Background: Opportunistic viral infections make an important threat to renal transplantation recipients (RTRs), and with the use of more intense newly-developed immunosuppressive drugs; the risk of renal allograft loss due to reactivation of these viruses has increased considerably. At the top priority of these viruses lie BK polyomavirus (BKV) and human cytomegalovirus (CMV). Reactivation of these viruses in these chronically immunosuppressed RTRs can lead to renal impairment and subsequently allograft loss, unless early detected and properly treated. Objectives: The study aimed to detect and quantify plasma viral load of BKV and CMV in RTRs using quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR), in order to study the prevalence of these two viruses in the sole renal transplantation center in Baghdad, and correlate viral load with the diseases severity. Furthermore, the prevalence of BKV-CMV coexistence in RTRs, to find out whether infection by one of them is a risk factor for infection by the other was investigated. Patients and Methods:A total of 99 RTR were enrolled in the study, and 15 non-transplanted patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD) together with 15 health living donors (LD) were taken as controls. Plasma samples were taken from all participants. From which viral DNA was extracted, and then real time PCR technique was used to measure the viral load. Results:Out of 99, 12 (12.12%) of RTR patients were positive for BK viremia with a viral load (VL) ranging from (1x102 to 1x109 copies/ml), while none of the control groups was BK positive, and 5 patients out of these 12 had BKV nephropathy. For CMV, 13.13% of RTR patients had positive CMV viremia with a VL ranging from (1.25x102 to 7.94x107 copies/ml), and only one of the CKD controls was CMV positive. Only 3 patients had BK-CMV coexistence, which was statistically not a significant risk factor for one another. Conclusion: Our study suggests that both BK polyomavirus and CMV should be considered important causes for nephropathy and allograft loss in RTRs in Iraq.
AbstractOBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long-term remission efficacy and safety of isotretinoin in the treatment of Behcet's disease (BD). PATIENTS and METHODS: This single-blind, controlled therapeutic study was conducted in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology at Baghdad Teaching Hospital from February 2011 to January 2012. Thirty patients with BD were included in this work. Each patient received isotretinoin 20 mg orally once daily for 3 months. They were assessed at week 2 and then monthly depending on the Clinical Manifestation Index (CMI) and to record any side effects. At week 12, isotretinoin was stopped and patients were given placebo therapy in a form of glucose capsules for another 3 months. RESULTS: Thirty patients were tre
... Show MoreThe present work reports the performance of three types of polyethersulfone (PES) membrane in the removal of highly polluting and toxic lead Pb2+ and cadmium Cd2+ ions from a single salt. This study investigated the effect of operating variables, including pH, types of PES membrane, and feed concentration, on the separation process. The transport parameters and mass transfer coefficient (k) of the membranes were estimated using the combined film theory-solution-diffusion (CFSD), combined film theory-Spiegler-Kedem (CFSK), and combined film theory-finely-porous (CFFP) membrane transport models. Various parameters were used to estimate the enrichment factors, concentration polarization modulus, and Péclet number. The pH values signif
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Background : The kidneys may be injured in abdominal trauma, both blunt & penetrating. Renal trauma may manifest in a dramatic fashion for both the patient and the clinician. Objectives: To evaluate the incidence, management, morbidity &mortality of renal injury in blunt & penetrating abdominal trauma.
Results:The majority o f patients were males (35= 77.8%), the rest were females (10= 22.2%). The average age was 37 years (range= 18-56 years). The most common grades were grade1, grade2 and grade3 (40=88.9%), while 5 patients (11.1%) were grades 4 and 5.The most common associated injuries were liver, spleen, small & large bowels and diaphragm. The mortality was 20% (9 patients). The most common cause of death was multip
Evaluating the part of historical center in Baghdad City
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The traffic congestion caused by the increase in the number of vehicles in the cities as a result of the increase in the population and the density of construction requires the provision of appropriate infrastructure and the provision of transport systems and logistics services that meet the needs of the population to meet the many challenges now and in the future by introducing various modes of transport , In accordance with integrated plans such as the use of (pedestrian friendly environments, bicycles and their own paths, light rail, metro, express bus, as well as public transport buses and others), through the development of Projects High-level roads, such as the annual and major roads, etc., and integrated with the urban planning of
... Show MoreThere is a great risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and vascular thrombosis in patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). These patients exhibit numerous abnormalities in coagulation, fibrinolytic, inhibitory protein abnormalities in multiple levels. The study aimed to assess hypercoagulable changes by measuring the levels of antithrombin, plasma fibrinogen and FXII activity in patients with ESRD, and to find their correlation with Hemoglobin (Hb) level, WBC count, reticulocyte percentage and platelet count. This study was conducted at Al-Hayat center, Al Karama Teaching Hospital on 50 ESRD patients aged < 60 years of both genders. In addition, 20 apparently healthy individuals were included as a control group. The mean Hb level, total
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Zernike Moments has been popularly used in many shape-based image retrieval studies due to its powerful shape representation. However its strength and weaknesses have not been clearly highlighted in the previous studies. Thus, its powerful shape representation could not be fully utilized. In this paper, a method to fully capture the shape representation properties of Zernike Moments is implemented and tested on a single object for binary and grey level images. The proposed method works by determining the boundary of the shape object and then resizing the object shape to the boundary of the image. Three case studies were made. Case 1 is the Zernike Moments implementation on the original shape object image. In Case 2, the centroid of the s
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