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
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a diabetes- caused disease that is associated with leakage of fluid from the blood vessels into the retina, leading to its damage. It is one of the most common diseases that can lead to weak vision and even blindness. Exudates is a clear indication of diabetic retinopathy, which is the main cause of blindness in people with diabetes. Therefore, early detection of exudates is a crucial and essential step to prevent blindness and vision loss is in the analysis of digital diabetic retinopathy systems. This paper presents an improved approach for detection of exudates in retina image using supervised-unsupervised Minimum Distance (MD) segmentation method. The suggested system includes three stages; First, a
... Show MoreThis research represents a reflection seismic study (structural and stratigraphic) for a (852) km2 area located in the south of Iraq within the administrative border of the province of Al-Muthanna and Qadisiyah province ,by using 2-D seismic data from Oil Exploration company three main seismic reflectors are picked, these are (Zubair and Yamama) Formations which they deposited during the Cretaceous age , and (Gotnia) Formation which deposited during Jurassic age .Structural maps of Formations are prepared to obtain the location and direction of the sedimentary basin and shoreline ,time, velocity and depth maps are drawn depending on the structural interpretation of the picked reflectors and show several structural feature as nose structu
... Show MoreThis study was conducted in Wasit governorate for the period between February 2012 to February 2013 to determine the impact of Castor seed oil at different concentrations 100, 75, 50 and 25% in inhibition of the growth of E. coli isolated from 52 male and female patients (2-70 yrs) attending Al Zahra Hospital and Al Karama Hospital in Kut city. Oil was extracted from seeds of Castor had the ability to inhibit E. coli isolated from patients presented with recurrent urinary tract infections . Zone of inhibition accomplishing was 9.06 mm in diameter.HPLC analysis revealed that the content of α-linolenic in Castor seed oil (18.90 μg\ml) was higher than other fatty acids followed by oleic. Perhaps this is why it able to inhibit E. coli; whi
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study was to investigate the bacterial etiology of urinary tract infections microbiologic properties of Escherichia coli isolated from urinary tract infection patients against nine amoxicillin antibiotic. E.coli isolates were collected from patients samples suffering from urinary tract infection, based on biochemical tests of Epi 20 system .Nine Amoxicillin antibiotics were selected (some vials and other are capsules) which manufactured in different countries were bought from local pharmacies in Baghdad, for the purpose of knowing the inhibitory activity of these antibiotics on E.coli one of the main microorganisms to cause urinary tract infection, the antibiotics were prepared in a concentration of 100mg/ml and their
... Show MoreA case-control study was designed to find out the association between rs2234671 polymorphism of cxcr1 and rUTI in a sample of Iraqi women by polymerase chain reaction- sequence-specific primer (PCR-SSP) method. The current findings revealed that the genotype GC (OR= 7.86, 95% CI = 2.82-21.87, P= 7.7 × 10-5) and the C allele (OR= 3.93, 95% CI = 1.97 - 7.83, P = 9.8×10-5) are significantly associated with rUTI. However, the genotype GG played as a protective factor (OR= 0.12, 95% CI = 10.05 - 0.34, P = 4.0 ×10-5). Depending on these findings, the genotype GC is significantly associated with rUTI.
Sludge worm samples were collected from the Tigers River sediment during the period from November 2018 to June 2019 in Al Sarafiya District/ Baghdad- Iraq. Biometric morphological measurements focusing on the form of penis sheath and chaetal morphology were used for species identification, in addition to molecular analysis by amplification of conserved 18s rRNA encoding gene using ITS1 and ITS4 universal primers.According to the morphological measurement records, the results revealed the existence of Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri Claparede 1862, L. claparedeianus Ratzel, 1868 and L. cervix Brinkhurst 1963. Other two groups of specimens, with short penis sheath, were identified by molecular technology as L
The study investigated the behaviour of asphalt concrete mixes for aggregate gradations, according to the Iraqi specification using the Bailey method designed by an Excel spreadsheet. In mixing aggregates with varying gradations (coarse and fine aggregate), The Bailey method is a systematic methodology that offers aggregate interlocking as the backbone of the framework and a controlled gradation to complete the blends. Six types of gradation are used according to the bailey method considered in this study. Two-course prepared Asphalt Concrete Wearing and Asphalt Concrete binder, the Nominal Maximum Aggregate Sizes (NMAS) of the mixtures are 19 and 12.5 mm, respectively. The total number of specimens was 240 for both layers (15 samp
... Show MoreThis paper presents an analysis solution for systems of partial differential equations using a new modification of the decomposition method to overcome the computational difficulties. Convergence of series solution was discussed with two illustrated examples, and the method showed a high-precision, being a fast approach to solve the non-linear system of PDEs with initial conditions. There is no need to convert the nonlinear terms into the linear ones due to the Adomian polynomials. The method does not require any discretization or assumption for a small parameter to be present in the problem. The steps of the suggested method are easily implemented, with high accuracy and rapid convergence to the exact solution,
... Show MoreA comparison of gas sensing performance of V2O5:Ag nanoparticles as thin film and as bulk pellet toward NO2 and NH3 is presented. V2O5:Ag nanoparticles thin films were deposited by vacuum thermal evaporation method on glass substrates while the pellets were prepared by powder technology. XRD patterns of thin film and pellet were polycrystalline with an orthorhombic structure. The value of average grain size is about 60 nm. The morphological properties of the samples have been distinguished by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field effect scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) which indicated that the films showed homogeneous surfaces morphology a
... Show MoreGovernment spending is the tool that the state uses to achieve its various goals. The research aims to identify the most important determinants of government spending in Iraq and to indicate the type and nature of the relationship between government spending and its determinants, which will contribute to understanding the movement of government spending. The results of the co-integration test using the border test methodology showed that the variables of population growth and oil prices have a long-term effect on government spending while inflation is not significant in the long run, and that 47% of the equilibrium imbalance (short-term imbalance) in government spending in the previous period (t-) can be corrected in the current period (t)
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