Association of atrial fibrillation and obstructive sleep apnea.

BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF) after electrocardioversion. OSA is highly prevalent in patients who are male, obese, and/or hypertensive, but its prevalence in patients with AF is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively studied consecutive patients undergoing electrocardioversion for AF (n=151) and consecutive patients without past or current AF referred to a general cardiology practice (n=312). OSA was diagnosed with the Berlin questionnaire, which is validated to identify patients with OSA. We also assessed its accuracy compared with polysomnography in a sample of the study population. Groups were compared with the 2-tailed t, Wilcoxon, and chi2 tests. Logistic regression modeled the association of AF and OSA after adjustment for relevant covariates. Patients in each group had similar age, gender, body mass index, and rates of diabetes, hypertension, and congestive heart failure. The questionnaire performed with 0.86 sensitivity, 0.89 specificity, and 0.97 positive predictive value in our sample. The proportion of patients with OSA was significantly higher in the AF group than in the general cardiology group (49% versus 32%, P=0.0004). The adjusted odds ratio for the association between AF and OSA was 2.19 (95% CI 1.40 to 3.42, P=0.0006). CONCLUSIONS: The novel finding of this study is that a strong association exists between OSA and AF, such that OSA is strikingly more prevalent in patients with AF than in high-risk patients with multiple other cardiovascular diseases. The coinciding epidemics of obesity and AF underscore the clinical importance of these results

Marfan syndrome diagnosis and management

Marfan syndrome is the most common inherited multisystem disorder of connective tissue. This autosomal dominant condition has an incidence of 2-3 per 10,000 individuals. Although genetic diagnostic techniques are available, the diagnosis is primarily made using the Ghent diagnostic criteria. Early identification and appropriate management improves the prognosis of patients with Marfan syndrome who are prone to the life-threatening cardiovascular complications of aortic dissection and rupture. Beta-blockers have been demonstrated to slow aortic growth and thus delay the time to aortic surgery. Operative intervention has markedly changed the prognosis of patients with Marfan syndrome and can be safely performed on an elective basis. The advance in the understanding of the cause of Marfan syndrome, as well as early recognition of the disorder and subsequent institution of medical and surgical therapy has resulted in dramatic improvement

Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Arched Beams with Normal and High Compressive Strength

This study describes a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model suitable for the analysis of high strength reinforced concrete arched beams under static load. The twenty node isoperimetric brick element has been used to model the concrete and reinforcing steel bars have been idealized as axial members embedded within the brick elements. Perfect bond was assumed to occur between the concrete and the reinforcing bars. The behavior of concrete in compression is simulated by an elasto-plastic work hardening model followed by a perfectly plastic response, which is terminated at the onset of the crushing. In tension, a smeared crack model with fixed orthogonal cracks has been used. High and normal strength reinforced concrete arched beams have been analyzed in the present study. Parametric studies have been carried out to investigate the effect of radius to span length ratio, boundary conditions, (α2) [the sudden loss of stress at the instant of cracking], and effect of compressive strength. In general good agreement between the finite element solutions and the experimental results have been obtained

Reducing Effects of Initial Imperfection by Investment in the Orthotropic Characteristics of Laminated Composite Plate

The target of this study is to reduce the impact of initial imperfection on the nonlinear dynamical performance of laminated composite plates by taking advantage of the orthotropic characteristics of laminated composite plates by changing carbon fiber sawing in the mass matrix and fiber orientation with different patterns and studying the effect of this optimization without and with initial imperfection (Wo) and different aspect ratios (W/L) and various boundary conditions through analyzing the load-displacement responses for plates under axial in-plane compressive loads by using the FORTRAN 94 programming language. Von-Karman's assumptions are utilized to include geometric nonlinearity for nine node isoperimetric quadrilateral components with five degrees of freedom into the structural model, which is based on first-order shear deformation theory. The Newmark’s implicit time integration method and Newton-Raphson iteration concurrently are employed to solve the nonlinear governing equation in conjunction. The study proved the effectiveness of the carbon fiber's varying geometric distribution and the difference in its directions in reducing the negative effects of the initial imperfection on the large elastic-plastic displacement and critical buckling. To highlight the veracity of the results, some of them have been validated against those found in the literature review. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-07-03 Full Text: PD

Analisa dan Perancangan Website Media Sosial Untuk Komunitas Tari Dengan Metode Prototyping

Informasi adalah sesuatu yang selalu dibutuhkan ketika setiap pengguna internet melakukan browsing. Informasi tersebut bisa berupa artikel, musik, foto, dan juga video. Dalam dunia tari, informasi sangat mempunyai pengaruh yang besar dalam berkembangnya setiap penari. Website adalah salah satu cara penari untuk mendapatkan informasi berupa konten video atau artikel yang dapat mereka akses dan digunakan untuk bertukar informasi dengan penari yang lain baik lokal atau internasional. Dengan adanya website yang mempunyai ruang lingkup lebih spesifik akan membantu untuk penari tersebut lebih efisien dalam saling bertukar informasi. Website dengan berbasis media sosial akan sangat membantu dalam melakukan komunikasi kepada setiap pengguna di dalamnya. Dalam penilitian ini akan menggunakan metode prototyping, supaya website yang dibuat akan lebih user friendly karena perancangan website akan melibatkan calon pengguna dalam menentukan desain dan fitur yang akan digunakan

Effect of Fibers Orientation on the Nonlinear Dynamic Performance of Laminated Composite Plate under Different Loading In-plane

Non-linear dynamic analysis of a cross-ply laminated composite with fibre spacing plates under in-plane loading was presented. The mathematical formulation is based on first-order shear deformation theory and von-Karman non-linearity. Eight-node isoperimetric quadrilateral elements with five degrees of freedom per node were used to maintain geometric nonlinearity. In this investigation, a variety of fiber spacings and fibre orientations were used for the purpose of studying the effect of improvements on the behaviour of samples with this type of load. The dynamic equilibrium equations were solved using the Newmark integration technique. The non-linear dynamic analysis addressed several functions of changing fibre spacing with various changes in volume percentage and diverse fibre orientations. Fibre orientation, volume fraction fluctuation, and fibre distribution significantly affected laminated composite plates' non-linear dynamic behaviour. This study showed that the combination of improvements does not give a clear vision of the ideal improvement, and the best case for fibre distribution and the best case for layer rotation and combination should be studied to know the effect of the ameliorations one on the other and distinguish the impact of the transverse loading pattern in one direction on rotating the sample layers with axial load in one direction, so that changing the fibre distribution is more effective in the behaviour and stability of the plate by taking advantage of the orientation change, as demonstrated in this paper. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-12-03 Full Text: PD

Role of infection with Hymenolepis nana in alteration of some Biochemical, Immnunological and Histological parameters in Mice/Balb-C

The current study was conducted from November 2023 to February 2024 on 20 male laboratory mice. The current study evaluated the effect of infection with the dwarf worm on some biochemical and immunological parameters and some histological changes of the liver and intestine of laboratory mice. During the current study, liver enzymes, some cellular motility and immunoglobulin E were measured using ELISA technology by providing a set of work from well-known international companies. Histological sections of the liver and intestine of mice were also prepared for both the control and dwarf worm-infected groups. The current study showed significant differences between the levels of enzymes, cellular motility and immunoglobulin E levels by comparing the results of the infected group with the control group. In addition, the current study also showed changes in the liver and intestine tissues by comparing with the control group as well. It appears from the results of the current study that infection with the dwarf worm causes changes in liver functions and stimulates the immune response in addition to histological changes in both the liver and intestine

Flammability action of tires material after adding flame inhibitor

Magnesium hydroxide was used as flame inhibitor to increased flame resistance for tires .Magnesium hydroxide was adding with (5%,10%) weight percents to rubber master batch of tire and then exposed the resulting material to a flame generated from gas torch with (10 mm) exposure distance . Method of measuring the surface temperature opposite to the flame was used to determine the heat transferred through tire material. The results were obtained shows enhanced flame resistance for tire by added magnesium hydroxide and this resistance increased by increasing hydroxide Percentage

The Role of Elementary School Principals inside the Green Line in Compromising Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and its Relationship to their Personal Traits from the Teachers’ Point of View دور مديري المدارس الابتدائية داخل الخط الأخضر في دمج الطلبة ذوي اضطراب نقص الانتباه المصحوب بفرط الحركة وعلاقته بسماتهم الشخصية

Abstract: The study aimed to identify the role of elementary school principals within the green line in integrating students with ADHD and its relationship to their personal traits from the teachers’ point of view. The correlational descriptive methodology was used, and the questionnaire represented the tool of the study. The study sample consisted of (409) teachers, divided into (228) males and (181) females, who were randomly selected from elementary schools within the Green Line. The results showed that the level of the overall role of elementary school principals within the green line in compromising students with ADHD was high, and that the overall level of personal traits among the affected students was medium, and the existence of a positive correlation between the role of elementary school principals within the green line in compromising students with ADHD and their personal traits. ملخص: هدفت الدراسة تعرف دور مديري المدارس الابتدائية داخل الخط الأخضر في دمج الطلبة ذوي اضطراب نقص الانتباه المصحوب بفرط الحركة وعلاقته بسماتهم الشخصية. استخدمت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي الارتباطي واستخدمت الاستبانة أداة للدراسة، وتكونت عينة الدراسة من (409) معلماً ومعلمة يتوزعون إلى (228) معلماً و(181) معلمة تم اختيارهم بالطريقة الطبقية العشوائية. أظهرت النتائج أن مستوى دور مديري المدارس الابتدائية داخل الخط الأخضر في دمج الطلبة ذوي اضطراب نقص الانتباه المصحوب بفرط الحركة ككل جاء بدرجة بمستوى كبير، وأن المستوى الكلي للسمات الشخصية لدى الطلبة ذوي اضطراب نقص الانتباه المصحوب بفرط الحركة جاء متوسطاً، ووجود علاقة ارتباطية موجبة بين دور مديري المدارس الابتدائية داخل الخط الأخضر في دمج الطلبة ذوي اضطراب نقص الانتباه المصحوب بفرط الحركة وسماتهم الشخصية