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
A numerical model for Polypropylene 575 polymer melts flow along the solid conveying screw of a single screw extruder under constant heat flux using ANSYS-FLUENT 17.2 software has been conducted. The model uses the thermophysical properties such as Viscosity, thermal conductivity, Specific heat and density of polypropylene 575 that measured as a function of temperature, and residence time data for process simulation. The numerical simulation using CFD models for single screw extruder and the polymer extrusion was analysed for parameters such as (thermal conductivity, specific heat, density and viscosity) reveals a high degree of similarity to experimental data measured. The most important outcome of this study is that geometrical, parame
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The present work aims to study the efficiency of coagulation/ flocculation as 1st stage, natural gravity water filter or microfiltration (MF) as 2nd stage and nanofiltration (NF) technology as final stage for treatment of water of main outfall drain (MOD) for injection in Nasiriyah oil field. Effects of operating parameters such as coagulant dosage, speed and time of slow mixing step and settling time in the 1st stage were studied. Also feed turbidity and total suspended solids (TSS) in the 2
... Show MoreThe paper presents a highly accurate power flow solution, reducing the possibility of ending at local minima, by using Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) with system reduction and restoration. The proposed method (RCGA) is modified to reduce the total computing time by reducing the system in size to that of the generator buses, which, for any realistic system, will be smaller in number, and the load buses are eliminated. Then solving the power flow problem for the generator buses only by real-coded GA to calculate the voltage phase angles, whereas the voltage magnitudes are specified resulted in reduced computation time for the solution. Then the system is restored by calculating the voltages of the load buses in terms
... Show MoreOro slippery tablets (OSTs) is a technique used to improve swallowing of tablets for patients with dysphagia. The aim of this study was to formulate irbesartan and hydrochlorothiazide as Oroslippery tablets (OST) containing 150 mg irbesartan and 25 mg hydrochlorothiazide for dysphagia patients. A simple and rapid method of analysis was developed and validated according to the ICH guideline using HPLC with UV detector. Tablets were prepared by direct compression and then coated with the slippery coat of three different concentrations of the slippering substance “xanthan gum’ (2%, 3% and 4%) in Opadry Colorcone® and evaluated according to USP. Slipperiness test was performed using Albino rabbits. Results showed that 2% xanthan gum gav
... Show MoreIn this research a study of the effect of quality, sequential and directional layers for three types of fibers are:(Kevlar fibers-49 woven roving and E- glass fiber woven roving and random) on the fatigue property using epoxy as matrix. The test specimens were prepared by hand lay-up method the epoxy resin used as a matrix type (Quick mast 105) in prepared material composit . Sinusoidal wave which is formed of variable stress amplitudes at 15 Hz cycles was employed in the fatigue test ( 10 mm )and (15mm) value 0f deflection arrival to numbers of cycle failure limit, by rotary bending method by ( S-N) curves this curves has been determined ( life , limit and fa
... Show MoreThe need for wireless sensing technology has rapidly increased recently, specifically the usage of electromagnetic waves which becoming more required as a source of information. Silicon carbide (SiC) Nano particles has been used in this study, the material under test (MUT) was exposed directly to a microwave field to examine the electromagnetic behavior. The permittivity and permeability were investigated with different filler materials to approach best and optimal electromagnetic absorbing characteristics to assist engineers to monitor structure-based composite for defects evaluation that may occur during operation conditions or through manufacturing process. XRD, FESEM and both complex permittivity and permeability were measured f
... Show MoreThe ground charge density distributions (CDD), elastic charge form factors and proton, charge, neutron, and matter root mean square (rms) radii for stable 40Ca and 48Ca have been calculated using single-particle radial wave functions of Woods-Saxon (WS) and harmonic-oscillator (HO) potentials. Different central potential depths are used for each subshell which is adjusted so as to reproduce the experimental single-nucleon binding energies. An excellent agreement between the calculated rms charge radii and experimental data are found for both nuclei using WS and HO potentials. The calculated proton rms radii for 40Ca are found to be in good agreement with experiment data using both WS and HO potentials while the results for 48Ca showed an ov
... Show MoreThe ejector refrigeration system is a desirable choice to reduce energy consumption. A Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD simulation using the ANSYS package was performed to investigate the flow inside the ejector and determine the performance of a small-scale steam ejector. The experimental results showed that at the nozzle throat diameter of 2.6 mm and the evaporator temperature of 10oC, increasing boiler temperature from 110oC to 140oC decreases the entrainment ratio by 66.25%. At the boiler temperature of 120oC, increasing the evaporator temperature from 7.5 to 15 oC increases the entrainment ratio by 65.57%. While at the boiler temperature of 120oC and
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