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
This study explores the challenges in Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in generating image captions, a task that requires effective integration of computer vision and natural language processing techniques. A comparative analysis between traditional approaches such as retrieval- based methods and linguistic templates) and modern approaches based on deep learning such as encoder-decoder models, attention mechanisms, and transformers). Theoretical results show that modern models perform better for the accuracy and the ability to generate more complex descriptions, while traditional methods outperform speed and simplicity. The paper proposes a hybrid framework that combines the advantages of both approaches, where conventional methods prod
... Show MoreGlobally, over forty million people are living with Human Immunodeficiency Viral (HIV) infections. Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) consists of two or three Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and has been used for more than a decade to prolong the life of AIDS-diagnosed patients. The persistent use of HAART is essential for effectively suppressing HIV replication. Frequent use of multiple medications at relatively high dosages is a major reason for patient noncompliance and an obstacle to achieving efficient pharmacological treatment. Despite strict compliance with the HAART regimen, the eradication of HIV from the host remains unattainable. Anatomical and Intracellular viral reservo
It is generally accepted that there are two spectrophotometric techniques for quantifying ceftazidime (CFT) in bulk medications and pharmaceutical formulations. The methods are described as simple, sensitive, selective, accurate and efficient techniques. The first method used an alkaline medium to convert ceftazidime to its diazonium salt, which is then combined with the 1-Naphthol (1-NPT) and 2-Naphthol (2-NPT) reagents. The azo dye that was produced brown and red in color with absorption intensities of ƛmax 585 and 545nm respectively. Beer's law was followed in terms of concentration ranging from (3-40) µg .ml-1 For (CFT-1-NPT) and (CFT-2-NPT), the detection limits were 1.0096 and 0.8017 µg.ml-1, respec
... Show MoreThis studies p- CuO / n - Si hete-rojunction was deposited by high vacuum thermal evaporation of Copper subjected to thermal oxidation at 300 oC on silicon. Surface morphology properties of The optical properties concerning the transmission spectra were studies for prepared thin films. this structure have been studied. XRD anaylsis discover that the peak at (𝟏𝟏𝟏-) and (111) plane are take over for the crystal quality of the CuO films. The band gap of CuO films is found to be 1.54 eV. The average grain size of is measured from AFM analysis is around 14.70 nm. The responsivity photodetector after deposited CuO appear increasing in response
Correlation equations for expressing the boiling temperature as direct function of liquid composition have been tested successfully and applied for predicting azeotropic behavior of multicomponent mixtures and the kind of azeotrope (minimum, maximum and saddle type) using modified correlation of Gibbs-Konovalov theorem. Also, the binary and ternary azeotropic point have been detected experimentally using graphical determination on the basis of experimental binary and ternary vapor-liquid equilibrium data.
In this study, isobaric vapor-liquid equilibrium for two ternary systems: “1-Propanol – Hexane – Benzene” and its binaries “1-Propanol –
... Show MoreNowadays, there is increased interest in the biosynthesis of microbial melanin related to their numerous biological functions and applications in many fields, especially in medical fields, including immune-modulating, antimicrobial antibiotic, antiviral antivenin, anticancer, antitumor activity, and anti-biofilm activity. Pyomelanin is a hydrophobic macromolecule that is typically dark brown or black in color, formed by the oxidative polymerization of phenolic or indolic compounds. Pyomelanin is reported to be safe for consumption, thus providing a crucial strategy for biocontrol of biofilm. Furthermore, natural pyomelanin is known as a potent antioxidant, photoprotective, and free radical scavenging. Objective: This study focuses on the
... Show MoreKeys to four genera and twelve species of the subfamily Phlaeothripinae (Phlaeothripidae) were constructed, these are: Haplothrips; Karnyothrips; Phlaeothrips; and Dolicholepta ,and the species are: Haplothrips cerealis Priesner; Haplothrips tritici kurdjumov, Haplothrips hukkineni Priesner; Haplothrips subtilissimus (Haliday) ؛ Haplothrips reuteri Karny; Haplothrips jasonis Priesner; Haplothrips sallloumensis Priesner ; Haplothrips pharao Priesner ; Phlaeothrips sycomri Priesner ; Karnyothrips flavipus (Jones); Karnyothrips melaleucus (Bagnall) ; Dolicholepta micrurus (Bagnall). These were collected from Baghdad
... Show MoreIn this work was prepared three different types of modified screen printed carbon electrode (SPCEs) with drops casted method, the used carbone nanomaterials were the MWCNT, functionalized –MWCNT (f-MWCNT) and After several experiments were made to find an appropriate ratio to make good GOT/f-MWCNT nanocomposite, and found the suspension mixture (1:1) from GOT/f-MWCNT (f-MWCNT-GOT). The electrical and physical properties were performed with cyclic voltammeter technique, and studied the maximum current response, the effective surface area, effect of the pH value and the determination of active surface area for MWCNT-SPCE , f-MWCNT-SPCE and f-MWCNT-GOT/SPCE as (0.04 cm2), (0.119 cm2) and (0.115 cm2) respectively, the surface coverage concent
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The administrations of Presidents Clinton and Bush Jr. have seen the emergence of neoconservatives. The neoconservative were the establishment of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) project in 1997 during the Clinton administration. The neoconservatives, through the New Century Project, were able to make important foreign policy decisions, notably the Iraq Liberation Law, which was passed by Congress on January 26, 1998 and signed by President Clinton and became a law legitimized. Clinton became authorized to take whatever measures he saw fit to contribute to regime change in Iraq. The Bush administration has also undergone major and significant shifts in US strategy on US foreign policy. During the Bush admin
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