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.
Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common oral mucosal disorders with a prevalence of 50-66%. The prevalence of hematinic deficiencies including ferritin and vitamin B12 deficiencies and their role in the prophylaxis and development of RAS is not well known. Many studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of hematinic deficiencies in patients with RAS. This study aimed to compare the serum level of ferritin and vitamin B12 in patients with recurrent aphthous ulcers and healthy controls. Subjects, Materials and Methods: The data were collected from patients who needed blood analysis to exclude anemia from November 2020 to May 2021. The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. After recordi
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It was aimed to understand the interleukin-4 (IL-4) role in etio-pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two approaches were adopted. In the first one, a quantitative expression of IL4 gene was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and such findings were correlated with some demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters, which included gender, duration of disease, disease activity score (DAS-28), rheumatoid factors (RFs), C-reactive protein (CRP) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) antibodies. In the second approach, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of IL4 gene (rs2243250) was inspected by DNA sequencing using specific primers. Fifty-one Iraqi RA patients (22 males and 29 fem
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Nowadays, cloud computing has attracted the attention of large companies due to its high potential, flexibility, and profitability in providing multi-sources of hardware and software to serve the connected users. Given the scale of modern data centers and the dynamic nature of their resource provisioning, we need effective scheduling techniques to manage these resources while satisfying both the cloud providers and cloud users goals. Task scheduling in cloud computing is considered as NP-hard problem which cannot be easily solved by classical optimization methods. Thus, both heuristic and meta-heuristic techniques have been utilized to provide optimal or near-optimal solutions within an acceptable time frame for such problems. In th
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Densely deployment of sensors is generally employed in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to ensure energy-efficient covering of a target area. Many sensors scheduling techniques have been recently proposed for designing such energy-efficient WSNs. Sensors scheduling has been modeled, in the literature, as a generalization of minimum set covering problem (MSCP) problem. MSCP is a well-known NP-hard optimization problem used to model a large range of problems arising from scheduling, manufacturing, service planning, information retrieval, etc. In this paper, the MSCP is modeled to design an energy-efficient wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that can reliably cover a target area. Unlike other attempts in the literature, which consider only a si
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the impact of Human Resources Accounting (HRA) on employee’s performance. The research’s problem was embodied in the lack of interest in HRA, which was reflected on the performance of employees in the Ministry of Education; the research adopted the descriptive-analytical approach, and the research community included the directors of departments and people at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education. The sample size was (224) individuals from the total community of 533. The questionnaire was adopted as the main tool for collecting data and information, as well as the interviews that were conducted by the researcher. In order to analyze t
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The purpose of this work is to determine the points and planes of 3-dimensional projective space PG(3,2) over Galois field GF(q), q=2,3 and 5 by designing a computer program.
Applying a well-performing heat exchanger is an efficient way to fortify the relatively low thermal response of phase-change materials (PCMs), which have broad application prospects in the fields of thermal management and energy storage. In this study, an improved PCM melting and solidification in corrugated (zigzag) plate heat exchanger are numerically examined compared with smooth (flat) plate heat exchanger in both horizontal and vertical positions. The effects of the channel width (0.5 W, W, and 2 W) and the airflow temperature (318 K, 323 K, and 328 K) are exclusively studied and reported. The results reveal the much better performance of the horizontal corrugated configuration compared with the smooth channel during both melti
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Colorectal cancer (CRC), the second most fatal cancer and the 3rd most common cancer is expected to cause 0.9 million deaths globally in 2025. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is currently used in the follow-up of patients with colorectal cancer, and in this study, we are trying to find a better marker than CEA in following up on patients' health and knowing the effectiveness of the treatment used and as a diagnostic marker for colorectal cancer. To determine the significance of Cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) as a prognosis predictor in patients with colorectal cancer, compare its prognostic validity to the CEA biomarker. this case-control study includes (150) participants, 100 patients (59 males and 41 females), and 50 healthy controls
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In the age of information and communication revolution, education as one of life aspects has influenced with that revolution by integrating technology in education, which have become as an important learning tools of the whole educational process . Technology, when used appropriately, can help make science classroom a site of active learning and critical thinking, furthering student inquiry and connections with different materials. It is necessary to develop human rights education programs and materials for discretionary and extracurricular activities as it provide them with the skills and tools so that they are empowered to take action to realize their rights. Human rights education is a critical means of instilling the knowledge، skil
... Show MorePurpose: The research aims to determine the relationship between E-Learning and Total Quality Management (TQM) in Educational institutions in Nineveh Governorates.
Methodology / Design: The researchers distributed (30) questionnaires to employees (teachers and administrators) of Nineveh Governorate education who represent the community of the research sample, as they were analyzed using the SPSS V.20
The importance of research: The importance of the research in the fact that it focuses on one of the educational methods represented in integrating the traditional method and relying on modern technologies using computers and the Internet in the field of education to improve the reali
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