Pattern of Ocular Trauma in Al-Hussein Hospital

Objective: To determine the pattern of ocular trauma and subsequent visual impairment in Al- Samawa city general hospital. Design: Hospital based prospective descriptive study Method: The subjects underwent a detailed interview and ocular examination for anterior and posterior segment. Results: 39 of patients were male and 24 were female. the mean age was 24.83±15.456. There were (39.7%) blunt trauma, (23.8%)sharp object, (25.3%)foreign body ,(4.8%)contact lens , (1.6%)bullet injury,(1.6%)chemical injury, (1.6%)glue instillation, (1.6%)tooth extraction. according in visual acuity (77.8%)were good to mild , (11.1%)were moderate,(9.5%)were severe,(1.6%) were blind. Conclusion: High percentage of ocular injuries are closed injuries occurring in workplaces suggesting the need to explore work place strategies to minimize ocular trauma as priority . Large percentage of ocular trauma in children suggest the need for educational program in avoiding commercially available sharp ended toys and more family instructions to give more care for their children

Applying Critical Metaphor Analysis in Political Discourse Post 9/11

This paper attempts to explain how the political enemy and its actions have already been defined in the political environment. Regarding the metaphorical units involved in the political discourse and statements, this study considers the case of the American war against Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002 and 2003. The use of metaphorical units of the former president of the United States, George W. Bush, former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein and former leader of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden during the war have been analyzed using Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) as a concrete method developed by Charteris-Black (2004). This type of metaphorical unit involves the cognitive process of cultural and religious experiences to generate a specific stereotype of the enemy. That image appears in most religious traditions of the world, aiming to arouse hatred and fear among people. The paper concludes by emphasizing that the considered metaphorical units have created an "abstract" conceptual metaphor that deliberately establishes an analogy between "political enemy" and "religious enemy" using lexical units such as "satán/satan" "diablo/devil" and "infiel /infidel ", among others

Laser Applications in Periodontology

Laser have various periodontal applications including calculus removal (erbium yttrium scandium gallium garnet and erbium yttrium aluminum garnet lasers), decontamination of root and implant surfaces and bio stimulation, incision and ablation, osseous surgery, excision of the soft tissue, and bacterial reduction. This chapter analyzes the most important occasions in which lasers are used in implant and periodontal field practices. There is a strong evidence that laser is used for surgical and nonsurgical periodontal therapies including root bio modification, bacterial decline and decontamination of infected implant surface (in peri-implantitis), and removal of the pocket epithelium. This chapter also highlights the most common disadvantages as well as the advantages of using lasers in periodontal therapy. Waterlase® and Periowave™ systems are recent devices that have further revolutionized the laser technology for its favorable clinical applications; however, the procedural cost with the laser device constitutes an obstacle for its routine application

Mobility in wireless sensor networks : advantages, limitations and effects

The primary aim of this thesis is to study the benefits and limitations of using a mobile base station for data gathering in wireless sensor networks. The case of a single mobile base station and mobile relays are considered. A cluster-based algorithm to determine the trajectory of a mobile base station for data gathering within a specified delay time is presented. The proposed algorithm aims for an equal number of sensors in each cluster in order to achieve load balance among the cluster heads. It is shown that there is a tradeoff between data-gathering delay and balancing energy consumption among sensor nodes. An analytical solution to the problem is provided in terms of the speed of the mobile base station. Simulation is performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm against the static case and to evaluate the distribution of energy consumption among the cluster heads. It is demonstrated that the use of clustering with a mobile base station can improve the network lifetime and that the proposed algorithm balances energy consumption among cluster heads. The effect of the base station velocity on the number of packet losses is studied and highlights the limitation of using a mobile base station for a large-scale network. We consider a scenario where a number of mobile relays roam through the sensing field and have limited energy resources that cannot reach each other directly. A routing scheme based on the multipath protocol is proposed, and explores how the number of paths and spread of neighbour nodes used by the mobile relays to communicate affects the network overhead. We introduce the idea of allowing the source mobile relay to cache multiple routes to the destination through its neighbour nodes in order to provide redundant paths to destination. An analytical model of network overhead is developed and verified by simulation. It is shown that the desirable number of routes is dependent on the velocity of the mobile relays. In most cases the network overhead is minimized when the source mobile relay caches six paths via appropriately distributed neighbours at the destination. A new technique for estimating routing-path hop count is also proposed. An analytical model is provided to estimate the hop count between source-destination pairs in a wireless network with an arbitrary node degree when the network nodes are uniformly distributed in the sensing field. The proposed model is a significant improvement over existing models, which do not correctly address the low-node density situation

Relationships between iron, oxidative stress, glycated proteins and the development of atherosclerosis in Type 2 diabetes

Hyperglycaemia stimulates a variety of biochemical abnormalities. The area of particular interest in this study is the influence of non-enzymatic glycation of proteins on iron homeostasis, and particularly on non-transferrin-bound iron (NTBI) and its possible relation to atherogenesis in both Type 2 diabetic and obese non diabetic subjects. The link between non-enzymatic glycation of proteins and iron homeostasis, and development of macrovascular disease may be mechanistically different in Type 2 diabetic and obese non diabetic subjects due to a difference in the protein glycation pattern. Because the following in vivo study required storage of samples for up to two years to complete the processing of all the samples, a storage study was carried out using different anticoagulants and addition of reduced glutathione (GSH) to samples to study the effects of storage, thawing and freezing of the samples on the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), a biomarker of lipid peroxidation. This storage study showed that EDTA attenuated the action of lipid oxidation compared with lithium heparin (LiH). A combination of GSH with either EDTA or LiH added more protection from lipid peroxidation in the first week of storage, but due to the thawing and freezing of the sample the action of GSH diminished through its autooxidation, meaning that addition of GSH to samples in the following in vivo study would be useless. An in vivo study was carried out on iron-related parameters in three subject groups: control (non-diabetic, non-obese), Type 2 diabetic and obese non diabetic. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C) was strongly correlated with NTBI in the diabetic group. Also the level of NTBI was significantly increased in Type 2 diabetic subjects compared with other groups while the level of total iron was significantly decreased. The study showed a strong positive correlation between NTBI and a biomarker of endothelium dysfunction (E-selectin) in all groups studied. Although it is not possible from the current data to know if there is a causal relationship between these two parameters, it remains a possibility that iron released from its binding sites could initiate oxidative damage to the endothelial cells and begin the process of atherogenesis. Positive correlation at the 90% confidence level between NTBI and a biomarker of inflammation, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, is another indicator in this study of a link between increases in NTBI, inflammation, endothelium dysfunction and atherosclerosis. This study also showed for first time that NTBI is present in higher levels in the plasma of obese subjects compared to controls despite the obese subjects having significantly lower total iron. An in vitro study found that glycation of transferrin half saturated with iron increased with increasing glucose concentration, leading to decreased capacity of transferrin to hold iron and increased release of free iron. Also co-incubation of transferrin half saturated with iron with low density lipoprotein (LDL) and glucose showed oxidation of LDL (measured as MDA). This may be explained by the effect of glycation, leading to release of free iron, which catalyses oxidation of LDL. In addition, glycation of LDL may enhance the oxidation of LDL catalysed by iron. Both studies indicate that the glycation of proteins has a major impact on iron homeostasis leading to release of non-enzymatic glycation and contributing to one of the most common complications of Type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosisthe Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Baghdad, Ira

Building Information Modelling Benefits-Maturity Relationship from Client Perspective

Much work has focused on improving construction productivity including the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in construction. In particular, Building Information Modelling (BIM) could revolutionise the project process. Also, it is considered by the different construction industry stakeholders as a main driver towards them gaining a considerable savings in project costs. Clients can play a vital role in the implementation process of such technologies but still there is a lack of understanding as to where during the project lifecycle BIM can provide benefits to the client. In this article a new conceptual framework will represent the relationship between BIM application benefits and the client organisation maturity levels. This framework will help the clients to fully understand and monitor the BIM benefits through project life cycle. Keywords: Client, BIM, Applications, Benefits, Maturity Levels

Single objective optimization of surface water coagulation process using inorganic/organic aid formulation by Taguchi method

The combined inorganic/organic coagulant has received much attention in turbidity removal for its positive influence on the environment and economy when introduced to the classic coagulation-flocculation clarification process. The present study investigates the effect of different parameters on turbidity removal. These parameters are initial turbidity, coagulant dosage, organic load, and pH. The Taguchi method was utilized in designing the experiment. the Analysis of the variable indicates that the organic load, initial turbidity, coagulant dose, and pH contributions to the turbidity removal was 58.92%, 20.03%, 11.67%, and 6.73% respectively. Results show that the predicted quadratic model can represent the turbidity removal with an R2 value of 99.24%. Optimum operation conditions were: an organic load of 25% of the total dose, total coagulants dose of 10 ppm, pH of 6 with an estimation of high turbidity value of 100 NTU. Confirmation experiments were conducted and the experimental results have a slight deviation from theoretical values representing model strength. The results confirm the role of an organic aid to provide superior turbidity removal at reasonable economic and operational benefits