Pericardial dual mesh uptake on PET scan mimicking residual mesothelioma; a case report

Introduction: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and aggressive cancer that typically arises from the mesothelial linings of the lungs. The current study presents a rare case of MPM with a good clinical response to chemotherapy, associated with pericardial dual mesh uptake in PET scan upon follow up. Case presentation: A 33-year-old male presented with dyspnea, severe headache for a period of a month. He had history dendritic cell sarcoma which had been managed by 21 cycles of radiotherapy. Chest x. ray showed multiple pleural based masses. Chest computed tomography scan showed multiple lobulated pleural masses involving right hemithorax. Pleural biopsy showed epithelial type-mesothelioma. The patient underwent 3 sessions of combination chemotherapy followed by pleurectomy. The patient's response to chemotherapy was optimal and 5 month-PET scan follow up showed uptake by the implanted mesh. Discussion: MPM is reported to be directly linked to asbestos exposure with poor prognosis. The current optimal management regarding MPM is lacking. Even though PET scan is highly sensitive, sites of in�fections, inflammation, and healing of surgical scars have been reported to show uptake, leading to a false positive result. Conclusion: The best therapeutic approach regarding MPM can be multimodal therapies that include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy before and after surgery. PET scan follow up of patients with previous mesh implantations can show uptake and mimic malignanc

Combined operation for coronary artery bypass grafting and mitral valve replacement; risk and outcome

Introduction The combination of mitral valve replacement (MVR) with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is generally thought to have a greater early and late mortality than either procedure alone. The aim of this study is to review single center experience for the concomitant MVR and CABG. Patients and methods This is a single center, retrospective, single cohort study, composes of consecutive cases. It included all the cases of combined operation of MVR and CABG. The patients were followed up for a median duration of two years (six months to four years). The data were collected from hospital records and registers of hospital statistics. The followings were obtained; socio-demographic data, information regarding clinical courses, intraoperative findings, and post-operative follow up data. Result The study included 72 cases, the mean age was 56 years, 38 of them (53%) were males and 34 (47%) were female. The most common comorbidity was hypertension which was found in 24 patients (33%). The mean preoperative ejection fraction was 59%. Twenty-two patients (30.6%) had single graft, 21 patients (29.2%) underwent 3-vessel grafting, 16 patients (22.2%) had 2-vessel grafting, and 13 cases (18.1%) underwent 4-vessel grafting. The CPB duration ranged from 108 to 280 min with a mean of 182 min and cross-clamp time ranged from 80 to 186 min with a mean of 122 min. The most common complication was plural effusion which occurred in 8 cases (11.1%) and managed by aspiration. Overall mortality was 8.3% (4 patients). Conclusion CABG and chordal-sparing and posterior leaflet replacement has favorable outcome, as well as minimizes the need of redo surgery as in repair.one of the best options for CAD and sever MR

SURVEY: AUDIO READING SYSTEM FOR BLIND PERSONS

Audio Reading System is used to help blind people to read the text based on camera as input device and speaker as output device. The system used the OCR algorithm to extract the text from input image and Text-to-Speech algorithm to convert text into corresponding voice. In this paper, we review newest research of audio reading system. We discuss the hardware and software, which is used, on system for different types approach. Finally, the result of this paper that is: Raspberry pi, python and tesseract are best tools used in Audio reading system. Also the braille and finger print devices are not efficient and not easy to use

The Relationship between the Academic Procrastination and Self-Efficacy among Sample of King Saud University Students

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the academic procrastination and self-efficacy among students of King Saud University. It also aims to identify whether the level of Academic procrastination varies depending on variables such as type of the college, academic level, or the level of students’ achievement. Two instruments were developed: academic procrastination instrument, and self-efficacy instrument. The questionnaires were distributed to random sample of 195 students from Science and Arts colleges at King Saud University. The Findings indicate that the highest percentage of the distribution of the sample on of procrastination Academic scale is (83.6%), followed by the low percentage (9.7%) of procrastination while the lowest percentage of procrastination is (6.7%). The findings also showed that there were statistically significant differences at the level of academic procrastination due to level of achievement for favour of group who get (acceptable) in their achievement. It also found that there were no statistically significant differences due to the type of college and the academic achievement. In addition, the findings revealed that there were statistically significant differences between of the academic procrastination scale and the self-efficacy scale. Keywords: Academic procrastination, self-efficacy, university student

Molecular Study of IL-7R Gene Polymorphism and their Associations with Male Multiple Sclerosis Patients in Erbil Province.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which immune cells attacks the body cells mistakenly; it is characterized by chronic inflammation that leads to demyelination and conduction of nerve impulse is affected negatively. The cause of the disease is unknown, but it may be partially under the control of genetics, including interleukin 7 receptor alpha (IL7Rα). In this case-control study, 40 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) male patients, which fulfills McDonald criteria and 40 healthy controls, with matched sex, were compared depending on the rs6897932 polymorphism within the exon 6 of IL7Rα gene by Tetra-amplification refractory mutation system polymerase chain reaction (Tetra-ARMS-PCR) method. The frequency of T allele of IL7Rα rs6897932 was considerably higher in male MS patients than healthy control males (31.25 vs 17.5%). Genotype distributions of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6897932 deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with a p-value of 0.80. Both homozygous (TT) and Heterozygous (CT) were non-significantly positively associated with MS male patients (OR = 6.75, 95%CI = 0.73-62.4, p = 0.059, OR = 1.68, 95%CI = 0.64-4.38, p = 0.28) respectively. The distribution of the rs6897932 polymorphism is not significantly different in our case/control study in the Erbil provinc

An Adaptive Multi-Level Quantization-Based Reinforcement Learning Model for Enhancing UAV Landing on Moving Targets

The autonomous landing of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on a moving platform is an essential functionality in various UAV-based applications. It can be added to a teleoperation UAV system or part of an autonomous UAV control system. Various robust and predictive control systems based on the traditional control theory are used for operating a UAV. Recently, some attempts were made to land a UAV on a moving target using reinforcement learning (RL). Vision is used as a typical way of sensing and detecting the moving target. Mainly, the related works have deployed a deep-neural network (DNN) for RL, which takes the image as input and provides the optimal navigation action as output. However, the delay of the multi-layer topology of the deep neural network affects the real-time aspect of such control. This paper proposes an adaptive multi-level quantization-based reinforcement learning (AMLQ) model. The AMLQ model quantizes the continuous actions and states to directly incorporate simple Q-learning to resolve the delay issue. This solution makes the training faster and enables simple knowledge representation without needing the DNN. For evaluation, the AMLQ model was compared with state-of-art approaches and was found to be superior in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), which was 8.7052 compared with the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, which achieved an RMSE of 10.0592

Operative management and outcomes in patients with myxomas: A single-center experience

BackgroundCardiac myxoma is a rare cardiac tumor that may be asymptomatic or can cause embolization or intracardiac obstruction, leading to heart failure, sudden cardiac death, and arrhythmia. This study aims to report an 11-year experience of a single center in the management of cardiac myxoma.MethodThis study is a single-center retrospective case series. Eighty cases of cardiac myxoma were collected in Ibn Albitar's specialized center for cardiac surgery. Transthoracic echocardiography was used to make the preoperative diagnosis in all patients. The surgeries were undertaken through the standard approach of a median sternotomy. All four cardiac chambers were thoroughly explored for additional myxomas. The major objective of the operations was complete tumor resection.ResultThe mean age of the patients was 46.3 years. Females (67.5%) were predominant over males (32.5%). Shortness of breath was the most common symptom (86.25%). The left atrium was the most affected site (83.75%), followed by the right atrium (13.75%). Coronary artery bypass grafting was required as the secondary or associated intervention in 19 (23.75%) cases. The recurrence rate was 11.25%, with a mortality rate of 3.75%.ConclusionRecurrence and tumor embolism are risks of surgical intervention for myxoma. Good preparation using transthoracic echocardiography as a diagnostic tool and standard median sternotomy to complete resection of the tumors can decrease the rate of recurrence, embolism, and even mortality

Seroprevalence and risk factors for bovine brucellosis in Jordan

We investigated the seroprevalence and risk factors for Brucella seropositivity in cattle in Jordan. The sera from 671 cows were randomly collected from 62 herds. The antibodies against Brucella were detected using a Rose Bengal plate test and indirect ELISA. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the cattle herds' health and management. A multiple logistic regression model was constructed to identify the risk factors for Brucella seropositivity. The true prevalence of antibodies against Brucella in individual cows and cattle herds was 6.5% and 23%, respectively. The seroprevalence of brucellosis in cows older than 4 years of age was significantly higher than that in the younger cows. The seroprevalence of brucellosis in cows located in the Mafraq, Zarqa and Ma'an governorates was significantly higher than that of the other studied governorates. The multiple logistic regression model revealed that a larger herd size (odd ratio <OR> = 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.6) and mixed farming (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.7, 3.7) were risk factors for cattle seropositivity to Brucella antigens. On the other hand, the use of disinfectants (OR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.1) and the presence of adequate veterinary services (OR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.2, 3.2) were identified as protective factors

System size and energy dependence of near-side di-hadron correlations

Two-particle azimuthal ($\Delta\phi$) and pseudorapidity ($\Delta\eta$) correlations using a trigger particle with large transverse momentum ($p_T$) in $d$+Au, Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$ =\xspace 62.4 GeV and 200~GeV from the STAR experiment at RHIC are presented. The \ns correlation is separated into a jet-like component, narrow in both $\Delta\phi$ and $\Delta\eta$, and the ridge, narrow in $\Delta\phi$ but broad in $\Delta\eta$. Both components are studied as a function of collision centrality, and the jet-like correlation is studied as a function of the trigger and associated $p_T$. The behavior of the jet-like component is remarkably consistent for different collision systems, suggesting it is produced by fragmentation. The width of the jet-like correlation is found to increase with the system size. The ridge, previously observed in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV, is also found in Cu+Cu collisions and in collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$ =\xspace 62.4 GeV, but is found to be substantially smaller at $\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$ =\xspace 62.4 GeV than at $\sqrt{s_{{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV for the same average number of participants ($\langle N_{\mathrm{part}}\rangle$). Measurements of the ridge are compared to models.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.