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
In this work , an effective procedure of Box-Behnken based-ANN (Artificial Neural Network) and GA (Genetic Algorithm) has been utilized for finding the optimum conditions of wt.% of doping elements (Ce,Y, and Ge) doped-aluminizing-chromizing of Incoloy 800H . ANN and Box-Behnken design method have been implanted for minimizing hot corrosion rate kp (10-12g2.cm-4.s-1) in Incoloy 800H at 900oC . ANN was used for estimating the predicted values of hot corrosion rate kp (10-12g2.cm-4.s-1) . The optimal wt.% of doping elements combination to obtain minimum hot corrosion rate was calculated using genetic alg
... Show MoreFluorescent proteins (FPs) have revolutionised the life sciences, but the chromophore maturation mechanism is still not fully understood. Here we photochemically trap maturation at a crucial stage and structurally characterise the intermediate.
In this study, a genetic algorithm (GA) is used to detect damage in curved beam model, stiffness as well as mass matrices of the curved beam elements is formulated using Hamilton's principle. Each node of the curved beam element possesses seven degrees of freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The curved beam element had been derived based on the Kang and Yoo’s thin-walled curved beam theory. The identification of damage is formulated as an optimization problem, binary and continuous genetic algorithms
(BGA, CGA) are used to detect and locate the damage using two objective functions (change in natural frequencies, Modal Assurance Criterion MAC). The results show the objective function based on change in natural frequency i
This comprehensive review examines the efficacy and safety of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors in treating various autoimmune diseases, and focuses on their application in Iraqi patients. Elevated TNF-α levels are linked to autoimmune disorders, leading to the development of anti-TNF-α therapies such as infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, and golimumab, which have gained FDA approval for conditions like psoriasis, in¬flammatory bowel disease, ankylosing spondylitis, and rheumatoid arthritis. While these therapies demonstrate sig¬nificant therapeutic benefits, including improved quality of life and disease management, they also carry risks, such as increased susceptibility to infections and pote
... Show MoreA novel series of mixed-ligand complexes of the type, [ML1(L2)3]Clx [M= Cr(III), Fe(III), Co(II),Ni(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II), n = 2, 3], was synthesized using Schiff base (HL1) as main ligand, nicotinamide (L2) as secondary ligand, and the corresponding metal ions in 1:3:1 molar ratio. The main ligand, HL1 was prepared by the interaction of ampicillin drug and 4-chlorobenzophenone. The synthesized mixed ligand complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, FT-IR,1H-NMR,13C-NMR and TG/DTG studies. In the mixed-ligand complexes, the Schiff base ligand, HL1 showed coordination to the central metal ion in tridentate manner via azomethine nitrogen, β-lactam ring oxygen and deprotonated carboxylic oxygen atoms, whereas the sec
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