The relation between active smoking and colposcopical and cytological findings in the cervix uteri

Background: All types of smoking have been associated with cervical neoplasia, and the long-term of use tobacco products and intensity of smoking could influence cervical carcinogenesis. The aim of this study is to identify the association between smoking and the presence of colposcopical and cytological abnormalities in cervix uteri.Methods: An observational case-control study was applied on 100 patients to investigate this relationship. The patients were divided into two groups, smokers’ group (70) cases and nonsmokers’ group (30) cases. All of the patients have been submitted to colposcopy and Papanicolaou smear. Comparison of colposcopic and cellular findings between both groups was done.Results: Authors found that there was a significance difference in the rate of abnormal colposcopical findings between two groups. This rate in smokers’ sample was 45.7% and in the second was 26.7% with p-value=0.04. Additionally, there was no significance difference in the rate of abnormal cytological findings. This rate in smokers’ group was 32.9% whereas in the second was 23.4% with p-value=0.6.Conclusions: This study data suggests that smoking increases abnormalities in papanicolaou smear and colposcopy

Evaluation of Ionizing Radiation Protection among Radiation Workers in X-ray departments in Erbil City

Background: Ionizing radiations are hazardous agents in the workplace, since all forms of ionizing radiation produce some type of injury that is incurable. Therefore, protection against ionizing radiation exposure can play an important role in the health of workers. Objectives: is to evaluate the application of radiation protection among radiation workers at X-ray department in Erbil hospitals. Patients and methods: Six hospitals (General and Private) were visited. Samples of 110 were randomly selected among 135 radiation workers, 47 (42.3%) female and 63 (57.3%) male Data was collected through structured questionnaires. The surveyed data was coded and analyzed by using MS Excel software, and SPSS 18 for analysis. Analysis was performed by means of frequency distributions and cross tabulations. Results: The results showed that there are majority of the workers 51 (46.4%) aged between 21 - 30 years, and Diploma holders 68 (61.8%). Only 49 (44.5%) undergone primary examination while 47 (42.7%) never done periodical examination. According to international commotion of radiation protection regulation of radiation protection, it is mandatory for radiation workers to wear personal detective devices during work. But a large numbers 89 (80.9%) have not supplied with such devices. The study also revealed that the majority of workers were engaged in work beyond 40 hours per week. Calibration of the X-rays machine and radiation survey of the work place have not been regularly done. Only 30 of the sample have no awareness and knowledge about the ionizing radiation, while 95 (86.4%) have no healthy advice. Conclusion: It can be suggested that the level of workers education must be increased and short courses be implemented such as dosimetery and radiation protection performance

Applying of No-fines concretes as a porous concrete in different construction application

Recently, the demands on the concretes with no fines aggregate has been increased as a results of the industry revolution. Many researchers are trying to recycle the concretes and rubble. In addition, the increase in noise in the surrounding environment as a result of the growing population and cars has generated an urgent need to produce concretes characterized by good sound insulation. No-fines concretes is considered as a kind of porous lightweights concretes, gained by removing the sand from the ordinary concretes mixture. The aim of this study is replace the coarse aggregate by waste ceramics in order to reduce the wastes as well as investigate strengths against compression s, density and porosity of No-fines concretes before and after substitution the coarse aggregate by waste ceramics. The methodology of this research paper has been mainly depending on strengths against compression s test and the measured ultrasonic pulse velocity as well as the density. The investigational research has been implemented by 54 samples cast by six various blending proportion consisting of (cement, coarse aggregate, water) utilizing ceramic wastes (CWs) as a substation ratio of coarse aggregates in making concretes free of fine aggregate, so that the proportions of ceramic residues are (0, 10%, 20, 30, 40, 50) as a partial substation of the coarse aggregates and examined at the ages of (7, 28 and 90) days. The mechanism of failure has been detected and categorized beside the concrete’s density and void percentage have been collected. The results show that, the increasing the substitution ratio for waste ceramic within the no-fine mixtures cause a decrease in the density with increasing the strengths against compression s for the specimens

An analytic study of 200 cases of head injuries admitted to teaching Hospital in Najaf.

Back ground: This is a prospective study of Head injury in Najaf. Aim: to study the causes & out come & way of transferring the rat to the hospital & best way to investigate them. Patients & methods:A prospective analytical study of 200 cases of Head injury patients, who were admitted to Saddam Teaching Hospital , in Najaf between 18 t" of November 1996 and 1st of September 1998. Results: All age groups were included in this study, male to female ratio was 4:1 and the highest incidence was seen at the age group below 14 years. The two most common causes of head injury were road traffic accident (RTA)(51 %) and assault (22%),of RTA pedestrians accounted for (87.25%). RTA accounted of (80%) in those with severe head injury. The highest incidence of head injuries in both male and female was between 2pm and 6pm. All patients brought to hospital by personal means, most of them reached the hospital within the first hour of injury. 115 patients (57.5%) were minor head injuries {Glasgow coma scale (11-15)}. Skull x-ray was taken for 185 patients, it was positive for fracture in 48 patients (24%) and negative in 137 (68.5%). There is significant number of patients with negative skull X-ray who need not to be Xrayed. The commonest associated injuries were limb fractures 35% followed by injuries of abdominal viscera 11%. The incidence of operative treatment (10%). The final outcome on discharge was complete recovery in 156 patients (78%) residual neurological deficits in 18 patients (9%), and death in 20 patients (10%), and 6 patients discharged against medical advice. The common cause of head injuries in those who died was RTA 85%& we give recommendation regarding traffic roads & culture of society & policy of investigation

Experimental Investigation on effects of bluff-body size and axial air injection on blowoff limits in swirl burners

The stability limits of swirl combustors have been considered as a crucial factor for obtaining a wide stability operation map. The present global consideration is towards using low-carbon emission fuel in gas turbine production sector and, many other combustion systems. However, the demands of introducing lowcarbon emission fuels impose a considerable modification in the combustor hardware; consequently, the variation of burner stability operation map. Blowoff and flashback are two parameters that determined the margins of stability operation in swirl burners, when correlated with equivalence ratio and inlet tangential or bulk velocity. This study investigates the effect of hardware modification with different bluff-body sizes (external diameter) and flow-field manipulation like using axial air injection on blow-off limits in swirl combustors. The first part of this study has demonstrated that variation of bluff-body diameter alters the blowoff limits significantly. Small central injector (bluff-body) diameter displaces blowoff limits towards leaner equivalence ratios with (Φ= 4 to 4.2); which is favourable for low emission demands. However, the stability map became narrower regarding inlet tangential velocities with (w=2.7 to 4.2), consequently reducing output power. In contrast, bigger injector diameter leads to having blowoff limits occur at a wider range in term of inlet tangential velocity(w=2.5-4.5) which means high output power, despite slight displacement to the rich region, Φ= 0.5 at high tangential velocity. The second part of this work has proposed, a new technique that can replace hardware (bluff-body) by axial air-jets which can simulate the physical shape of bluff-body. Using axial air jets results in wider operation map, the inlet tangential velocity range is (w=2-8 m/s) compare with bluff-body case (w=2.5-4.5 m/s), hence increasing the burner output power while keeping its size. The position of air-jet opening inside burner plenum alter blowoff limits, baseline Lo=0 and Lo=150 extend the range of inlet tangential velocity at which the blowoff occurs, almost (2-8 m/s). While the other three positions revealed less range of inlet tangential velocities, as the affected by aerodynamic perturbations arise from the clash between axial jets and inlet tangential flo

Boundary Conditions for Elastohydrodynamics of Circular Point Contacts

The paper presents the solution of an elastohydrodynamic point contact condition using inlet and outlet lubricant entrainment with partial counter-flow. The inlet and outlet boundaries are determined using potential flow analysis for the pure rolling of contiguous surfaces. This shows that Swift–Stieber boundary conditions best conform to the observed partial counter-flow at the inlet conjunction, satisfying the compatibility condition. For the outlet region, the same is true when Prandtl–Hopkins boundary conditions are employed. Using these boundary conditions, the predictions conform closely to the measured pressure distribution using a deposited pressure-sensitive micro-transducer in a ball-to-flat race contact. Furthermore, the predicted conjunctional shape closely conforms to the often observed characteristic keyhole conjunction through optical interferometry. The combined numerical–experimental analysis with realistic boundary conditions described here has not hitherto been reported in the literature

Beaconing Approaches in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks: A Survey

A Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is a type of wireless ad hoc network that facilitates ubiquitous connectivity between vehicles in the absence of fixed infrastructure. Beaconing approaches is an important research challenge in high mobility vehicular networks with enabling safety applications. In this article, we perform a survey and a comparative study of state-of-the-art adaptive beaconing approaches in VANET, that explores the main advantages and drawbacks behind their design. The survey part of the paper presents a review of existing adaptive beaconing approaches such as adaptive beacon transmission power, beacon rate adaptation, contention window size adjustment and Hybrid adaptation beaconing techniques. The comparative study of the paper compares the representatives of adaptive beaconing approaches in terms of their objective of study, summary of their study, the utilized simulator and the type of vehicular scenario. 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Acknowledgment-based broadcast protocol for reliable and efficient data dissemination in vehicular ad-hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 11(1), 33–46.Torrent-Moreno, M., Santi, P., & Hartenstein, H. (2006). Distributed fair transmit power adjustment for vehicular ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE international conference on sensor and ad hoc communications and networks, Reston, VA (pp. 479–488).Artimy, M. (2007). Local density estimation and dynamic transmission-range assignment in vehicular ad hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 8(3), 400–412.Caizzone, G., Giacomazzi, P., Musumeci, L., & Verticale, G. (2005). A power control algorithm with high channel availability for vehicular ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE international conference on communications, Seoul (pp. 3171–3176).Torrent-Moreno, M., Santi, P., & Hartenstein, H. (2009). 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Comparison of the CES-D and PHQ-9 depression scales in people with type 2 diabetes in Tehran, Iran

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The quality of life in patients with various chronic disorders, including diabetes has been directly affected by depression. Depression makes patients less likely to manage their self-care regimens. Accurate assessment of depression in diabetic populations is important to the treatment of depression in this group and may improve diabetes management. To our best knowledge, there are few studies that have looked for utilizing questionnaires in screening for depression among patients with diabetes in Iran. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and accuracy of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), in comparison with clinical interview in people with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Outpatients who attended diabetes clinics at IEM were recruited on a consecutive basis between February 2009 and July 2009. Inclusion criteria included patients with type 2 diabetes who could fluently read and speak Persian, had no severe diabetes complications and no history of psychological disorders. The history of psychological disorders was ascertained through patients' medical files, taking history of any medications in this regard. The study design was explained to all patients and informed consent was obtained. Volunteer patients completed the Persian version of the questionnaires (CES-D and PHQ-9) and a psychiatrist interviewed them based on Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) for DSM-IV criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 185 patients, 43.2% were diagnosed as having Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) based on the clinical interview, 47.6% with PHQ-9 and 61.62% with CES-D. The Area Under the Curve (AUC) for the total score of PHQ-9 was 0.829 ± 0.30. A cut-off score for PHQ-9 of ≥ 13 provided an optimal balance between sensitivity (73.80%) and specificity (76.20%). For CES-D the AUC for the total score was 0.861 ± 0.029. Optimal balance between sensitivity (78.80%) and specificity (77.1%) was provided at cut-off score of ≥ 23.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>It could be concluded that the PHQ-9 and CES-D perform well as screening instruments, but in diagnosing major depressive disorder, a formal diagnostic process following the PHQ-9 and also the CES-D remains essential.</p

The impact of diabetes mellitus on the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and treatment failure in TB-diabetes comorbid patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundThe existence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in tuberculosis (TB) patients is very dangerous for the health of patients. One of the major concerns is the emergence of MDR-TB in such patients. It is suspected that the development of MDR-TB further worsens the treatment outcomes of TB such as treatment failure and thus, causes disease progression.AimTo investigate the impact of DM on the Emergence of MDR-TB and Treatment Failure in TB-DM comorbid patients.MethodologyThe PubMed database was systematically searched until April 03, 2022 (date last searched). Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this study after a proper selection process.ResultsTuberculosis-Diabetes Mellitus patients were at higher risk to develop MDR-TB as compared to TB-non-DM patients (HR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.60–0.96, p &lt; 0.001). Heterogeneity observed among included studies was moderate (I2 = 38%). No significant change was observed in the results after sub-group analysis by study design (HR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.61–0.96, p &lt; 0.000). In the case of treatment failure, TB-DM patients were at higher risk to experience treatment failure rates as compared to TB-non-DM patients (HR 0.46, 95% CI: 0.27–0.67, p &lt; 0.001).ConclusionThe results showed that DM had a significant impact on the emergence of MDR-TB in TB-diabetes comorbid patients as compared to TB-non-DM patients. DM enhanced the risk of TB treatment failure rates in TB-diabetes patients as compared to TB-non-DM patients. Our study highlights the need for earlier screening of MDR-TB, thorough MDR-TB monitoring, and designing proper and effective treatment strategies to prevent disease progression

Intelligent control and security of fog resources in healthcare systems via a cognitive fog model

There have been significant advances in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) recently, which have not always considered security or data security concerns: A high degree of security is required when considering the sharing of medical data over networks. In most IoT-based systems, especially those within smart-homes and smart-cities, there is a bridging point (fog computing) between a sensor network and the Internet which often just performs basic functions such as translating between the protocols used in the Internet and sensor networks, as well as small amounts of data processing. The fog nodes can have useful knowledge and potential for constructive security and control over both the sensor network and the data transmitted over the Internet. Smart healthcare services utilise such networks of IoT systems. It is therefore vital that medical data emanating from IoT systems is highly secure, to prevent fraudulent use, whilst maintaining quality of service providing assured, verified and complete data. In this paper, we examine the development of a Cognitive Fog (CF) model, for secure, smart healthcare services, that is able to make decisions such as opting-in and opting-out from running processes and invoking new processes when required, and providing security for the operational processes within the fog system. Overall, the proposed ensemble security model performed better in terms of Accuracy Rate, Detection Rate, and a lower False Positive Rate (standard intrusion detection measurements) than three base classifiers (K-NN, DBSCAN and DT) using a standard security dataset (NSL-KDD)