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
Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the chronic wound infection and leads to non-traumatic lower limb amputation. Advances in diabetes research are significant and much needed because diabetes is on the rise worldwide and is considered by some experts already to be at an epidemic level. Among diabetic patients 70% were males and 30% were females. Aerobic bacteria 104(82%) were the most frequently isolated than anaerobic bacteria 23(18%). Among aerobes Gram negative bacteria 67(64.4%) were more commonly isolated than Gram positive 37(35.5%). The three most frequently found that S. aureus 28(22%) followed by P. mirabilis 22(17.3%) then E. coli 14(11%). Among anaerobic bacteria Gram negative bacteria 16(69.5%) were predominantly isolated th
... Show MoreAcute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of the commonest hematological malignancies affecting children and adults. Recent evidence suggests an involvement of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in ALL pathogenicity. Epigenetic aberration, especially altered DNA methylation marks, is a key event of cancer development. The present study aims to investigate how the ALL epimethylome reacts to viral infection through the assessment of the total 5-methylcytosine (5mC) levels in ALL patients, according to EBV infection. The 5mC global DNA methylation levels in 50 diagnosed ALL patients (age mean 26.23 yrs; age range 10-60 yrs) and 25 age-matched healthy controls were assessed using MethylFlash™ Methylated DNA Quantification Kit. Acute pri
... Show MoreBackground: L. sativum, are traditionally used for the treatment of various diseases and thought to have medicinal value. Isolates from many part of the world is now multidrug resistant. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look for and test an alternative herbal drug.
Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of L. Sativum seed extract against multi drug resistant (MDR) and sensitive Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates.
Subjects and Methods: An ethanolic and aqueous stock extracts were prepared from L. sativum seed plant then serial dilutions were prepared and the obtained concentrations (50, 25, 12.5 and 6.2 mg/ml) were tested against 30 multidrug-resistan
... Show MoreThe central nervous system (CNS) disease known as multiple sclerosis (MS) is essentially an inflammatory demyelinating condition with a variety of clinical manifestations and variable histological findings. A number of immunological and biochemical markers may alter MS, which is also characterized as an autoimmune illness. MS patients (n = 100) were divided into two groups: newly diagnosed (n = 42) and patients with ongoing treatments (n = 58). These groups were compared to healthy subjects (n = 55); the mean age ±SD was (30±8.46 years), (37±8.06 years), and (31±8.73 years) for MS newly diagnosed patients, patients with ongoing treatments, and healthy subjects, respectively. Studies for serum levels of eotaxin-1, myelin basi
... Show MoreA new modified differential evolution algorithm DE-BEA, is proposed to improve the reliability of the standard DE/current-to-rand/1/bin by implementing a new mutation scheme inspired by the bacterial evolutionary algorithm (BEA). The crossover and the selection schemes of the DE method are also modified to fit the new DE-BEA mechanism. The new scheme diversifies the population by applying to all the individuals a segment based scheme that generates multiple copies (clones) from each individual one-by-one and applies the BEA segment-wise mechanism. These new steps are embedded in the DE/current-to-rand/bin scheme. The performance of the new algorithm has been compared with several DE variants over eighteen benchmark functions including sever
... Show MoreBackground: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy
has become the standard of care for the
elective management of cholelithiasis. Little
information exists, however, regarding the
appropriateness of this procedure in the setting
of acute symptomatology.
Objective: This study was designed to
evaluate the outcome of laparoscopic
cholecystectomy in acute and severe acute
cholecystitis based on early and late biliary
complications, their incidence and
management, and conversion rates to open
surgery.
Methods: A prospective study done between
April 2007 and November 2010, in the
department of general surgery, medical city
teaching hospital, Baghdad. Includes patients
with acute cholecystitis admitted f
t. The current study was conducted on the umbilical cord blood of newborns in the Banks Hospital in Baghdad, Diyala, and Khalis in Diyala, where the study included 90 samples of blood, and samples were collected for the period from the 1st of October;2020 to The first of February;2021 AD, where the study included measuring levels of interleukin-6;Adiponectin,glucose and bilirubin in the blood, comparison study between the study variables with the child's weight (greater than 3 kg),(less or equal 3 kg),the mother's age (greater than 25 years, less or equal to 25 years),the sex of the child (male, female).The results of our study showed that there were no significant differences between the variables of the current study between the two sex
... Show MoreLocal food samples investigated for the presence of pathogenic bacteria. Hash meat sample was used to isolate Escherichia coli and chicken meat (poultry) was used to isolate Salmonella typhi. Biochemical tests and API20E system used in order to identify these isolates. Two natural vinegar samples (dates & apple cider) were used in order to study its antibacterial activity against the two tested bacteria. Disc diffusion method was used, the results showed that two vinegar samples have antibacterial activity against the two tested bacteria. Date vinegar showed inhibition zone 19mm against E. coli & 9mm against S. typhi, while Apple cider vinegar showed diameter of inhibi
... Show MoreA study of taxonomic quality of soil algae was conducted with some environmental variables in three sites of local gardens (Kadhimiya, Adhamiya and Dora) within the governorate of Baghdad for the period from October 2016 to March 2017. The study identified 28 species belonging to 16 species in which the predominance of blue green algae (18 species) Followed by Bacillarophyta algae (7 species) and three types of Chlorophyta. The study showed an increase in species of Oscillatoria. The results showed no significant differences between sites in temperature, pH and relative humidity, while there were clear differences between sites for salinity and nutrient The study showed a difference of irrigation water quality and use of different fertilize
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