Background: Chronic cigarette smoking is one of the major risk factors for coronary artery disease. However, it has additional cardiac adverse effects independent of coronary atherosclerosis. Patient and Methods: After informed consent and perm- ission from the review board of the hospital, 80 healthy subjects who were classified as smokers or non-smokers were included in the study. They were examined by standard echocardiography protocol which was followed by two-dimensional speckle tracking to assess the functions of the right ventricle. Results: The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) was significantly reduced in smokers as compared to non-smokers (P < 0.05). The tricuspid flow peak late diastolic velocity (A wave) was significantly higher in smokers (P < 0.05, and hence the E/A ratio was signif- icantly lower (P < 0.05). The tissue Doppler imaging examination of right ventricular free wall showed that the peak systolic velocity of right ventricular (RV) free wall (S’), and the peak early diastolic velocity of RV free wall (E’) were significantly lower in smokers when compared to the control group (P < 0.05 for both). The global longit- udinal strain (GLS) assessed by 2D-speckle tracking echo- cardiography was also significantly reduced in smokers (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that chronic cigarette smoking causes alterations in long-axis systolic and diast- olic functions of right ventricle in healthy young subjects. These changes can be detected early with 2-D speckle tracking echocardiography.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. ulcerative colitis (UC) disease is characterized by chronic, persistent, recurrent, and nonspecific intestinal ulcers and mucosal inflammation. This study investigated the protective effects of cinnamic acid on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) induced ulcerative colitis in mice. Forty adult male mice were collected and randomly divided into five groups, group Ӏ received a suspension of distill water and poloxamer, and group ӀӀ received 3% DSS in drinking water for 7 consecutive days. Two treatment groups received an oral suspension of cinnamic acid 50 and 25 mg/kg respectively an
... Show MoreObjective: To evaluate male patients complaining of
urethritis clinically according to the isolated organisms.
Method: A total of 100 male patients attending to of
Dermatological and Venereal private clinics for the period
April 2003 to November 2003 were included in the study.
Urethral swab was obtained from each male for culture and
direct immunofluorescence examination was done.
Demographic data was obtained, also.
Results: N. gonorrhoea was the predominate cause of
infection in 22%. A peak of infection was reported in the
second decade of age. Highest rate reported among single
males. A significant association was noticed between
profuse discharge and infection with gonorrhoea.
Conclusion: This
To study the qualitative changes in testis tissue after carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) administration and to determine whether citric acid (CA) has a protective effect against testis damage induced by CCl4. This study compared two types of CA by measuring the histoarchitecture of the testis and serum levels of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone on mice. One of the most produced organic acid is citric acid. In this study, CA produced by microbial fermentation using Aspergillus Niger 5mg/kg and derived from citrus limon 400mg/kg (lemon). Mice were treated with daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection for seven successive days after randomly separated into six groups: (1) control, (2) CCl4 (0.02%), (3) limon citric acid (400 mg/kg), (4) CCl4 (
... Show MoreA numerical study of the double-diffusive laminar natural convection in a right triangular solar collector has been investigated in present work. The base (absorber) and glass cover of the collector are isothermal and isoconcentration surfaces, while the vertical wall is considered adiabatic and impermeable. Both aiding and opposing buoyancy forces have been studied. Governing equations in vorticity-stream function form are discretized via finite-difference method and are solved numerically by iterative successive under relaxation (SUR) technique. Computer code for MATLAB software has been developed and written to solve mathematical model. Results in the form of streamlines, isotherms, isoconcentration, average Nusselt, and average Sherw
... Show MoreThe aim of this work is to provide an efficient selection technique as a part of planning process to guide the decision makers to decide the preferences of one supplier over another for purchasing lab instruments in education domain. Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process has used as a multi-criteria decision process, as an industrial engineering tool with certain emphasis on the qualitative aspects required to the decision makers. While the concept of degree of possibility for each criterion is used to reach its relative weights, a specific methodology created to reach the final objective decision of supplier selection. A questionnaire form was developed and distributed to five universities located in Baghdad province with a total
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