Background: Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) is gram-negative bacterium, which causes Legionnaires’ disease as well as Pontiac fever. Objective: To determine the frequency of Legionella pneumophila in pneumonic patients, to determine the clinical utility of diagnosing Legionella pneumonia by urinary antigen testing (LPUAT) in terms of sensitivity and specificity, to compares the results obtained from patients by urinary antigen test with q Real Time PCR (RT PCR) using serum samples and to determine the frequency of serogroup 1 and other serogroups of L. pneumophila. Methods: A total of 100 pneumonic patients (community acquired pneumonia) were enrolled in this study during a period between October 2016 to April 2017; 92 samples were collected from patients attended and admitted to Al-Imamein Al-Kadhimein Medical City and 8 samples from those in the (Center of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation) in the Medical City of Baghdad. All patients were under therapy with antibiotics. Serum and urine specimens were obtained from all patients; urine samples were processed for urinary antigen test (rapid test). Serum samples were collected and submitted to DNA extraction for detection of L. pneumophila mip gene by q RT PCR assay. Results: The percentage of L. pneumophila in two hospitals in Bagdad was 30%. Of these 26% was serogroup 1 detected by urinary antigen testing (UAT). In the other hand, 23% of samples were positive by q RT PCR based mip gene, of these 19 % were serogroup 1 and 4% were another serogroup. The sensitivity of UAT is high (P value < 0.001), which means statistically highly significance than q RT PCR. Conclusion: LPUAT is a rapid tool for early diagnosis of Legionella infection, which highlights the need of using this test in hospitals and health institutions and there is a high prevalence of L. pneumophila in Iraq that refer to the necessity of considering this microorganism point of view in future studies for detection and treatment in pneumonic patients. Keywords: L. pneumophila, mip gene, quantitative real time PCR, urinary antigen. Citation: Gauad SA, Abdulrahman TR, Muhamad AK, Jawad AA, Hassan JS. Clinical utility of urinary antigen test and molecular method for detection of Legionella pneumophila. Iraqi JMS. 2018; 16(2): 207-215. doi: 10.22578/IJMS.16.2.13
A robust and sensitive analytical method is presented for the extraction and determination of six pharmaceuticals in freshwater sediments.
Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the color change ∆E of the dental enamel following treatment with 2 kinds of protector (icon infiltrant, clinpro varnish) before fixed orthodontic treatment to avoid the possible white spot lesions. Materials and Methods: Fifty four subjects treated with fixed appliances were divided into 3 groups: the 1st group was control, while the 2nd and 3rd groups were treated with icon infiltrant and clinpro varnish before bonding procedure, respectively. Color parameters (L,a,b) were recorded for the middle and gingival thirds before and after bonding procedure to get the ∆E of each group. Results: One-way ANOVA test showed a non-significant difference in ∆E between the 3 groups a
... Show MoreBackground: Fixed orthodontic appliances impede the maintenance of oral hygiene and result in plaque accumulation leads to enamel demineralization caused by acids produced by bacteria. Studies on plaque control strategies in orthodontic populations are limited. This might be caused by difficulties in the quantitative evaluation of dental plaque because the teeth have various levels of bracket coverage, and different tooth sizes and malocclusions, making the traditional categorical indices complex. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of different hygiene protocols on plaque quantity on bands with different attachments. Materials and method: Twenty patients had four bands within the orthodontic appliance. Then randomly divided into
... Show MoreRecently, Image enhancement techniques can be represented as one of the most significant topics in the field of digital image processing. The basic problem in the enhancement method is how to remove noise or improve digital image details. In the current research a method for digital image de-noising and its detail sharpening/highlighted was proposed. The proposed approach uses fuzzy logic technique to process each pixel inside entire image, and then take the decision if it is noisy or need more processing for highlighting. This issue is performed by examining the degree of association with neighboring elements based on fuzzy algorithm. The proposed de-noising approach was evaluated by some standard images after corrupting them with impulse
... Show MoreThere is no doubt that the project control function is very important for administration, so the project Management depends on to monitor and control the project. The project control integrated to the planning which is the base of the administration functions; planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. Without project control cannot be insure to fulfill the plan of the project by the budget and specified time. The project management apply many methods of control to achieve the goals of project which are cost, time, and required specifications. Earned Value Management one of control methods that used in the project by international companies.
Earned Value Method is used in the project o
... Show MoreThe Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) that loaded onboard the Landsat-7 satellite was launched on 15 April 1999. After 4 years, the image collected by this sensor was greatly impacted by the failure of the system’s Scan Line Corrector (SLC), a radiometry error.The median filter is one of the basic building blocks in many image processing situations. Digital images are often distorted by impulse noise due to errors generated by the noise sensor, errors that occur during the conversion of signals from analog-to-digital, as well as errors generated in communication channels. This error inevitably leads to a change in the intensity of some pixels, while some pixels remain unchanged. To remove impulse noise and improve the quality of the
... Show MoreIn this work, satellite images for Razaza Lake and the surrounding area
district in Karbala province are classified for years 1990,1999 and
2014 using two software programming (MATLAB 7.12 and ERDAS
imagine 2014). Proposed unsupervised and supervised method of
classification using MATLAB software have been used; these are
mean value and Singular Value Decomposition respectively. While
unsupervised (K-Means) and supervised (Maximum likelihood
Classifier) method are utilized using ERDAS imagine, in order to get
most accurate results and then compare these results of each method
and calculate the changes that taken place in years 1999 and 2014;
comparing with 1990. The results from classification indicated that