Suchergebnisse

Background: Ischemic heart disease is a major cause of the diastolic heart failure. Risk of heart failures was increased with microvascular coronary disease, which is characterized by left ventricular stiffness with impaired relaxation and reduced compliance. Aim of this study is to estimate the effect of the severity of myocardium ischemia on the left ventricle ejection fraction and left ventricular volume using SPECT with 99mTc MIBI and to compare the results with the echocardiography. The study included 117 subjects with ischemic heart disease were examined using SPECT and echocardiography techniques. The following parameters were measured: left ventricular end systolic volume (LVESV) , left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV) , and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Results show that the change difference in EDV between the two technique was (98.79%) with insignificant (p > 0.05). While the change in the LVEF% between both groups was (105.40%) with significant (p <0.05). On the other hand, the difference in ESV and EDV/ESV ratio for both groups were (95.52%), and (103.61%) respectively with insignificant (p >0.05). It was concluded that SPECT with 99mTc MIBI had a good relation with the echocardiography technique for evaluation of the left ventricular ejection fraction and the left ventricular volumes. The results showed that LVEF was decreased in patients with severe ischemic disease.

Heat island is known as the increases in air temperature through large and industrial cities compared to surrounding rural areas. In this study, remote sensing technology is used to monitor and track thermal variations within the city center of Baghdad through Landsat satellite images and for the period from 2000 to 2015. Several processors and treatments were applied on these images using GIS 10.6 and ERDAS 2014, such as image correction and extraction, supervised classification, and selection of training samples. Urban areas detection was resulted from the supervised classification linked to the temperature readings of the surface taken from the thermal bands of satellite images. The results showed that the surface temperature of the city of Baghdad increased by 8 degrees Celsius in 15 years. This is due to the increase in the expansion of the urban areas type of land use, where the human activity, especially after 2003, caused increased buildup area to about 198.41 km2. All these changes occurred at the expense of many green regions which were reduced, with the transformation of open and agricultural areas to residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Increases in surface temperature resulted increases in air temperature, where the minimum temperature showed larger increases relative to maximum temperature (about 1.44 and 0.76 ºC, respectively).

The desire to combat the negative externalities of climate change and its variability has gained a lot of ground over the last few decades. This has resulted in the development of several approaches among which is the UI GreenMetric university ranking developed in 2010. In light of this, this article seeks to examine the performance of African higher education institutions on the ranking table and the impact they have had on their respective countries. To achieve this, this article compared performance scored between participating universities, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission trends, and renewable energy consumption trends. The findings paint a picture of poor performance across each of the categories measured under the UI GreenMetric ranking. However, there was some marginal decline in CO2 emissions as well as an increase in renewable energy consumption for some participating countries. The findings reveal that participation of African universities in the ranking has been very low. Institutionalizing green campus initiatives by African governments to make it a must for a higher education institution to adopt such strategies was recommended. The study also recommends an increase in support for research in the area of green technologies, methods, and procedures in Africa so as to create enough awareness and education on the topic. © 2020 WIT

This paper identifies key political and technical issues involved in the development of an appropriate resource allocation and budgetary system for the public health sector, using experience gained in the Province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The resource allocation and budgetary system is a critical, yet often neglected, component of any decentralization policy. Current systems are often based on historical incrementalism that is neither efficient nor equitable. This article describes technical work carried out in Balochistan to develop a system of resource allocation and budgeting that is needs-based, in line with policies of decentralization, and implementable within existing technical constraints. However, the development of technical systems, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition for the implementation of a resource allocation and decentralized budgeting system. This is illustrated by analysing the constraints that have been encountered in the development of such a system in Balochistan.

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS has devastating impacts on many societal features of both urban and rural communities. Cultural factors have been played a significant role in human decision making and behavior around health. In simple terms, culture basically refers to the traditions and customs upheld by societies and communities because of their belief systems and values, which guide their decisions and shape their thinking, actions, attitudes and behaviors. The role of culture has been of particular significance both in the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Certain cultural practices such as: gender inequalities; unequal access to health care services; injectable drug users; unequal access to economic resources and opportunities; and male dominancy contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The current study aims to investigate how various cultural factors contribute in the transmission of HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while using a qualitative approach. Further, primary data was collected from 15 respondents through in-depth interview (using interview guide) while the selection of the sample was made through non-probability sampling using purposive sampling techniques. The collected information was qualitatively analyzed and a thematic discussion has been made for better understanding of the issue. The researchers also suggests some remedies.

Green economy development strategies and the transition from conventional economic development models to green economy has become necessary due to the negative impact of conventional economic development models on the local and global environment. Despite Ghana's effort to transition to green economy that is made evident by the implementation of a number of green economy related policies and strategies, the country is yet to record any significant achievement in that regard. This study therefore used the SWOT analytical tool to access the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats of Ghana's green economy transformation efforts. The results revealed that the country's geographical location, environmental policies, potential for green energy mix, a young and dynamic population, the country's effort to reduce poverty levels and illiteracy rates are the main strengths. However, factors such as weak institutions, inadequate funding for green technologies innovations, inadequate long term policies for green strategies and inadequate political will are some key weaknesses. The study further found commercial interests in driving the development and transfer of green technology, cross-border collaborations and global attention to climate change, local and international support for green economy, awareness and understanding of environmental protection as some of the major opportunities. Inadequate commitment to support technology development and transfer, cost of green technologies, increasing threat of climate change and corruption were identified as threats to Ghana's effort to green its economy. In conclusion, it is imperative that policy makers develop strategies that can help take advantage of the strengths and opportunities while serving as solutions to the weakness and threats. Among other things, it is important for policy makers to prioritize science and technology education to support green economy development. © 2021