Background: Enterococcus faecalis is a causative agent for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Iraq and worldwide, even though it is a commensal bacterium in human and animal intestines. It can cause different illnesses due to its ability to produce various virulence factors. A pore-forming toxin (cytolysin) is the most virulence factor in this bacterium. Objective: This study aims to molecularly investigate the frequency of cytolysin toxin among E. faecalis isolated from UTIs. Methods: A hundred and eighty urine specimens were collected from females diagnosed with UTIs. Traditional laboratory and molecular methods were used for bacterial identification and toxin detection using a modified DNA extraction method. Results: The findings revealed that 27.7% (50\180) of causative agents in UTIs were E. faecalis based on the molecular technique that targeted a housekeeping gene (ddI) with specific primers using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Most of the isolates harboured the cytolysin toxin gene (cylLL) with a frequency rate of 92% (46\50). Conclusions: A considerable prevalence of cytolysin-positive isolates in UTIs, which is a worrying indicates of the extensive spreading of a toxic strain in UTIs. The modified method for DNA extraction in gene detection was successfully used to amplify a housekeeping gene (ddI) and a virulence gene (cylLL) for cytolysin toxin detection, and this approach can be utilised for rapid bacterial identification and gene detection in medical and research purposes with a large sample size in an inexpensive manner within a short time.
A principal problem of any internet user is the increasing number of spam, which became a great problem today. Therefore, spam filtering has become a research fo-cus that attracts the attention of several security researchers and practitioners. Spam filtering can be viewed as a two-class classification problem. To this end, this paper proposes a spam filtering approach based on Possibilistic c-Means (PCM) algorithm and weighted distance coined as (WFCM) that can efficiently distinguish between spam and legitimate email messages. The objective of the formulated fuzzy problem is to construct two fuzzy clusters: spam and email clusters. The weight assignment is set by information gain algorithm. Experimental results on spam based benchmark
... Show MoreIn this research, the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the alumina/chromia (Al2O3/Cr2O3) nanocomposites has been investigated. Al2O3/Cr2O3-MWCNTs nanocomposites with variable contents of Cr2O3 and MWCNTs were fabricated using coprecipitation process and followed by spark plasma sintering. XRD analysis revealed a good crystallinity of sintered nanocomposites samples and there was only one phase presence of Al2O3-Cr2O3 solid solution. Density, Vickers microhardness, fracture toughness and fracture strength have been measured in the sintered samples. The results show tha
... Show MoreAbstract
Machining residual stresses correlate very closely with the cutting parameters and the tool geometries. This research work aims to investigate the effect of cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on the surface residual stress of steel AISI 1045 after face milling operation. After each milling test, the residual stress on the surface of the workpiece was measured by using X-ray diffraction technique. Design of Experiment (DOE) software was employed using the response surface methodology (RSM) technique with a central composite rotatable design to build a mathematical model to determine the relationship between the input variables and the response. The results showed that both
... Show MoreThe laminar fluid flow of water through the annulus duct was investigated numerically by ANSYS fluent version 15.0 with height (2.5, 5, 7.5) cm and constant length (L=60cm). With constant heat flux applied to the outer duct. The heat flux at the range (500,1000,1500,2000) w/m2 and Reynolds number values were ≤ 2300. The problem was 2-D investigated. Results revealed that Nusselt number decrease and the wall temperature increase with the increase of heat flux. Also, the average Nusselt number increase as Re increases. And as the height of the annulus increase, the values of the temperature and the local and average Nusselt number increase.
Iraqi siliceous rocks were chosen to be used as raw materials in this study which is concern with the linear shrinkage and their related parameters. They are porcelinite from Safra area (western desert) and Kaolin Duekla, their powders were mixed in certain percentage, to shape compacts and sintered. The study followed with thermal and chemical treatments, which are calcination and acid washing. The effects on final compact properties such as linear shrinkage were studied. Linear shrinkage was calculated for sintered compacts to study the effects of calcination processes, chemical washing, weight percentage, sintering processes, loading moment were studied on this property where the compacts for groups is insulating materials.
Linear
In this publication, several six coordinate bridged-polymeric metal complexes are reported. The reaction of 4,4`-dipyridine with ethyl chloroacetate in mole ratio of 1:2 gave the multidentate carboxylate ligand bis(N-carboxylatomethyl)-4,4`-dipyridinium). The reaction of the ligand with metal chloride and sodium azide resulted in the formation of the required polymeric complexes. Upon complex formation, the carboxylato ligand behaves as a neutral multidantate species. The mode of bonding and overall geometry of the complexes were determined through physicochemical and spectroscopic methods. These studies revealed octahedral geometry about metal centres and complexes of the general formula [Cr2(L)(N3)4]Cl2.H2O, Na2[Ag2(L)(N3)4].H2O and [M2(L
... Show MoreImplementing smart community engagement should consider careful planning and collaboration with numerous stakeholders, including the community. The technology and program must be designed to frame its purpose and should link back to specific goals of implementing smart community engagement. Digital services do not guarantee a smart engagement between the community and the local government. This is the case for the Kubang Pasu local government where several online services have been provided in their attempt to implement the smart community concept. However, understanding on the preferences of features and requirements of existing web-based systems and the impact of these systems is lacking. Therefore, a perception study needs to be condu
... Show MoreThe study aims to evaluate the removal of sulfur content from Iraqi light naphtha produced in Al-Dora refinery by adsorption desulfurization DS technique using modified activated carbon MAC loaded with nickel Ni and copper Cu as single binary metals. The experiments were carried in a batch unit with various operating parameters; MAC dosage, agitation speed, and a contact time of 300 min at constant initial sulfur concentration 155 ppm and temperature. The results showed higher DS% by AC/Ni-Cu (66.45)% at 500 rpm and 1 g dosage than DS (29.03)% by activated carbon AC, increasing MAC dosage, agitation speed, and contact time led to increasing DS% values. The adsorption capacity of MAC results was recorded (16,
... Show MoreWaste materials might be utilized in various applications, such as sustainable roller compacted concrete pavements (RCCP), to lessen the negative environmental consequences of construction waste. The impacts of utilizing (brick, thermostone, granite, and ceramic) powders on the mechanical characteristics of RCCP are investigated in this study. To achieve this, the waste materials were crushed, grounded, and blended before being utilized as filler in the RCCP. After the mixes were prepared, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption, density, and porosity were all determined. According to the research results, adding some of these powders, mainly brick and granite powder, enhances the mechanical
... Show MoreIII-V zinc-blende AlP, AlAs semiconductors and their alloy Aluminum Arsenide phosphide Al AsxP1-x ternary nanocrystals have been investigated using Ab- initio density functional theory (Ab-initio-DFT) at the generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) level with STO-3G basis set coupled with large unit cell method (LUC). The dimension of crystal is found around (1.56 – 2.24) nm at a function of increasing the sizes (8, 16, 54, 64) with different concentration of arsenide (x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) respectively. Gaussian 03 code program has been used throughout this study to calculate some of the physical properties such as the electronic properties energy gap, lattice constant, valence and conduction band as well as density of state. Re
... Show More