Background: The occurrence of seizures in bacterial meningitis is important, as it has been reported to increase the risk of complications; however, its frequency and predictors are not well studied yet. Objective: To assess the frequency, clinical, and biochemical predictors of seizures in children with acute bacterial meningitis. Method: A cross-sectional study recruited confirmed acute bacterial meningitis cases based on positive CSF culture and sensitivity among children aged 2 months to 15 years admitted to the Central Child Teaching Hospital emergency department in Iraq. Patients were divided into two groups based on seizure at presentation time. Demographic characteristics [age, gender, residence, duration of fever and disease, presenting complaints and antibiotic intake]; hematological [WBC, neutrophils] Lymphocyte, N/L ratio, packed cell volume, platelets, blood sugar, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indices were compared between groups. Results: Seizures had a frequency of 18% among the 122 children and were significantly higher in younger cases with female predominance. By multivariate analysis and odds ratio (OR), predictors for seizure were as follows: CSF lymphocytes (OR=0.25, 95%CI=0.08–0.26), lethargy (OR=8.15, 95%CI=1.03-68.65), headache (OR=0.09, 95%CI=0.02-0.45), neck stiffness (OR=0.07, 95% CI=0.01-0.61) and poor feeding (OR=4.8, 95%CI=1.21–18.97). Conclusions: CSF lymphocytes reliably predicted seizure with good sensitivity and specificity of 75% and 73%. Lethargy and poor feeding had the highest odds as clinical predictors of seizures. Together, those results can help with risk stratification and allocate resources for high-risk cases to improve patient outcomes
Aim: Rats are accused in disseminating many zoonotic diseases. This study aimed to isolate and identify bacteria from internal organs of rats captured in Baghdad City, Iraq. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 black rats (R. rattus) were trapped from different areas in Baghdad city. Rats were kept in individual plastic cages for 3 h before euthanizing. Deep pharyngeal swab, intestinal content, urine, and pieces of the liver and spleen, lung, kidney, and brain were obtained aseptically. The specimens were inoculated into peptone water and incubated at 37°C for 24 h for enrichment. A loopful of each specimen was then subcultured onto MacConkey Agar, Blood Agar, and Mannitol Salt Agar. CHROMagar O157 H7 and CHROMagar Listeria were u
... Show MoreBackground: Nutritional status during childhood is very important for individual development and growth. Nutrition has local and systemic effect on the oral health by affecting dental health and salivary composition. This study was aimed to determine effect of iron, sodium and potassium ions in saliva on the nutritional status and to determine the effect of nutritional status on caries severity among preschool children. Material and Methods: The sample consists of 90 children aged 4 and 5 years of both genders, selected from 6 kindergartens in Al-Resafa aspect of Baghdad province. Children classified according to their nutritional status into three groups (normalweight, underweight and overweight). Nutritional status was determined by usi
... Show MoreThe members of the family of Eentrobacteriaceae harbour a gene cluster called polyketide synthase (pks) island. This cluster is responsible for the synthesis of the genotoxin colibactin that might have an important role in the induction of double-strand DNA breaks, leading to promote human colorectal cancer (CRC). Eleven out of the eighty eight isolates (12.5%) were pks+, distributed as 7 (8%) isolates of E. coli, 2 (2.25%) of K. pneumoniae and 2 (2.25%) of E. aerogenes. The cytotoxic effects of selected pks+ isolates (E. coli and E. aerogenes) on HeLa cells were represented by decreasing cell numbers and enlarged cell nuclei in comparison to the untreated cells. Cyt
... Show MoreThe members of the family of Eentrobacteriaceae harbour a gene cluster called polyketide synthase (pks) island. This cluster is responsible for the synthesis of the genotoxin colibactin that might have an important role in the induction of double-strand DNA breaks, leading to promote human colorectal cancer (CRC). Eleven out of the eighty eight isolates (12.5%) were pks+, distributed as 7 (8%) isolates of E. coli, 2 (2.25%) of K. pneumoniae and 2 (2.25%) of E. aerogenes. The cytotoxic effects of selected pks+ isolates (E. coli and E. aerogenes) on HeLa cells were represented by decreasing cell numbers and enlarged cell nuclei in comparison to the untreated cells. Cytological changes were observed when the infected HeLa cells culture
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus is a set of metabolic diseases, the most prevalent of which is chronic hyperglycemia. The culprits include insulin synthesis, insulin action, or both. Osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disorder defined by decreased bone mass and micro architectural degeneration of bone tissue, resulting in increased bone fragility and fracture risk, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The degree of Nervosa damage determines how much a diabetic patient's body has been compromised. The current study's goal is an estimation: Age, BMI, FBS, HbA1C, D3, ALP, Ca, P, and Osteocalcin in Iraqi T2DM Women's patients with and without Osteoporosis. Three vitamins are required for Osteocalcin biosynthesis: vitamin K for Gla f
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus is a set of metabolic diseases, the most prevalent of which is chronic hyperglycemia. The culprits include insulin synthesis, insulin action, or both. Osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disorder defined by decreased bone mass and micro architectural degeneration of bone tissue, resulting in increased bone fragility and fracture risk, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The degree of Nervosa damage determines how much a diabetic patient's body has been compromised. The current study's goal is an estimation: Age, BMI, FBS, HbA1C, D3, ALP, Ca, P, and Osteocalcin in Iraqi T2DM Women's patients with and without Osteoporosis. Three vitamins are required for Osteocalcin biosynthesis: vitamin K fo
... Show More98 samples were collected from various clinical sources included (Burns, wounds, urines, sputums, blood) From the city of Baghdad, After performing the biochemical and microscopic examination, 52 isolates were obtained for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 17 (32.7%) isolates from burn infection, 12 (23%) isolates from Wound infection 11 (21.2%) isolates from urine infection, 7 (13.5%) isolates of sputum and 5 (9.6%) isolates from blood. Bacteria susceptibility to form biofilm has been detectedby microtiter plate method, The results showed that 80% of the bacterial isolates were produced the biofilm with different proportions, alg D gene (alginate production) has been detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Which plays an essential role in the fo
... Show MoreThe synthesis and characterisation of new macrocyclic binuclear metal(II) complexes derived from dithiocarbamate (DTC) ligand are reported. The reaction of a bis-secondary amine, CS2 and KOH resulted in the formation of the free ligand. Two approaches were implemented to synthesis the macrocyclic bis(dithiocarbamate) complexes; (i) from the reaction of the free ligand with a metal ion, and (ii) via a one-pot reaction. In the free ligand approach, complexes were obtained by the reaction of dithiocarbamate salt with the metal ions; CoII, ZnII and CdII. However, the one-pot reaction is based on the mixing of the bissecondary amine, CS2, KOH and metal(II) chloride. Physico-chemical analyses were implemented to characterise the ligand and its
... Show MoreThis study aims at detecting the differences in genotyping of coding region fusA gene in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii from Baghdad, Iraq. Collected two hundred clinical samples (50 samples from urine, 50 samples from wound, 50 samples from sputum and 50 samples from otitis infections). Laboratory diagnosis for bacterial isolates carried out by some biochemical tests and confirmed by using VITEK- 2 compact system. The results appeared that twenty isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii in all these samples. Genotyping study was performed of coding region fusA gene of the extracted genome of all bacterial isolates and used specific primers in achieved amplification process of this target gene. DNA sequencing of this gene and alig
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