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 research seeks to identify the impact of fraud detection skills in the settlement of compensatory claims for the fire and accident insurance portfolio and the reflection of these skills in preventing and reducing the payment of undue compensation to some who seek profit and enrichment at the expense of the insurance contract. And compensatory claims in the portfolio of fire and accident insurance in the two research companies, which show the effect and positive return of the detection skills and settlement of the compensation on the amount of actual compensation against the claims inflated by some of the insured, The research sample consisted of (70) respondents from a community size (85) individuals between the director and assistan
... Show MoreBackground: Pulpotomy is an accepted treatment for the management of cariously exposed pulps in symptom free primary molars to achieve one of the most important goals for Pedodontists, which is the retention of the pulpally involved deciduous teeth healthy until the time of normal exfoliation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative success of pulpotec, formocresol and Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) in cariously exposed primary molar teeth, using clinical and radiographical examinations. Materials and methods: Thirty nine children with 45 primary molars requiring pulpotomy were selected in this study, 15 teeth treated by each type of pulpotomy medicament. Clinical and radiographical follow up for the patients was performed
... Show MoreBackground: Osteoporosis is denoted by low bone mass and microarchitectural breakdown of bone tissue, directing to increased fracture risk and bone fragility. Fractures may lead to a decreased quality of life and increased medical costs. Thus, osteoporosis is widely considered a significant health concern.
Objective. This study aimed to compare quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and dual-energy X-Ray absorptiometry (DXA) to detect osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
Subjects and Methods. We measured spinal volumetric bone mineral density (BMD) with QCT and areal spinal and hip BMD with DXA in 164 postmenopausal women. We calculated the osteo
... Show MoreA simple, economic, rapid, reliable, and stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of paracetamol (PCM) and caffeine (CF) in solid dosage form. The chromatographic separations were achieved with a Waters Symmetry® C18 column (5 μm, 4.6 × 150 mm), using a mixture of methanol and water (40:60, v/v) as a mobile phase, under isocratic elution mode with a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, and ultraviolet (UV) detection was set at 264 nm. The oven temperature for the column was set and maintained at 35 °C. The method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines, and it demonstrated excellent linearity, wi
... Show MoreThis study focused on the improvement of the quality of gasoline and enhancing its octane number by the reduction of n-paraffins using zeolite 5A. This study was made using batch and continuous mode. The parameters which affected the n-paraffin removal efficiency for each mode were studied. Temperature (30 and 40 ˚C) and mixing time up to 120 min for different amounts of zeolite ranging (10-60 g) were investigated in a batch mode. A maximum removal efficiency of 64% was obtained using 60 g of zeolite at 30 ˚C after a mixing time 120 min. The effect of feed flow rate (0.3-0.8 l/hr) and bed height (10-20 cm) were also studied in a continuous mode. The equilibrium isotherm study was made using different amounts of zeolite (2-20 g) and the
... Show MoreThis study aims to determine the prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba dispar and
Entamoeba moshkovskii by three methods of diagnosis (microscopic examination, cultivation and PCR) that
were compared to obtain an accurate diagnosis of Entamoeba spp. during amoebiasis. Total (n=150) stool
samples related to patients were (n = 100) and healthy controls (n= 50). Clinically diagnosed stool samples
(n=100) were collected from patients attending the consultant clinics of different hospitals in Basrah during
the period from January 2018 to January 2019. The results showed that 60% of collected samples were
positive in a direct microscopic examination. All samples were cultivated on different media; the Bra
Background: Antibacterial action of root canal filling is an important factor for successful root canal treatment, so the aim of the study was to identify and to compare the antimicrobial effect of new sealer (GuttaFlow) to commonly used endodontic sealers (AH Plus, Apexit and EndoFill) against four endodontic microbes. Materials and methods: Twenty patients aged (30-40) years with infected root canals were selected. Four types of microorganisms were isolated from root canals (E faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, E coli and Candida albicans) and cultured on Mueller Hinton agar Petri-dishes. After identification and isolation of bacterial species, agar diffusion method was used to assess the antibacterial action of four contemporary endodontic
... Show MoreThe present study include a new developed method of analysis for determination of drug Spironolaction (SP) in some Pharmaceuticals by Spectrofluorometric method. Spironolaction was determined under optimal experimental condition that follows :- The excitation spectrum was (l=351 nm), the emmetion spectrum was (l=518 nm), pH=1, the suitable temperature for reaction 60oC and the optimal time less than (3) minute. The analysis and rang statistical data was:-Linear dynamic rang (1-10) ?g.ml-1, the detection limit (D.L = 0.023 ?g.ml-1), Molar absorptivity (? = 29875 liter mole-1 cm-1), Relative standard deviation (%RSD = 0.78), (%Erel = 3.3) and recovery (Rec = 96.6) percentage. Determination of Spironolactone was accomplished by two methods
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