Background: The occurrence of seizures in bacterial meningitis is important, as it has been reported to increase the risk of complications; however, its frequency and predictors are not well studied yet. Objective: To assess the frequency, clinical, and biochemical predictors of seizures in children with acute bacterial meningitis. Method: A cross-sectional study recruited confirmed acute bacterial meningitis cases based on positive CSF culture and sensitivity among children aged 2 months to 15 years admitted to the Central Child Teaching Hospital emergency department in Iraq. Patients were divided into two groups based on seizure at presentation time. Demographic characteristics [age, gender, residence, duration of fever and disease, presenting complaints and antibiotic intake]; hematological [WBC, neutrophils] Lymphocyte, N/L ratio, packed cell volume, platelets, blood sugar, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indices were compared between groups. Results: Seizures had a frequency of 18% among the 122 children and were significantly higher in younger cases with female predominance. By multivariate analysis and odds ratio (OR), predictors for seizure were as follows: CSF lymphocytes (OR=0.25, 95%CI=0.08–0.26), lethargy (OR=8.15, 95%CI=1.03-68.65), headache (OR=0.09, 95%CI=0.02-0.45), neck stiffness (OR=0.07, 95% CI=0.01-0.61) and poor feeding (OR=4.8, 95%CI=1.21–18.97). Conclusions: CSF lymphocytes reliably predicted seizure with good sensitivity and specificity of 75% and 73%. Lethargy and poor feeding had the highest odds as clinical predictors of seizures. Together, those results can help with risk stratification and allocate resources for high-risk cases to improve patient outcomes
Peroxidase is a class of oxidation-reduction reaction enzyme that is useful for accelerating many oxidative reactions that protect cells from the harmful effects of free radicals. Peroxidase is found in many common sources like plants, animals and microbes and have extensive uses in numerous industries such as industrial, medical and food processing. In this study, P. aeruginosa was harvested to utilize and study its peroxidases. P. aeruginosa was isolated from a burn patient, and the isolate was verified as P. aeruginosa using staining techniques, biochemical assay, morphological, and a sensitivity test. The gram stain and biochemical test result show rod pink gram-ne
... Show MoreThis paper presents a cognition path planning with control algorithm design for a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The aim of this work is to propose the circular roadmap (CRM) method to plan and generate optimal path with free navigation as well as to propose a nonlinear MIMO-PID-MENN controller in order to track the wheeled mobile robot on the reference path. The PSO is used to find an online tune the control parameters of the proposed controller to get the best torques actions for the wheeled mobile robot. The numerical simulation results based on the Matlab package show that the proposed structure has a precise and highly accurate distance of the generated refere
... Show MoreThe security of information represent the available protection of information and its component and guaranty the its safety and confidentiality. The absent or lack or stop of security of information and without maximum benefit may lead to lose confidence and make it burden on the company. So we must protect the company and information from the damages which may lead to the frailer of performance and loses of the company and its workers. So the security of information considered one of the potential and controlling basis to protect individuals and companies from the damages. To insure the security and confidentiality of information there are delicate, proper and trusted ways, like FIRE WALL, PASS WORD, SYPHAR
... Show MoreHemogloin (Hb) and serum ferritin levels are used to assess anemia in pregnancy. Some studies referred to the influence of maternal age, body mass index (BMI) and parity on Hb and serum ferritin levels. The study aimed to examine the possible association of maternal Hb and serum ferritin with maternal age, parity, and BMI in a sample of pregnant women in Baghdad.
Ninety healthy pregnant women, grouped in three equal groups according to the pregnancy trimester, and thirty apparently healthy non-pregnant women from Baghdad were enrolled in this observational study. Blood and serum samples were obtained for the estimation of Hb and serum ferritin levels.
The pooled data of participants showed a n
... Show MoreThe tunnel’s stability during construction is a very important matter. Some methods have been proposed for stability evaluation, but the hazard warning levels (HWLs) are more applicable among these methods. Despite monitoring and applying HWLs, several collapses in Shibli twin tunnels in Iran have cast doubts on the accuracy of this criterion in the presence of water. In this study, the critical strains under different water contents were measured through uniaxial compressive strength tests on 11 different shale and marl samples. A comparison of laboratory tests and numerical results shows that the influence of the moisture content on the critical strain is negligible. In addition, the results show that there is no dir
... Show MoreObjective: To study the effect of epidural spinal injection over one year in case of spinal stenosis. Methodology: This prospective study included 566 patients with spinal stenosis seen at Al-Kindy Teaching and Al-Sader, Hospitals who were treated by local epidural steroid injection. They were followed up for at least five subsequent visits after seven days, one month, three months, six months, and one year to assess efficacy. Result: Mean age of patients was 49.5 years, with a predominance of females (65%). L4/L5 was the most involved level in the spinal stenosis (70%). Grade II stenosis accounted for (45.4%) of cases. The pairwise comparison revealed that there was significant decrease in proportions of patients with pain in day
... Show MoreBackground: Irrigation has a central role in endodontic treatment. Several irrigating solutions have the antimicrobial activity and actively kill bacteria and yeasts when introduced in direct contact with the microorganisms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial effectiveness of Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) root and leaf extracts as possible irrigant solutions, used during endodontic treatments, and both were compared to Sodium hypochlorite, Propolis and Ethyl alcohol. Materials and Method: Forty seven human extracted single rooted teeth were selected. The teeth were decoronated using a diamond disk to have a length of 15 mm ±1 mm and they were instrumented using the hybrid technique. All roots were sterilized
... Show MoreCarbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage is a critical issue for mitigating climate change. Porous aromatic Schiff base complexes have emerged as a promising class of materials for CO2 capture due to their high surface area, porosity, and stability. In this study, we investigate the potential of Schiff base complexes as an effective media for CO2 storage. We review the synthesis and characterization of porous aromatic Schiff bases materials complexes and examine their CO2 sorption properties. We find that Schiff base complexes exhibit high CO2 adsorption capacity and selectivity, making them a promising candidate for use in carbon capture applications. Moreover, we investigate the effect of various parameters such as temperature, and pressu
... Show More