Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome called coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Due to its concerning rate of transmission and intensity, coronavirus was classified as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. With the continuous evolution of the viral genome and mutations that may alter infectivity, disease severity or interactions with host immunity, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved into many variants: Alpha (B.1.1.7 lineage), Delta (B.1.617.2 lineage), Delta plus (B.1.617.2.1), Omicron (B.1.1.529 lineage) and other variants. Thus, this study aimed to find and provide database for local clinical characteristics of different variants of SARS-COV-2 and severity of infection with viral load compared with the wild type. A total of 247 nasal swabs were collected from COVID-19 positive patients between March 2021 to March 2022. Specimens were tested by using real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction rRT-PCR assay to confirm the infection after RNA extraction by specialized kits. Results showed Alpha, Delta, Delta plus and Omicron variants presence in local population at the same time of their global spread at high rates with different cases of severity. The finding showed increase in severity with Alpha 79/87 (90%), wild type 26/32 (81%) (with 3 mortality cases), Delta/ Delta plus 68/84 (80%) and Kappa only one case. Also, Alpha along with the wild type was more associated to severe and critical cases, while mild to moderate group appeared with Omicron variant (32/43 (74%)). In addition, there was an increase in the severity among older patients (>40) and in men more than the women. Results indicate that although the wild type was no less dangerous or severe than Alpha or other variants, but with continuous appearence of new variants led to its reduced prevalence. In conclusion, findings demonstrated that most of the severe and critical cases had infection with Alpha, wild type than Delta or Delta plus variants. Whereas mild to moderate cases occurred in Omicron variants.
Well log rock physics and seismic facies analysis was carried out with a view to enhancing reservoir sand characterization of Mafe Field of Niger Delta. Lithofacies were identified using suites of well logs and correlated across the block. Rock properties were estimated from wireline logs using empirical methods. Vp-porosity crossplot was used to characterize the delineated sandstone reservoirs by comparing observed clusters and trends with various rock physics models. Seismic attribute analysis was employed to detect lateral changes in lithology across the field. Reservoir A is a relatively clean sand, with low average volume of shale of 0.4, average thickness of 55m, good average porosity of 0.
... Show MoreType 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is the furthermost common form of DM which is identified by hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and relative insulin deficiency. This study aims to detect the role of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in patients with T2DM compared with the healthy control and to investigate the relationship between IL-17 and insulin resistance. The study involved 50 Iraqi T2DM patients, randomly selected with an age range of 33-71 years .For the purpose of comparison, 30 Iraqi healthy persons with an age range of 33-71 years were also included. Patients and control groups were characterized in terms of gender, age, body mass index (BMI), homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance(HOMA-IR),fasting serum glucose (FSG) and lipid pr
... Show MoreThis study was carried out to estimate the effect of shaliness on water saturation from TN field of Niger Delta. The conventional Archie and the Shaly-sand water saturation models was used in the evaluation of wells. Two sand bodies (Sand 01 and 02) were mapped with thicknesses range from 76.8ft to 119.3ft across the three wells for Sand 01 and 187.5 to 339.9ft across wells TN_1 and TN_4 for Sand 02. The cross plot of the effective porosity (φe) versus volume of shale (Vsh) show a decrease in the effective porosity with an increase in shale volume. This reveals a laminated shale pattern across the reservoir sands. The estimations from the conventional method and the Shaly-sand models of Simandoux and Indonesia show a clear disparity due
... Show MoreInsulin-induced hyperglycemia is the hallmark of diabetes mellitus (DM), including various metabolic disorders. Diabetic people are more likely to develop dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM), the most common illness, is generally asymptomatic in its early stages and can go misdiagnosed for years. Diabetes screening may be beneficial in some cases since early identification and treatment can lessen the burden of diabetes and its consequences. This study aimed to find the relationship between Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and lipid profile components in T2DM patients. This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was performed on the control group and T2DM patients in Medical City in Baghdad be
... Show MoreInsulin-induced hyperglycemia is the hallmark of diabetes mellitus (DM), including various metabolic disorders. Diabetic people are more likely to develop dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM), the most common illness, is generally asymptomatic in its early stages and can go misdiagnosed for years. Diabetes screening may be beneficial in some cases since early identification and treatment can lessen the burden of diabetes and its consequences. This study aimed to find the relationship between Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and lipid profile components in T2DM patients. This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was performed on the control group and T2DM patients in Medical City in Ba
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetic patients have been reported to be more susceptible to gingivitis and periodontitis than healthy subjects. Many intracellular enzymes like (alkaline phosphatase- (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase- (AST) and alanine aminotransferase- (ALT) that are released outside cells into the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and saliva after destruction of periodontal tissue during periodontitis. This study was conducted to determine the periodontal health status and the levels of salivary enzymes (ALP, AST and ALT) of the study and control groups and to correlate the levels of these enzymes with clinical periodontal parameters in each study group. Subjects, Materials and Methods: One hundred subjects were enrolled in the study, with a
... Show MoreStoring, transferring, and processing high-dimensional electroencephalogram (EGG) signals is a critical challenge. The goal of EEG compression is to remove redundant data in EEG signals. Medical signals like EEG must be of high quality for medical diagnosis. This paper uses a compression system with near-zero Mean Squared Error (MSE) based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and double shift coding for fast and efficient EEG data compression. This paper investigates and compares the use or non-use of delta modulation, which is applied to the transformed and quantized input signal. Double shift coding is applied after mapping the output to positive as a final step. The system performance is tested using EEG data files from the C
... Show MoreThe paper aims at investigating the content of particles and minerals of soft clay soil in the Mekong Delta coastal provinces, southern Vietnam, as well as improving soil stability using inorganic adhesives, i.e.lime and cement-based stabilization. To study the composition of soft clay soil, a series of different laboratory methods were carried out and revealed various characteristics related to mineral composition, pH value, soluble salt content, and grain particle composition of soft clay soils. The results demonstrated five soil subtypes, namely high – saline soil (S2), low-saline soil (S1), acid sulfate soil (A), acid sulfate - saline soil (S-A), soil without salt and
acid sulfate content (S0- A0). The soft clay soil (C) in