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.
Alloys of Bi2[Te1-x Sex]3 were prepared by melting technique with different values of Se percentage (x=0,0.1,0.3,0.5,0.7,0.9 and 1). Thin films of these alloys were prepared by using thermal evaporation technique under vacuum of 10-5 Torr on glass substrates, deposited at room temperature with a deposition rate (12nm/min) and a constant thickness (450±30 nm). The concentrations of the initial elements Bi, Te and Se in the Bi2 [Te1-x Sex]3 alloys with different values of Se percentage (x), were determined by XRF,The morphological and structural properties were determined by AFM and XRD techniques. AFM images of Bi2[Te1-x Sex]3 thin films show that the average diameter and the average surface roughness inc
... Show MoreA field experiment was conducted in Yusufiya sub-district - Mahmudiya township/Baghdad governorate in silty loam texture soil during the spring season of 2020. The experiment included three treatments with three replicates, as the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used according to the arrangement of the split design block. The treatments are in the irrigation system, which included surface drip irrigation (T1) and sprinkler irrigation (T2). Secondly, the Irrigation levels including the irrigation using 0.70 Pan Evaporation Fraction PEF (I1), irrigation using 1.00 PEF (I2), and irrigation using 1.30 PEF (I3). Coupled with, Pota
... Show MoreMultiple Sclerosis (MS), is a common autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. Currently, there is no cure for MS, and most treatments involve the use of immunosuppressive drugs that can have adverse effects or increased toxicity. Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, is a product of the Cannabis sativa, and for several centuries has been used as an alternative medicine in many cultures. Cannabis sativa produces over 421 chemical compounds, including about 80 terpenophenols named phytocannabinoids, and include both psychotropic THC and non-psychoactive CBD. In the currently study, we show that a combination therapy using THC and CBD results in amelioration of EAE, a
Background: As photochemical reaction that can stiffen the cornea, CXL is the only promising method of preventing progression of keratectasia such as KC and secondary ectasia following refractive surgery. The aim of CXL is to stabilize the underlying condition with a small chance of visual improvement. Objective: To show the sequences of changes in visual acuity and topographic outcomes during 1 year post CXL for patients with progressive Keratoconus.Type of the study: Cross sectional studyMethods: CXL procedure was done for 45 eyes with progressive KC. The following parameters had been monitored pre operatively, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively: K apex, K2, corneal thickness at thinnest location, anterior and posterior elevation po
... Show MoreBeyond the immediate content of speech, the voice can provide rich information about a speaker's demographics, including age and gender. Estimating a speaker's age and gender offers a wide range of applications, spanning from voice forensic analysis to personalized advertising, healthcare monitoring, and human-computer interaction. However, pinpointing precise age remains intricate due to age ambiguity. Specifically, utterances from individuals at adjacent ages are frequently indistinguishable. Addressing this, we propose a novel, end-to-end approach that deploys Mozilla's Common Voice dataset to transform raw audio into high-quality feature representations using Wav2Vec2.0 embeddings. These are then channeled into our self-attentio
... Show MoreThe present work presents design and implementation of an automated two-axis solar tracking system using local materials with minimum cost, light weight and reliable structure. The tracking system consists of two parts, mechanical units (fixed and moving parts) and control units (four LDR sensors and Arduino UNO microcontroller to control two DC servomotors). The tracking system was fitted and assembled together with a parabolic trough solar concentrator (PTSC) system to move it according to information come from the sensors so as to keep the PTSC always perpendicular to sun rays. The experimental tests have been done on the PTSC system to investigate its thermal performance in two cases, with tracking system (case 1) and without trackin
... Show MoreThe actual position and velocity of the sun and the moon were calculate through one year , and the satellite position and velocity components (x,y,z, vx, vy, vz) were calculate as well as the momentum component at inclination (116.5?) , argument of perigee (30?), longitude node angle (40?), eccentricity (0.01), for deferent perigee height (200,300,..,1000 km). The acceleration of perturbations which were calculated in this work are the sun and the moon attraction on the satellite, the solar radiation pressure, the atmospheric drag as well as the earth oblatness. The result show that the perturbation forces of atmospheric drag acceleration is effect by altitude and the sun, moon attractio
... Show MoreSpecialized banks provide their banking activities to their customers at interest rates that are determined according to the approved bank policy, which is almost similar to most or most banks. To satisfy the financial desires of customers and at the same time it is a source of the bank's profits, However, these banks have been introduced to new services that they provide with the funds of the Central Bank initiative launched at the beginning of (2016) to address the economic stagnation that befell the country due to the (financial security) crisis that the country faced in 2014. To put forward initiatives amounting to nearly (15) trillion dinars, which were put forward through private commercial and Islamic banks and specialized
... Show MoreThe present study aimed to investigate the effects of alcohol and hot aqueous extracts for leaves of Adhatoda vasica on, first larval instars Musca domestica. They were exposed to the suggested concentrations of alcoholic extract which were (500, 1000, 1500, 2000) PPM while the suggested concentrations of the hot aqueous extracts (500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500)PPM. The alcoholic (Methanol) extract of leaves was much effective on to killing the first larval instars of the M. domestica than hot aqueous extract.
Cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocrystalline thin films have been prepared by chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique on commercial glass substrates at 70ºC temperature. Cadmium chloride (CdCl2) as a source of cadmium (Cd), thiourea (CS(NH2)2) as a source of sulfur and ammonia solution (NH4OH) were added to maintain the pH value of the solution at 10. The characterization of thin films was carried out through the structural and optical properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-VIS spectroscopy. A UV-VIS optical spectroscopy study was carried out to determine the band gap of the nanocrystalline CdS thin film and it showed a blue shift with respect to the bulk value (from 3.9 - 2.4eV). In present w
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