This study aimed to get a better understanding of molecular epidemiology and genetic variation in the spike glycoprotein as a key viral component involved in viral entrance into host cells and as a potential vaccination target. Three Iraqi SARS-CoV-2 strains were investigated using whole-genome sequencing, with two of them clustering into the 20A (GH) clade, and the remaining strain is clustered in 20E (GV) clade, belonging to the B.1.36.1 and B.1.177.80 lineage, respectively. Whole-genome sequencing of the viral RNA samples revealed nine sporadic nonsynonymous uncommon mutations with frequency ranged from 0.00 to 0.19%. The ORF1ab, ORF1a, ORF3a, S, N, intergenic, ORF7 and ORF8 areas have seen the most changes. Furthermore, in all of our sequences, we discovered a D614G (aspartic acid to glycine) mutation in spike protein that co-occurred with an NSP12 P323L (viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) mutation. The findings point to several viral introductions in Iraq and provide new genetic information on SARS-CoV-2 at the worldwide level. Pathogenesis, diagnostics and vaccine development require information such as SNPs and mutations.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance to rifampicin is mainly mediated through mutations in the rpoB gene. The effects of rpoB mutations are relieved by secondary mutations in rpoA or rpoC genes. This study aims to identify mutations in rpoB, rpoA, and rpoC genes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates and clarify their contribution to rifampicin resistance. Seventy isolates were identified by acid-fast bacilli smear, Genexpert assay, and growth on Lowenstein Jensen medium. Drug susceptibility, testing was performed by the proportional method. DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing were accomplished for the entire rpoA, rpoB, and
... Show MoreBackground: The electrocardiographic QT interval has been extensively studied in diabetes mellitus. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the relationship between diabetes and QT abnormalities .The QT interval, which is easily obtained from a standard resting electrocardiogram( ECG), reflected the total duration of ventricular myocardial depolarization and repolarization. The heart rate corrected QT interval (QTc) by Bazett's formula on the electrocardiogram has been proposed as a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias in diabetes mellitus. Dispersion of QT(QTd) is defined as the difference between maximum and minimum QT interval QT interval on 12 lead ECG, which reflected spatial ventricular
... Show MoreThree types of medical commercial creams Silvazine, Cinolon Tar and Hydroquinon Domina were incorporated in this study. The medical creams were taken directly and placed uniformly on the glass slide. Each type of pharmaceutical was weighed at 1 mg and dispersed on an area of 1x1 cm. This process ensures same thickness for all samples. The creams were analyzed by using double-beam UV/visible spectrophotometer Metertech SP8001. The absorption spectrum for each of samples was measured against wavelength range of 300–700 nm.
The research aimed to study the vaccination efficiency against the emerging virus SARS-CoV-2, which includes Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines that are used exclusively in Iraq, by measuring the level of immune cells CD4+ as well as vitamin D3 using ELISA technology. Taking serums were taken from vaccinated individuals: 20 uninfected before individuals who got a vaccination and 20 people with prior infections who had the vaccine (for each type of the three vaccines). Samples were collected 21 days following the second dose as well as 3 to 6 months thereafter. The results showed that the most effective vaccine was AstraZeneca and the results of T-cells were the highest compared to Pfizer and Sinop
... Show MoreThe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The outbreak was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. In this study, a complete statistical analysis for SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in entire Iraq, as well as for each governorate separately, is performed for the first time. The study covers a period that starts from the beginning of the pandemic, in the 24th of February 2020, until the 16th of July 2020. It was clear that, although the average number of the reported infection cases was low during Feb
... Show MoreMultilocus haplotype analysis of candidate variants with genome wide association studies (GWAS) data may provide evidence of association with disease, even when the individual loci themselves do not. Unfortunately, when a large number of candidate variants are investigated, identifying risk haplotypes can be very difficult. To meet the challenge, a number of approaches have been put forward in recent years. However, most of them are not directly linked to the disease-penetrances of haplotypes and thus may not be efficient. To fill this gap, we propose a mixture model-based approach for detecting risk haplotypes. Under the mixture model, haplotypes are clustered directly according to their estimated d
The present study included a collecting of 165 specimens form different sources,
93 isolates were identified as Escherichia coli depending on morphological and
biochemical tests in addition to automated systems such as VITEK 2 and api 20E.
All isolates under study developed high resistance toward cefotaxime, ceftazidime,
ceftriaxone, and ciprofloxacin estimated by minimum inhibitory concentration. Stool
and wound specimens characterized by harbouring the highest resistant isolates in a
percentage reached 100% against antibiotics under study. Insignificant differences
were found between isolates collected from males and females. Upon using disk
displacement method to detect extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL),
This study was designed to determine the correlation between Y chromosome azoospermia factor (AZF) subregions microdeletions and oligozoospermia in infertile men. Subjects included 50 infertile men with oligozoospermia who had been referred to the Fertility Center and infertility treatment in Kamal Al-Samarrai Hospital\Baghdad health office-Iraq. DNA was extracted from blood samples. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 3 loci spanning the AZFa, AZFb and AZFc subregions of the Y chromosome using sY84, sY127 and sY254 and were performed. The frequency of deletions involving AZFa subregion of the Y-chromosome was found in twelve of the patients (24%) in oligozoospermic infertile Iraqi men. While the other subregion (AZFb and AZ
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to detect and identify genetic mutations in γ-aminobutyric acid receptor β3 subunit encoding gene (GABRB3) and its association with autism spectrum disorders. Forty autistic patients and 25 non-autistic as control group (5 unaffected sibling and 20 unrelated) with age range from 3 – 10 years were included in this study. Chromosomal DNA was extracted from blood samples followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of two targeted regions which include: (exon2-intron2-exon3) region and (exon 6) region of GABRB3 for subsequent DNA sequencing. Identical bands related to the targeted regions were present in all samples. A sample of PCR products of patients and controls were sequenced. Sequencing results re
... Show MoreStrengthening of composite beams is highly needed to upgrade the capacities of existing beams. The strengthening methods can be classified as active or passive techniques. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to provide detailed FE simulations for strengthened and unstrengthened steel–concrete composite beams at the sagging and hogging moment regions with and without profiled steel sheeting. The developed models were verified against experimental results from the literature. The verified models were used to present comparisons between the effect of using external post-tensioning and CFRP laminates as strengthening techniques. Applying external post-tensioning at the sagging moment regions is more effective because of the e
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