ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to present the first United Arab Emirates pulmonary hypertension registry of patients' clinical characteristics, hemodynamic parameters and treatment outcomes. METHOD: This is a retrospective study describing all the adult patients who underwent a right heart catheterization for evaluation of pulmonary hypertension (PH) between January 2015 and December 2021 in a tertiary referral center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. RESULTS: A total of 164 consecutive patients were diagnosed with PH during the five years of the study. Eighty-three patients (50.6%) were World Symposium PH Group 1-PH; nineteen patients (11.6%) were Group 2-PH due to left heart disease; twenty-three patients (14.0%) were Group 3-PH due to chronic lung disease; thirty-four patients (20.7%) were Group 4-PH due to chronic thromboembolic lung disease, and five patients (3.0%) were Group 5-PH. Among Group 1-PH, twenty-five (30%) had idiopathic, twenty-seven (33%) had connective tissue disease, twenty-six (31%) had congenital heart disease, and five patients (6%) had porto-pulmonary hypertension. The median follow-up was 55.6 months. Most of the patients were started on dual then sequentially escalated to triple combination therapy. The 1-, 3- and 5-year cumulative probabilities of survival for Group 1-PH were 86% (95% CI, 75-92%), 69% (95% CI, 54-80%) and 69% (95% CI, 54-80%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first registry of Group 1-PH from a single tertiary referral center in the UAE. Our cohort was younger with a higher percentage of patients with congenital heart disease compared to cohorts from Western countries but similar to registries from other Asian countries. Mortality is comparable to other major registries. Adopting the new guideline recommendations and improving the availability and adherence to medications are likely to play a significant role in improving outcomes in the future.
ABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the flexural strength of zirconia using three different connector designs under vertical and oblique loads. SETTING AND DESIGN: Invitro - analytical study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For simulating zirconia fixed partial prosthesis, a specimen with three octagonal cylinders connected with each other was designed. Each face of the octagon was 3.75 mm ± 0.1 mm, and the total width was 9 mm ± 0.1 mm with a standard connector area of 10 mm2 at cross-section. Three different connector designs, i.e., round, oval, and triangular were milled. Universal testing machine was used to test flexural strength with vertical and oblique forces. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Intergroup comparison of flexural strength was made using Descriptive statistics (1) one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni's post hoc test (2) Kruskal-Wallis test. The confidence interval was set at 95%, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant for both the tests. RESULTS: The highest flexural strength was observed in the triangle connector with vertical forces and lowest with oblique forces. CONCLUSIONS: Triangle connector design proved to be better than round and oval connectors on the application of vertical loads. Round connector design proved to be better than triangle and oval connector on application of oblique loads.
