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
This paper compare the accurecy of HF propagation prediction programs for HF circuits links between Iraq and different points world wide during August 2018 when solar cycle 24 (start 2009 end 2020) is at minimun activity and also find out the best communication mode used. The prediction programs like Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program (VOACAP) and ITU Recommendation RS 533 (REC533 ) had been used to generat HF circuit link parameters like Maximum Usable Frequency ( MUF) and Frequency of Transsmision (FOT) .Depending on the predicted parameters (data) , real radio contacts had been done using a radio transceiver from Icom model IC 7100 with 100W RF
... Show MoreA Schiff base ligand (L) was synthesized via condensation of
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) contain free –COOH which thought to be responsible for the GI irritation associated with all traditional NSAIDs. The esterification of this group is one of an approach to ultimate aim for reduce the gastric irritation; so in this study we synthesized and preliminarily evaluated new ester compounds as new analogues with expected selectivity toward COX-2 enzyme. Synthetic procedures have been successfully developed for the generation of the target compounds (III a and b). The synthetic approach involved multi-steps procedures which include: Synthesis of 4-hydroxy benzene sulphonamide ( I b ), synthesis of Naproxen and Ibuprofen acyl chloride and then reacting them with 4-hydroxy benzene sulphon
... Show MoreThe study presents the test results of Completely Decomposed Granite (CDG) soil tested under drained triaxial compression, direct shear and simple shear tests. Special attention was focused on the modification of the upper halve of conventional Direct Shear Test (DST) to behave as free
head in movement along with vertical strain control during shear stage by using Geotechnical Digital System (GDS). The results show that Free Direct Shear Test (FDST) has clear effect on the measured shear stress and vertical strain during the test. It has been found that shear strength
parameters measured from FDST were closer to those measured from simple shear and drained triaxial compression test. This study also provides an independent check on
This study aimed to detect of contamination of milk and local soft cheese with Staphylococcus aureus and their enterotoxins with attempt to detect the enterotoxin genes in some isolates of this bacteria. A total of 120 samples, 76 of raw milk and 44 of soft cheese were collected from different markets of Baghdad city. Enterotoxins in these samples were detected by VIDAS Set 2 system and it was found that enterotoxin A is present in a rate of 44.74% in milk samples and in a rate 54.50% in cheese samples. While other enterotoxins B, C, D, E were not found in any rate in any samples.
Through the study 60 isolates obtained from milk and cheeses were identified as Staphylococcus aureus by cultural, morphological and biochemical test by u
Background: The prevalence of spinal cord lesions is high in multiple sclerosis particularly in the cervical cord, and their detection can assist in both the diagnosis and follow-up of the patients. For spinal multiple sclerosis, MRI is considered the first line investigation.
Objective: To evaluate the value of sagittal 1.5 Tesla proton density-fast spin echo (PD-FSE) MRI in the detecting and increasing conspicuity of multiple sclerosis lesions in cervical cord in comparison with sagittal T2 fast spin-echo (T2-FSE) MRI.
Patients and Methods: A cross sectional study carried out from 3rd of January 2017 to 1st of January 2018 in the MRI department of
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