Background: Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) is gram-negative bacterium, which causes Legionnaires’ disease as well as Pontiac fever. Objective: To determine the frequency of Legionella pneumophila in pneumonic patients, to determine the clinical utility of diagnosing Legionella pneumonia by urinary antigen testing (LPUAT) in terms of sensitivity and specificity, to compares the results obtained from patients by urinary antigen test with q Real Time PCR (RT PCR) using serum samples and to determine the frequency of serogroup 1 and other serogroups of L. pneumophila. Methods: A total of 100 pneumonic patients (community acquired pneumonia) were enrolled in this study during a period between October 2016 to April 2017; 92 samples were collected from patients attended and admitted to Al-Imamein Al-Kadhimein Medical City and 8 samples from those in the (Center of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation) in the Medical City of Baghdad. All patients were under therapy with antibiotics. Serum and urine specimens were obtained from all patients; urine samples were processed for urinary antigen test (rapid test). Serum samples were collected and submitted to DNA extraction for detection of L. pneumophila mip gene by q RT PCR assay. Results: The percentage of L. pneumophila in two hospitals in Bagdad was 30%. Of these 26% was serogroup 1 detected by urinary antigen testing (UAT). In the other hand, 23% of samples were positive by q RT PCR based mip gene, of these 19 % were serogroup 1 and 4% were another serogroup. The sensitivity of UAT is high (P value < 0.001), which means statistically highly significance than q RT PCR. Conclusion: LPUAT is a rapid tool for early diagnosis of Legionella infection, which highlights the need of using this test in hospitals and health institutions and there is a high prevalence of L. pneumophila in Iraq that refer to the necessity of considering this microorganism point of view in future studies for detection and treatment in pneumonic patients. Keywords: L. pneumophila, mip gene, quantitative real time PCR, urinary antigen. Citation: Gauad SA, Abdulrahman TR, Muhamad AK, Jawad AA, Hassan JS. Clinical utility of urinary antigen test and molecular method for detection of Legionella pneumophila. Iraqi JMS. 2018; 16(2): 207-215. doi: 10.22578/IJMS.16.2.13
The demand for single photon sources in quantum key distribution (QKD) systems has necessitated the use of weak coherent pulses (WCPs) characterized by a Poissonian distribution. Ensuring security against eavesdropping attacks requires keeping the mean photon number (µ) small and known to legitimate partners. However, accurately determining µ poses challenges due to discrepancies between theoretical calculations and practical implementation. This paper introduces two experiments. The first experiment involves theoretical calculations of µ using several filters to generate the WCPs. The second experiment utilizes a variable attenuator to generate the WCPs, and the value of µ was estimated from the photons detected by the BB
... Show MorePower switches require snubbing networks for driving single – phase industrial heaters. Designing these networks, for controlling the maximum allowable rate of rise of anode current (di/dt) and excessive anode – cathode voltage rise (dv/dt) of power switching devices as thyristors and Triacs, is usually achieved using conventional methods like Time Constant Method (TCM), resonance Method (RM), and Runge-Kutta Method (RKM). In this paper an alternative design methodology using Fuzzy Logic Method (FLM) is proposed for designing the snubber network to control the voltage and current changes. Results of FLM, with fewer rules requirements, show the close similarity with those of conventional design methods in such a network of a Triac drivin
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In this work, the modified Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction is used to find a nonlinear Ritz approximation of Fredholm functional defined by the nonhomogeneous Camassa-Holm equation and Benjamin-Bona-Mahony. We introduced the modified Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction for nonhomogeneous problems when the dimension of the null space is equal to two. The nonlinear Ritz approximation for the nonhomogeneous Camassa-Holm equation has been found as a function of codimension twenty-four.
The existing study aimed to assess four soil moisture sensors’ capacitive (WH51 and SKU: S EN0193) and resistive (Yl69 and IC Station) abilities, which are affordable and medium-priced for their accuracy in six common soil types in the central region of Iraq. The readings’ calibration for the soil moisture sensor devices continued through two gravimetric methods. The first depended on the protocols’ database, while the second was the traditional calibration method. The second method recorded the lowest analysis error compared with the first. The moderate-cost sensor WH51 showed the lowest standard error (SE), MAD , and RMSE and the highest R² in both methods. The performance accuracy of WH51 was close to readings shown by the manufac
... Show MoreObjective: To assess the effect of six-minute walk test on health-related quality of life in patients undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery at Iraqi center for heart diseases. Material: This descriptive study was conducted from 8th August, 2022 to 10th January, 2023. A non-probability purposive sample of 50 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery at Iraqi center for heart diseases was included in the study. A questionnaire composed of three parts; sociodemographic and clinical data, six-minute walk test (6MWT) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were used. SPSS version 26 was utilized to analyze data. Results: Patient’s performance showed highly significant statistical differences at p<0.05 betw
... Show MoreThis project sought to fabricate a flexible gas sensor based on a short functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) network for nitrogen dioxide gas detection. The network was prepared by filtration from the suspension (FFS) method and modified by coating with a layer of polypyrrole conductive polymer (PPy) prepared by the oxidative chemical polymerization to improve the properties of the network. The structural, optical, and morphological properties of the f-MWCNTs and f-MWCNTs/PPy network were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourie-transform infrared (FTIR), with an AFM (atomic force microscopy). XRD proved that the structure of f-MWCNTs is unaffected by the synthesis procedure. The FTIR spectra verified the existence o
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