Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii ) is considered a critical healthcare problem for patients in intensive care units due to its high ability to be multidrug-resistant to most commercially available antibiotics. The aim of this study is to develop a colorimetric assay to quantitatively detect the target DNA of A. baumannii based on unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from different clinical samples (burns, surgical wounds, sputum, blood and urine). A total of thirty-six A. baumannii clinical isolates were collected from five Iraqi hospitals in Erbil and Mosul provinces within the period from September 2020 to January 2021. Bacterial isolation and biochemical identification of isolates were carried out followed by DNA extraction from 36 isolates and six negative ATCC strains (Salmonalle typhi, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aures) and only one positive control ATCC A. baumannii using Phenol/Chloroform method. AuNPs were synthesized using the citrate reduction method and examined by XDR, FTIR, UV-VIS, FE-SEM, and TEM. The optimized colorimetric assay was employed based on unmodified spherical AuNPs and PCR amplification of 16S rRNA intergenic spacer sequences (ITS) with species-specific DNA oligo-targeters. Detection and optimization of A. baumannii amplicons using unmodified AuNPs were performed based on species-specific DNA oligonucleotide. The AuNPs assay was able to colorimetrically detect and distinguish A. baumannii from other ATCC bacterial isolates. The turnaround time of this assay was about 3 hours, including sample preparation and amplification, to show (0.025-6 ngµl-1) as a detection limit of DNA concentration. The efficacy of colorimetric detection was proved to effectively diagnose A. baumannii isolates with high sensitivity, simplicity, and robustness to rapidly diagnose A. baumannii isolates from different clinical samples.
Acne vulgaris is a very common, chronic disorder, involving inflammation of the pilosebaceous units that can be varied in presentation and difficult to treat. Inflammatory acne may yield both scarring and pigmentary changes so early and adequate therapy will, in all cases, decrease its severity and may entirely suppress this disease. Serratiopeptidase has anti-inflammatory, anti-edemic and fibrinolytic activity and acts rapidly on localized inflammation. Serratiopeptidase was added in aim to hasten acne resolution. During March to July 2010, A comparative study for a 50 healthy patient suffering from acne was divided into 2 groups: 1st group treated by common acne modalities and the 2nd one with same modalities
... Show MoreIn Baghdad city, Iraq, the traffic volumes have rapidly grown during the last 15 years. Road networks need to reevaluate and decide if they are operating properly or not regarding the increase in the number of vehicles. Al-Jadriyah intersection (a four-leg signalized intersection) and Kamal Junblat Square (a multi-lane roundabout), which are two important intersections in Baghdad city with high traffic volumes, were selected to be reevaluated by the SIDRA package in this research. Traffic volume and vehicle movement data were abstracted from videotapes by the Smart Traffic Analyzer (STA) Software. The performance measures include delay and LOS. The analysis results by SIDRA Intersection 8.0.1 show that the performance of the roundab
... Show MoreThe shear strength of soil is one of the most important soil properties that should be identified before any foundation design. The presence of gypseous soil exacerbates foundation problems. In this research, an approach to forecasting shear strength parameters of gypseous soils based on basic soil properties was created using Artificial Neural Networks. Two models were built to forecast the cohesion and the angle of internal friction. Nine basic soil properties were used as inputs to both models for they were considered to have the most significant impact on soil shear strength, namely: depth, gypsum content, passing sieve no.200, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, water content, dry unit weight, and initial
... Show MoreThis research aims to investigate and evaluate a reactive powder concrete (RPC) cast using economical materials. Its mechanical properties were investigated and evaluated by studying the effects of using different cement and silica fume contents and locally steel fibers aspect ratios as reinforcement for this concrete. A compressive strength of about 155.2MPa, indirect tensile strength of 16.0MPa, modulus of elasticity of 48.7GPa, flexural strength of 43.5MPa, impact energy of 3294.4kN.m and abrasion loss 0.59% have been achieved for reinforced RPC contains 910 kg/m3 cement content, silica fume content 185 kg/m3 of cement weight and fiber volume fraction 2%. The water absorption values w
... Show MoreSoil fertility is a crucial factor in measuring soil quality, it indicates the extent to which soil can support plant life. Soil fertility is measured by the amount of macro and micronutrients, pH, etc. Soil nutrients are depleted after each harvest and therefore must be added. To maintain soil nutrient levels, fertilizer is added to the soil. Adding fertilizer in the precise amount is a matter of great importance because excess or insufficient application can harm plant life and reduce productivity. The use of modern technology is a solution to this problem. Although automated techniques for sowing, weeding, crop harvesting, etc. have been proposed and implemented, none of the techniques are aimed to maintaining soil fertility. The study a
... Show MorePerformance of gas-solid spouted bed benefit from solids uniformity structure (UI).Therefore, the focus of this work is to maximize UI across the bed based on process variables. Hence, UI is to be considered as the objective of the optimization process .Three selected process variables are affecting the objective function. These decision variables are: gas velocity, particle density and particle diameter. Steady-state solids concentration measurements were carried out in a narrow 3-inch cylindrical spouted bed made of Plexiglas that used 60° conical shape base. Radial concentration of particles (glass and steel beads) at various bed heights and different flow patterns were measured using sophisticated optical probes. Stochastic Genetic
... Show MoreBackground: Thalassemia is a hereditary anemia resulting from defects in hemoglobin production. ?- thalassemia caused by decrease in the production of ?- globin chains affect multiple organs and is associated with cranio-oro-facial deformity which include prominent cheek bones and protrusive premaxilla with depression of the nasal bridge often referred to as “rodent or chip-munk face” with small mandible and Cl.II skeletal relationship. This study aimed to investigate cephalometric craniofacial parameters (skeletal) of ?- thalassemic major patients by using computed tomography and to compare findings with a group of healthy patients in the same age group. Subject, Materials and Method: The study included (40) patients with ?- thalassemi
... Show MoreIn this paper a theoretical attempt is made to determine whether changes in the aorta diameter at different location along the aorta can be detected by brachial artery measurement. The aorta is divided into six main parts, each part with 4 lumps of 0.018m length. It is assumed that a desired section of the aorta has a radius change of 100,200, 500%. The results show that there is a significant change for part 2 (lumps 5-8) from the other parts. This indicates that the nearest position to the artery gives the significant change in the artery wave pressure while other parts of the aorta have a small effect.
The hydroisomerization of n-decane was studied on SAPO-11 catalyst. Catalyst of 0.25wt.%Pt/SAPO-11 was prepared locally and used in the present work. The hydroconversion performed in a continuous fixed-bed laboratory reaction unit. Experiments of n-decane isomerization were performed in a temperature range of 200 to 275°C,LHSV range of 0.5-2 h-1, and hydrogen to decane mole ratio of 2.1-8.2. The results show that the n-decane conversion increases with increasing temperature and decreasing LHSV , the maximum conversion 56.77 % was achieved at temperature 275°C and LHSV of 0.5 h-1. The kinetic of n-decane isomerization was also studied and the reaction was first order. The kinetic analysis also showed that the
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