last decades in western countries, but this illness is still one of the main causes of death in developing countries. The aim of this research is to detect the area of a tumor in a stomach images based on fuzzy clustering. The proposed methodology consists of three stages. The stomach images are divided into four quarters and then features elicited from each quarter in the first stage by utilizing seven moments invariant. Fuzzy C-Mean clustering (FCM) was employed in the second stage for each quarter to collect the features of each quarter into clusters. Manhattan distance was calculated in the third stage among all clusters' centers in all quarters to disclosure of t
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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the new respiratory virus SARS-CoV2. It has a tropism in the lung tissues where excess target receptors exist. Periostin plays a role in subepithelial fibrosis associated with bronchial asthma. Since the Coronavirus's target is the human respiratory system, Periostin has been recently described as a valuable new biomarker in the diagnosis and evaluation of disease in patients with COVID-19 lung involvement. Objectives: To assess the level of Periostin in the serum of COVID-19 patients and to correlate its role in disease severity and prognosis. Subjects and Methods: Periostin serum levels were measured for 63 patients attending three main COVID
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Background: Congenital heart disease is one of the most common developmental anomalies in children. These patients commonly have poor oral health that increase caries risk. Dental management of children with congenital heart disease requires special attention, because of their heightened susceptibility to infectious endocarditis. The aims of this study were to assess the severity of dental caries of primary and permanent teeth and treatment needs in relation to nutritional indicator (Body Mass Index) among children with congenital heart disease. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, case group consisted of 399 patients aged between 6-12 years old with congenital heart disease were examined for dental status in Ibn Al-Bitar spec
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Background: Bell's palsy was defined as facial weakness of lower motor neuron type caused by idiopathic facial nerve involvement outside the central nervous system without evidence of aural or more widespread neurologic disease. The cause is unclear, but the disorder occurs more commonly in diabetics.Objectives: to differentiate cases of idiopathic Bell's palsy from diabetic mononeuropathy presented with Facial nerve palsy by assessing the taste, because they differ in etiology, management & prognosis.Patients &Methods: One hundred and fifteen consecutive patients were referred for the treatment of facial palsy, from May the 5th 2012 to April 12th 2013 in Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital and The Neurosciences Hospital, in Baghdad / Ira
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Some research reports that cognitive grammar (CG) theory has good contributions to teaching English as a foreign language. In this research, the researchers seek to apply this theory and its principles when teaching the simple present tense to Iraqi students who face difficulties in differentiating between the multiple usages of this tense. To achieve this objective, the researchers have conducted an experimental study on a group of 60 Iraqi students in the University of Baghdad, College of Education for Women. Langacker’s (2003) theory has been adopted in the analysis of the cognitive relations to understand the common and different connections of these usages of the simple present. The study has concluded that the cognitive grammar t
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The study aimed to assess the level of ANG‑2 in MM patients at diagnosis and in remission state and elaborate on its correlation with interleukin‑6 (IL‑6) and beta‑2 microglobulin (B2M) levels. Sixty MM patients; 20 newly diagnosed (ND), and 40 patients in remission were included. Twenty healthy individuals were included as a control group. Plasma levels of ANG‑2, B2M, and IL‑6 were tested by enzyme‑lin ked immunosorbent assay. There are significant statistical differences between ND patients and those in remission in hemoglobin, neutrophil count, blood urea, serum creatinine, glomerular filtration rate, B2M, IL6, and ANG‑2 (P = 0.001, 0.033, 0.005, 0.001, 0.001, 0.001, 0.004, and 0.001, respectively). ANG‑2 showed signifi
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One of the main significant purposes of learning the English language is the need to have an effective communication allowing for exchange and transmitting information. As a basic form of human communication that allows people to connect, communicate, and share experiences with one another is writing skill. Through practicing trainable abilities like speaking, and writing, adaptation skills are required to overcome issues that develop in unfamiliar environments. Learners must be cognitively flexible to reconstruct and adjust to these situations' demands. This study aims at looking into the level of cognitive flexibility and writing abilities of Iraqi EFL university students. It also seeks to determine how these two variables are related. It
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