Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is an important respiratory bacterial pathogen, especially among children. It causes acute upper and lower respiratory infections.Objective: This study was aimed to measure anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies among hospitalized children who were admitted to hospital diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infections.Method: Automated ELISA technique was performed to detect anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies (IgM and IgG antibodies) in serum from 108 children less than 5 years old. The children were admitted to the Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Suleimani city/Kurdistan Region/Iraq because of acute respiratory tract infections. A questionnaire was designed to collect demographic and clinical data from those children.Results: IgM anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies were positive in 15 (13.9%) out of 108 children. The highest seroprevalence was found in the age group 25-36 months while the lowest is in the age group 1-12 months. M. pneumoniae infections were more common among males than females though results were statistically not significant, and attendance of kindergarten or nursery, residency, history of chronic diseases, history of contact with similar conditions, and family history of chronic diseases, they were all statistically not significant. The IgMseropositive children were suffering from bronchitis, croup, pneumonia, or other respiratory infections, in frequencies of 7 (46.6%), 4 (26.7%), 3 (20%), and 1 (6.7%) respectively. Increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, diagnosis of croup, and diagnosis of bronchitis were more frequent in M. pneumoniae infected group and the results were statistically significant. The IgG anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies were positive in 31 (28.8%) out of the 108 children, and the greatest IgG seroprevalence was highest in age group 49-60 months.Conclusion: M. pneumoniae is an important respiratorypathogen among hospitalized children in Sulaimanigovernorate/Kurdistan/Iraq, and nearly one third of childrenhad experienced M. pneumoniae infection by the age of fiveyears
Most approaches to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria concentrate on discovering new antibiotics or modifying existing ones. However, one of the most promising alternatives is the use of bacteriophages. This study was focused on the isolation of bacteriophages that are specific to some of commonly human pathogens namely E. coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp. and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These bacteriophages were isolated from sewages that were collected from four different locations in Kirkuk City. Apart from S. pyogenes, bacteriophages specific to all tested bacteria were successfully isolated and tested for their effectiveness by spot test. The most effective
... Show MoreThe research aims to reveal the professional self and the school climate among the educational counselors. The research problem is crystallized in the following:
1-Identifying the professional level of the educational counselors.
2- Knowing the level of the school climate with the educational counselors.
3- Are there statistically significant differences in the professional self and the school climate between the educational counselors of different gender (male / female)?
4- Is there a relationship between the professional self and the school climate of the research sample?
To answer these questions, the research was conducted on educational counselors in secondary schools in the district of Falluj
... Show MoreBackground: A case-control study design revealeda relationship between the present of fluoride, and the reduction of dental caries and the increase prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis .The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries in relation to dental fluorosis among school children in Al-Muthana'a Governorate. Materials and methods: It was conducted among primary school students aged 12 years old, the age was taken according to the criteria of World Health Organization (1997) (1).The number of students was selected in each sector of control group according to number of schools in that sector .Sectors of control group which depend on water of river as source of drinking water. Case group which inc
... Show MoreThe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2) or 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is quickly spreading to the rest of the world, from its origin in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. And becoming a global pandemic that affects the world's most powerful countries. The goal of this review is to assist scientists, researchers, and others in responding to the current Coronavirus disease (covid-19) is a worldwide public health contingency state. This review discusses current evidence based on recently published studies which is related to the origin of the virus, epidemiology, transmission, diagnosis, treatment, and all studies in Iraq for the effect of covid-19 diseases, as well as provide a reference for future research
... Show MoreA total of 722 algal taxa are recorded in Diyala River by different authors. Most of the identification algae belong to three Divisions: Bacillariophyceae (367, 50.8%), Chlorophyceae (179, 24.8%), and Cyanophyceae (126, 17.5%).
Iraq has witnessed development in many fields and the electricity production sector is one of the most important of these fields. This is attributed to the State’s philosophy in supporting this sector through the development of economic development projects to serve and raise the level of the Iraqi individual. Electricity production in Iraq is affected by many variables such as load growth, economic and financial conditions, planning, etc. All these led to a disparity in the production of electric power to cover the demand for energy. The paper deals with the electricity generation sector overview in Iraq, Analysis of the effects of variables on the implementation of power generatio
Matching between wind site characteristics and wind turbine characteristics for three selected sites in Iraq was carried out. Site-turbine matching for potential wind power application in Iraq has not yet been well reported on. Thus, in this study, five years’ wind speed data for sites located in Baghdad (33.34N, 44.40E), Nasiriyah (31.05N, 46.25E), and Basrah (30.50N, 47.78E) were collected. A full wind energy analysis based on the measured data, Weibull distribution function, and wind turbine characteristics was made. A code developed using MATLAB software was used to analyse the wind energy and wind turbines models. The primary objective was to achieve a standard wind turbine-site matching based on the capacity factor. Another matching
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