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.
The fluctuation and expansion ratios have been studied for cylindrical gas-solid fluidized columns by using air as fluidizing medium and Paracetamol as the bed material. The variables were the column diameter (0.0762, 0.15, and 0.18 m), static bed height (0.05, 0.07, and 0.09 m), and air velocity to several times of minimum fluidization velocity. The results showed that both the fluctuation and expansion ratios had a direct relation with air velocity and an inverse one with column diameter and static bed height. A good agreement was between the experimental results and the calculated values by using the correlation equations from the literature.
Cerium oxide (CeO2), or ceria, has gained increasing interest owing to its excellent catalytic applications. Under the framework of density functional theory (DFT), this contribution demonstrates the eect that introducing the element nickel (Ni) into the ceria lattice has on its electronic, structural, and optical characteristics. Electronic density of states (DOSs) analysis shows that Ni integration leads to a shrinkage of Ce 4f states and improvement of Ni 3d states in the bottom of the conduction band. Furthermore, the calculated optical absorption spectra of an Ni-doped CeO2 system shifts towards longer visible light and infrared regions. Results indicate that Ni-doping a CeO2 system would result in a decrease of the band gap. Finally,
... Show MoreThe present work focuses on the experimental implementation of one of the fiber optical sensors, the optical glass fiber built on surface Plasmon resonance. A type of optical glass fiber was used in this work, single-mode no-core fiber with pre-tapering diameter: (125.1 μm) and (125.3 μm), respectively. The taper method can be tested by measuring the output power of the optical fiber before and after chemical etching to show the difference in cladding diameter due to the effect of hydrofluoric acid with increasing time for the taper process. The optical glass fiber sensor can be fabricated using the taper method to reduce the cladding diameter of the fibers to (83.12 µm, 64.37 µm, and 52.45 µm) for single-mode fibers using Hydrofluoric
... Show MorePower switches require snubbing networks for driving single – phase industrial heaters. Designing these networks, for controlling the maximum allowable rate of rise of anode current (di/dt) and excessive anode – cathode voltage rise (dv/dt) of power switching devices as thyristors and Triacs, is usually achieved using conventional methods like Time Constant Method (TCM), resonance Method (RM), and Runge-Kutta Method (RKM). In this paper an alternative design methodology using Fuzzy Logic Method (FLM) is proposed for designing the snubber network to control the voltage and current changes. Results of FLM, with fewer rules requirements, show the close similarity with those of conventional design methods in such a network of a Triac drivin
... Show MoreThe characters of facades' form of the Iraqi building after 2003 have been changed, it has been described by many names. The problem of the research is that what are the features of the characters of the form in the façades of the buildings in Baghdad city after 2003? Are the façade of the individual houses or the commercial buildings is the heaviest in the visual weight? The research aims to answer those questions by choosing the vernacular architecture as a measurement tool. It is the informal image of the architecture, which is built by people informally and spontaneously, without official control and legislation to be organized. This is smellier to what has happened in Baghdad, after 2003 according to previous stud
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study is to examine the effect of human resource diversity management practices on achieving entrepreneurship in Jordanian public universities. To achieve the aims of the study, a well-designed questionnaire was used for collecting data. The population of the study was (7433) faculty members (including different ranks such as professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers) in Jordanian public universities. The study sample was selected through the use of a random sample, the questionnaire is distributed to a sample (of 400 with the percentage of 5%) selected by using a random sampling (350) copies of the questionnaire were collected, reaching about (87.5%) out of the sum total of the dist
... Show MoreThis research concerns the fact of the school garden and how can we tackle this issue. The research starts with a question forwarded to those who are interested in the ministry of education matters; the question is that how is the extent of interest in the school garden project? And how it is activated in the Iraqi Educational Institution program? In addition, the analysis reveals the importance of the school garden since we, as teachers and students, suffer from seeing the view of the trashes, the wastes of school furniture, the stinking water and the weeds and how it is accumulated in the back yard of the school. To add fuel to the fire, the increase in number of the students; year after year. This increase leads to adding more classes
... Show MoreObjective: The descriptive study was used to evaluate nursing staff performance in cardiac care units at teaching
and non teaching hospitals in kirkuk city: A comparative study.
Methodology: A descriptive study was used to evaluate nursing staff performance in cardiac care units. The study
was conducted from December 29th
, 2013 up to the 27th of Apr. 2014. A non-probability (purposive) sample of
(44) nurses who work in cardiac care unit at Azady teaching Hospital and Kirkuk general Hospital was evaluated by
a questionnaire which consisted of two parts; the first part is concerned with the demographic characteristics of
the nurses and the second part concerned Observation check list for evaluation nursing staff Perfo