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
In recent years, the performance of Spatial Data Infrastructures for governments and companies is a task that has gained ample attention. Different categories of geospatial data such as digital maps, coordinates, web maps, aerial and satellite images, etc., are required to realize the geospatial data components of Spatial Data Infrastructures. In general, there are two distinct types of geospatial data sources exist over the Internet: formal and informal data sources. Despite the growth of informal geospatial data sources, the integration between different free sources is not being achieved effectively. The adoption of this task can be considered the main advantage of this research. This article addresses the research question of ho
... Show MoreThe paper generates a geological model of a giant Middle East oil reservoir, the model constructed based on the field data of 161 wells. The main aim of the paper was to recognize the value of the reservoir to investigate the feasibility of working on the reservoir modeling prior to the final decision of the investment for further development of this oilfield. Well log, deviation survey, 2D/3D interpreted seismic structural maps, facies, and core test were utilized to construct the developed geological model based on comprehensive interpretation and correlation processes using the PETREL platform. The geological model mainly aims to estimate stock-tank oil initially in place of the reservoir. In addition, three scenarios were applie
... Show MoreIn this work, pure and copper mixed oxide PAni nanofiber thin films are successfully synthesized on silicon substrates by hydrothermal method and spin coating technique at room temperature with thickness of about 325 nm. The structural, surface morphological, optical and photoconductivity properties have been investigated. The XRD results showed that PAni films have crystalline nature, CuO and PAni/CuO nanostructure composites are monoclinic polycrystalline structure. The FESEM images of PAni clearly indicate that it has nanofiber-like structure, whereas the CuO film has spongelike shape. The surface morphology analysis of PAni/CuO composite shows that nanofiber caped with inorganic material which is CuO is a core-shell structure. Op
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to present a method for solving third order ordinary differential equations with two point boundary condition , we propose two-point osculatory interpolation to construct polynomial solution. The original problem is concerned using two-points osculatory interpolation with the fit equal numbers of derivatives at the end points of an interval [0 , 1] . Also, many examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability, accuracy and efficiency of the method by compared with conventional method .
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic changed the world; its most important achievement for education was changing the approach from traditional to virtual education. The present study aimed to investigate the role of virtual education networks on mental health of students including personality, beliefs, scientific, and cultural dimensions, in selected countries.Methods: This was an exploratory and applied study. According to the phenomenology strategy, theoretical saturation occurred after 24 semi-structured and targeted qualitative interviews with teachers from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, in 2023. Quantitative data was collected through a researcher-made online questionnaire with 423 participants. Teachers with at least a Bachelor’s degr
... Show MorePPSU hollow fiber nanofiltration membranes are prepared by applying two concentrations and various extrusion pressures according to the phase inversion method. Cross-sectional area and outer structures were characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In additional to the pore size distribution, either the mean roughness or the mean pore size of the PPSU hollow fiber surfaces was evaluated by AFM. It was found that the morphology of the PPSU fibers had both sponge-like and finger-like structures through different extrusion pressures and PPSU concentrations. The mean pore size and mean roughness for inner and outer surfaces were seen to be decreased with the increase of extrusion pressure at
... Show MoreGas hydrate formation poses a significant threat to the production, processing, and transportation of natural gas. Accurate predictions of gas hydrate equilibrium conditions are essential for designing the gas production systems at safe operating conditions and mitigating the problems caused by hydrates formation. A new hydrate correlation for predicting gas hydrate equilibrium conditions was obtained for different gas mixtures containing methane, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The new correlation is proposed for a pressure range of 1.7-330 MPa, a temperature range of 273-320 K, and for gas mixtures with specific gravity range of 0.553 to 1. The nonlinear regression technique was applie
The purpose of this article is to improve and minimize noise from the signal by studying wavelet transforms and showing how to use the most effective ones for processing and analysis. As both the Discrete Wavelet Transformation method was used, we will outline some transformation techniques along with the methodology for applying them to remove noise from the signal. Proceeds based on the threshold value and the threshold functions Lifting Transformation, Wavelet Transformation, and Packet Discrete Wavelet Transformation. Using AMSE, A comparison was made between them , and the best was selected. When the aforementioned techniques were applied to actual data that was represented by each of the prices, it became evident that the lift
... Show MoreIn this paper, the method of estimating the variation of Zenith Path Delay (ZPD) estimation method will be illustrate and evaluate using Real Time Kinematic Differential Global Positioning System (RTK-DGPS). The GPS provides a relative method to remotely sense atmospheric water vapor in any weather condition. The GPS signal delay in the atmosphere can be expressed as ZPD. In order to evaluate the results, four points had been chosen in the university of Baghdad campus to be rover ones, with a fixed Base point. For each rover position a 155 day of coordinates measurements was collected to overcome the results. Many models and mathematic calculations were used to extract the ZPD using the Matlab environment. The result shows that the ZPD valu
... Show More