Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) is problematic and still the leading cause of urinary tract infections worldwide. It is developed resistance against most antibiotics. The investigation, surveillance system, and efficient strategy will facilitate selecting an appropriate treatment that could control the bacterial distribution. The present study aims to investigate the epidemiology and associated risk factors of uropathogenic E. coli and to study their antibiotic resistance patterns. 1585 midstream urine specimens were collected from symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTI) patients (225 males and 1360 females) admitted to Zakho emergency hospital, Zakho, Kurdistan Region, Iraq from January 2016 until the end of December 2018. Specimens were inoculated on blood and MacConkey plates and incubated at 37оC for 24 hours. Uropathogenic E. coli was diagnosed based on gram staining, colony characteristics, and standard biochemical tests in accordance with local standards and guidelines. All isolates were screened for their antibiogram pattern using the disk diffusion method based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. The results showed that out of 1585 urine specimens, 1026 (64.7%) were UTIs positive with a statistically higher rate in 2016 (83.6%) (P< 0.0001). The UTIs frequency in females was significantly higher than males (P< 0.0001). Generally, the uropathogenic E. coli represented 21.1% with the highest level in 2016 (22.9%). The uropathogenic E. coli rate was higher, statistically not significant, in females (21.4%) than males (18.5%) (P=0.4946). Additionally, through the three years of study, uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) was in high frequency in February and May 2016. The female’s age group from 20 to 39 years was the most vulnerable (46%) form total infected females, while those from 70-74 years (1%) were the least susceptible in males and females. A high percentage (80.56 %) of multidrug resistance E. coli isolates was observed with high resistance against -lactamase and macrolides antibiotics. However, higher sensitivity was towards imipenem and meropenem. In conclusion, the wrong and overuse of antibiotics will increase the resistance rate of E. coli. For this reason, proper use of available antibiotics is necessary. Also, the educational programs and periodic monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility are essential for reducing the antibiotic resistance rate.
Purpose: To validate a UV-visible spectrophotometric technique for evaluating niclosamide (NIC) concentration in different media across various values of pH. Methods: NIC was investigated using a UV-visible spectrophotometer in acidic buffer solution (ABS) of pH 1.2, deionized water (DW), and phosphate buffer solution (PBS), pH 7.4. The characterization of NIC was done with differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The UV analysis was validated for accuracy, precision, linearity, and robustness. Results: The DSC spectra showed a single endothermic peak at 228.43 °C (corresponding to the melting point of NIC), while XRD and FTIR analysis confirmed the identit
... Show MoreLasers, with their unique characteristics in terms of excellent beam quality, especially directionality and coherency, make them the solution that is key for many processes that require high precision. Lasers have good susceptibility to integrate with automated systems, which provides high flexibility to reach difficult zones. In addition, as a processing tool, a laser can be considered as a contact-free tool of precise tip that became attractive for high precision machining at the micro and nanoscales for different materials. All of the above advantages may be not enough unless the laser technician/engineer has enough knowledge about the mechanism of interaction between the laser light with the processed material. Several sequential phenom
... Show MoreThe applications of Multilevel Converter (MLC) are increased because of the huge demand for clean power; especially these types of converters are compatible with the renewable energy sources. In addition, these new types of converters have the capability of high voltage and high power operation. A Nine-level converter in three modes of implementation; Diode Clamped-MLC (DC-MLC), Capacitor Clamped-MLC (CC-MLC), and the Modular Structured-MLC (MS-MLC) are analyzed and simulated in this paper. Various types of Multicarrier Modulation Techniques (MMTs) (Level shifted (LS), and Phase shifted (PS)) are used for operating the proposed Nine level - MLCs. Matlab/Simulink environment is used for the simulation, extracting, and ana
... Show MoreShatt Al-Hilla was considered one of the important branches of Euphrates River that supplies irrigation water to millions of dunams of planted areas. It is important to control the velocity and water level along the river to maintain the required level for easily diverting water to the branches located along the river. So, in this research, a numerical model was developed to simulate the gradually varied unsteady flow in Shatt AL-Hilla. The present study aims to solve the continuity and momentum (Saint-Venant) equations numerically to predict the hydraulic characteristics in the river using Galerkin finite element method. A computer program was designed and built using the programming language FORTRAN-77. Fifty kilometers was consid
... Show MoreThis study's objective is to assess how well UV spectrophotometry can be used in conjunction with multivariate calibration based on partial least squares (PLS) regression for concurrent quantitative analysis of antibacterial mixture (Levofloxacin (LIV), Metronidazole (MET), Rifampicin (RIF) and Sulfamethoxazole (SUL)) in their artificial mixtures and pharmaceutical formulations. The experimental calibration and validation matrixes were created using 42 and 39 samples, respectively. The concentration range taken into account was 0-17 μg/mL for all components. The calibration standards' absorbance measurements were made between 210 and 350 nm, with intervals of 0.2 nm. The associated parameters were examined in order to develop the optimal c
... Show MoreIn this investigation, water-soluble N-Acetyl Cysteine Capped-Cadmium Telluride QDs (NAC/CdTe nanocrystals), utilizing N-acetyl cysteine as a stabilizer, were prepared to assess their potential in differentiating between DNA extracted from pathogenic bacteria (e.g. Escherichia coli isolated from urine specimen) and intact DNA (extracted from blood of healthy individuals) for biomedical sensing prospective. Following the optical characterization of the synthesized QDs, the XRD analysis illustrated the construction of NAC-CdTe-QDs with a grain size of 7.1 nm. The prepared NAC-CdTe-QDs exhibited higher PL emission features at of 550 nm and UV-Vis absorption peak at 300 nm. Additionally, the energy gap quantified via PL and UV–Vis were 2.2 eV
... Show MoreA non-parametric kernel method with Bootstrap technology was used to estimate the confidence intervals of the system failure function of the log-normal distribution trace data. These are the times of failure of the machines of the spinning department of the weaving company in Wasit Governorate. Estimating the failure function in a parametric way represented by the method of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). The comparison between the parametric and non-parametric methods was done by using the average of Squares Error (MES) criterion. It has been noted the efficiency of the nonparametric methods based on Bootstrap compared to the parametric method. It was also noted that the curve estimation is more realistic and appropriate for the re
... Show MoreThe development of the perforated fin had proposed in many studies to enhance the heat transfer from electronic pieces. This paper presents a novel derivative method to find the temperature distribution of the new design (inclined perforated) of the pin fin. Perforated with rectangular section and different angles of inclination was considered. Signum Function is used for modeling the variable heat transfer area. Set of parameters to handle the conduction and convection area were calculated. Degenerate Hypergeometric Equation (DHE) was used for modeling the Complex energy differential equation and then solved by Kummer’s series. In the validation process, Ansys 16.0-Steady State Thermal was used. Two geometric models were consider
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