بحوث سكوبس — زيد سعد عبد ماضي

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is common among Iraqi females and has been linked to various diseases. Although associated with lower weight, there is no evidence that it causes weight gain in young females. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency among female university students and explore its association with obesity, sun exposure, dietary habits, and physical activity. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Kerbala (April–May 2024) on 200 female students. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured, and data were analysed using nonparametric tests and Spearman’s correlation, with significance set at a P-value < 0.05. Results: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels indicated sufficiency in 22.5% and deficiency in 64% of participants. The mean body mass index (BMI) of students was 25.38 ± 5.60 kg/m2. Vitamin D levels differed significantly across colleges (P-value = 0.036), with engineering students showing the lowest values. No association was found between vitamin D and BMI (P-value > 0.05). However, sun exposure and a healthy diet were positively correlated with higher vitamin D levels (P-value < 0.05). Conclusion: Over 60% of participants had vitamin D deficiency. No significant correlation was found between high BMI and vitamin D status. Implementing educational programs promoting outdoor activity, sun exposure, and a vitamin D-rich diet is recommended. © 2026, Al-Anbar Medical Journal.

A 13-year-old female with morphological features refers to an uncommon genetic syndrome. The patient has a history of congenital heart disease (pulmonary valve stenosis) and presented with right knee swelling that began 2 years after the trauma. The swelling has gradually increased in size, movement limitation, and pain. Blood investigations showed iron-deficiency anemia, a normal white cell count, and a platelet level. The C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) levels were slightly elevated later; both CRP and WBC were normal. A biopsy and MRI reported suspicion of a giant cell tumor. Genetic investigations for pediatric and adult patients might be essential for further understanding of this condition. Radiotherapy, when justified, could be a treatment option for certain patients who have undergone incomplete surgical resection. Early detection is necessary to avoid joint damage. MRI is the golden diagnostic; biopsy is not necessary with MRI availability. © 2025 The Author(s).

Rationale: Coronary artery disease remains a leading cause of morbidity, requiring complex revascularization strategies, especially in patients with heavily calcified lesions. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a common treatment, but it carries risks such as coronary artery perforation and the rare Kokeshi phenomenon during rotational atherectomy (RA). This study aims to emphasize the challenges faced in treating heavily calcified coronary lesions, specifically focusing on the rare Kokeshi phenomenon and coronary artery perforation during RA. Patient concerns: We report the case of a man in his 70s with a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who presented with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. Diagnoses: Coronary angiography showed the culprit lesion to be a heavily calcified right coronary artery disease. Interventions: After an initial unsuccessful PCI attempt due to a balloon uncrossable lesion in the right coronary artery, the patient underwent a complex RA-PCI. Outcomes: The procedure was complicated by the Kokeshi phenomenon, where the rota-burr became stuck in the calcified lesion, and coronary artery perforation occurred. Through innovative management, including the use of covered stents, both complications were successfully resolved, and the patient was discharged in stable condition. Lessons: This case highlights the challenges and potential complications in treating heavily calcified coronary lesions with RA-PCI. Successful management requires prompt identification and innovative solutions to mitigate risks and improve outcomes. The patient's condition was stabilized, and the procedure was successful, with full resolution of complications and normalization of cardiac function postprocedure. © 2025 the Author(s).

Background: Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) is a genetic heart disease leading to obstructive hypertrophy. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive alternative to traditional treatments. This review evaluates RFA’s effectiveness and safety for HOCM. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed on studies from PubMed, Cochrane, and clinicaltrials.gov up to August 2024. Studies comparing RFA outcomes before and after the procedure were included. Data were analyzed through Revman software, using random-effects models. The funnel plots and Egger test were used for publication bias. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were also performed. Results: This meta-analysis included 16 cohort studies and 2 case series, encompassing 727 patients with ages ranging from 10.4 to 62 years. The studies were conducted in various countries, including China, the USA, Germany, the UK, India, and Brazil. The analysis revealed significant improvements following radiofrequency ablation (RFA): the LVOT gradient at rest was reduced by MD −58.2 (CI: −71.2 to −56.93, p < 0.00001), and the provoked gradient decreased by MD −81.05 (CI: −97.67 to −64.42, p < 0.00001). Conclusion: RFA effectively reduces both LVOT gradients at rest and provoked, improves NYHA functional class, and decreases septal size in HOCM patients. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Rationale: Severe headaches can have various causes, but they are commonly associated with common conditions such as tension-type headaches or migraines. However, in cases where these common causes do not explain the symptoms, it becomes essential to investigate secondary causes. This case highlights the importance of considering rare conditions, such as bilateral idiopathic adrenal hyperplasia-induced primary hyperaldosteronism, as a potential cause of persistent headaches and refractory hypertension. The study aims to explore the relationship between primary hyperaldosteronism and severe headaches, emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis and appropriate treatment for improving patient outcomes. Patient concerns: A 25-year-old male presented with severe, sporadic occipital headaches that had been ongoing for 2 months. Diagnoses: Initial tests, including a complete blood count, thyroid-stimulating hormone levels, and echocardiography were normal. Despite antihypertensive treatment, his blood pressure remained elevated. Further investigations revealed a high aldosterone-to-renin ratio, indicative of primary hyperaldosteronism. Imaging confirmed the diagnosis of bilateral idiopathic adrenal hyperplasia. Treatment: Management of bilateral idiopathic adrenal hyperplasia involves medical therapy with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists like spironolactone or eplerenone. These medications block the effects of aldosterone, helping to control blood pressure and correct electrolyte imbalances. Outcomes: The patient's refractory hypertension to initial therapies underscores the necessity of considering secondary causes of hypertension early in the diagnostic process, particularly in young patients without a significant family history of hypertension. Lessons: This case highlights the importance of considering secondary causes of hypertension and severe headaches when common treatments do not yield the expected results. Timely diagnosis of conditions like primary hyperaldosteronism can significantly improve patient outcomes through targeted therapy. © 2025 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

MRI imaging primarily focuses on the soft tissues of the human body, typically performed prior to a patient's transfer to the surgical suite for a medical procedure. However, utilizing MRI images for tumor diagnosis is a time-consuming process. To address these challenges, a new method for automatic brain tumor diagnosis was developed, employing a combination of image segmentation, feature extraction, and classification techniques to isolate the specific region of interest in an MRI image corresponding to a brain tumor. The proposed method in this study comprises five distinct steps. Firstly, image pre-processing is conducted, utilizing various filters to enhance image quality. Subsequently, image thresholding is applied to facilitate segmentation. Following segmentation, feature extraction is performed, analyzing morphological and structural properties of the images. Then, feature selection is carried out using principal component analysis (PCA). Finally, classification is performed using an artificial neural network (ANN). In total, 74 unique features were extracted from each image, resulting in a dataset of 144 observations. Principal component analysis was employed to select the top 8 most effective features. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) leverage comprehensive data and selective knowledge. Consequently, the proposed approach was evaluated and compared with alternative methods, resulting in significant improvements in precision, accuracy, and F1 score. The proposed method demonstrated notable increases in accuracy, with improvements of 99.3%, 97.3%, and 98.5% in accuracy, Sensitivity and F1 score. These findings highlight the efficiency of this approach in accurately segmenting and classifying MRI images. © The Author(s) 2024.

Background: Previous studies have stated that the higher the LP VAS, the better the outcome. However, there is no quantification of this relationship. Objectives: To maximize the understanding of the effect of symptom duration and intensity of leg pain on surgical outcome at one year, ascertain whether the level of radiculopathy influences outcome, and examine the possible factors that may lead to repeat surgery at the same level in young and middle age groups. Methods: Retrospective data was collected from patients who underwent primary, single-level lumbar decompression surgery with a 12-month follow-up period. We used the ROC curve to determine the LP VAS cutoff value. Results: 500 patients were included. There was a significant improvement in LBP VAS and LP VAS after 12-month follow-up (84% and 95%, respectively). There was a significant relationship between the reoperation rate and LP VAS, with a p-value of 0.001. LP VAS (>7.0) is the maximum area under the curve, with 92% sensitivity and 37% specificity to predict reoperation. There was no significant relationship with the duration of radiculopathy. Conclusions: Patients (92%) with a preoperative LP VAS >7.0 are more susceptible to re-operation surgery. LP cannot be used as a predictor of surgical outcome independently of other factors. Surgeons should be more cautious in selecting patients for surgery and not base their decision only on preoperative leg pain. © 2024 The Author(s).

With the use of multi-level features fusion, this work provides a new method for recognizing cognitive brain activity, which we term the Improved Multi-modal cognitive brain-imaging method (IMCBI). Identifying brain areas and basing judgments on insights into intelligent cognitive behavior for babies and adolescents presents a number of methodological issues that the suggested approach seeks to address. In order to understand how the brain functions during various motor, perceptual, and cognitive tasks, IMCBI employs smart methods for fusing data at several levels. This technique employs functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to assess human behavioral activity in the brain while engaging in a variety of activities. It does so by combining an inter-subject retrieval strategy with deep neural networks (DNN). The research shows that the suggested method, which uses multi-level fusion of features, greatly raises the accuracy ratio to 95.63 percent, the sensitivity to 95.42 percent, and the specificity to 94.3 three point three percent. The findings demonstrate the method's efficacy in recognizing brain activity based on high-level cognitive ability, making it a useful tool for predicting clinical and behavioral responses. © 2023, American Scientific Publishing Group (ASPG). All rights reserved.

The healthcare sector’s use of cyber-physical systems to provide high-quality patient treatment highlights the need for sophisticated security solutions due to the wide range of attack surfaces from medical and mobile devices, as well as body sensor nodes. Cyber-physical systems have various processing technologies to choose from, but these technical methods are as varied. Existing technologies are not well-suited for managing complex information about problem identification and diagnosis, which is distinct from technology. To address this issue, intelligent techniques for fusion processing, such as multi-sensor fusion system architectures and fusion optimization, can be used to improve fusion score and decision-making. Additionally, the use of deep learning models and multimedia data fusion applications can help to combine multiple models for intelligent systems and enhance machine learning for data fusion in E-Systems and cloud environments. Fuzzy approaches and optimization algorithms for data fusion can also be applied to robotics and other applications.. In this paper, a computer vision technology-based fault detection (CVT-FD) framework has been suggested for securely sharing healthcare data. When utilizing a trusted device like a mobile phone, end-users can rest assured that their data is secure. Cyber-attack behavior can be predicted using an artificial neural network (ANN), and the analysis of this data can assist healthcare professionals in making decisions. The experimental findings show that the model outperforms with current detection accuracy (98.3%), energy consumption (97.2%), attack prediction (96.6%), efficiency (97.9%), and delay ratios (35.6%) over existing approaches. © 2023, American Scientific Publishing Group (ASPG). All rights reserved.

Many risk factors have been listed that predispose to the occurrence of high blood pressure (BP). Although high body mass index (BMI) is a recognized risk factor for hypertension, the cutoff value for the high BMI was not taken into consideration as a predictor risk. There is no clear data on the occurrence of hypertension in Iraq in the highly educated population. Moreover, studies on hypertension in Iraq have been limited to a few studies. To assess and study the prevalence of BP in the academic population of Babylon city, a prospective study of 100 people was conducted. In the course of 3 months, during their work at the university in the morning, the questionnaire was filled out along with the body weight measurement. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to measure the maximum area under the curve for the BMI score. Outcomes demonstrated that despite the high level of education, the prevalence of hypertension remains unacceptable. Awareness raising about the risk factors should be addressed through ongoing health education in health sectors and media. BMI of more than 25 could be considered a predictable risk value. © 2023 Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology & Research.

The discovery of genome editing technology based on the bacterially derived CRISPR system (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) has led to tremendous progress in biotechnology and gene therapy. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has many advantages over other genome editing technologies, including multiplexing, high accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and simplicity. However, the safe and effective delivery of the genome editing system's components into the target cells, is one of the major challenges in genome editing. This has a direct effect on the success and therapeutic applications of this system. A variety of different delivery methods including physical delivery methods, viral and non-viral vectors are used to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 system components. However, employing physical delivery techniques and viral vectors has limitations, including cellular damage, immune system response induction, low specificity, need for expertise and expensive equipment, etc. Recently, the development and use of nanoparticle-based delivery systems for efficient delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system has attracted significant attention. The application of nanoparticles for the delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 system components has been highlighted by benefits including simple synthesis, cost - effectiveness, size tunability, high loading capacity, high efficiency, non-mutagenicity, non-immunogenicity, etc. Here, we will review developments in the delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 system components employing lipid-based nanoparticles and highlight forthcoming challenges. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the results and complications of open surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome using local anesthesia technique and by applying arm tourniquet. In addition, the study also assessed the hand function at two different time intervals after operation. Methods: In this cohort study, 280 patients were evaluated who underwent open surgery to treat carpal tunnel syndrome with the use of local anesthesia. Moreover, the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) score was calculated before operation and three and six months after the operation. Likewise, the numerical rating scale (NRS) was used to evaluate pain during the surgical procedure, at the time of local injection and at the postoperative days. Results: The DASH score was found to be improved from 61.49 before surgery to 22.94 at third month and 13.87 six months postoperatively. Most of the patients got improved after three months of surgery. However, the full hand function was regained only after six months. Regarding the pain of local anesthetic injection, 93.6% of patients considered it as a simple pain. With respect to the use of tourniquet, 268 patients (95.7%) felt it to be a real discomfort. Conclusion: The use of plain lidocaine as local anesthesia and applying arm tourniquet for open surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome is found to be effective in performing the procedure and for the final results. Most of the patients were satisfied with their hand function three months after surgery. However, the full hand function was regained only after six months of the surgery. © 2022 Journal of Natural Science, Biology and Medicine.

Background: patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) usually suffer from diagnostic delay. having symptoms up to several years before correct diagnosis, leading to psychological distress, physical and healthcare burden. Objective: To measure the period of diagnostic delay of AS and explore the main causes of diagnostic delay. Patients and Methods: A forty –eight consecutive patients (41 males, 7 females),the mean age 34.4 ±8.54 years (ranging from 18 to 58 years) with AS who met the modified New York 1984 criteria were enrolled in this cross sectional study, which have been conducted at Merjan teaching hospital, Rheumatologic and rehabilitation out-patient department in Babylon from period January 2018 to July 2019. The diagnostic delay was defined as the interval between appearance of first symptoms and correct diagnosis of AS was measured (in years) for each patient. Full detailed history of each patient about her/his journey of previous diagnosis and treatment measures were recorded. Results: The mean of diagnostic delay was 8.47±6.15 years in males, and 10.1± 8.62 years in females. The most common missed diagnoses contributing to delay diagnosis of AS were: non-specific back pain (22 patients, 45.8%), degenerative disease (lumbar spondylosis) (10 patients, 20.8 %) disc prolapse (12 patients, 25%), sacroiliac sprain (2 patients 4.16%), rheumatoid arthritis (1 patient, 2.17%), and chronic brucellosis (1 patient 2.17%) . Conclusion: Most patients had obvious diagnostic delay prior to definite AS diagnosis which could have been avoided with earlier intervention. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.