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
As a well-known oral and intravenous antifungal, voriconazole (VRN) has an extensive history of usage in the medical field. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have been produced to treat ocular fungal keratitis in the eye. A 32Box-behnken design was used to produce a variety of new formulas for hot-melt extrusion. The SLNs were evaluated by entrapment efficiency (EE percent), particle size (PS), polydispersity index (PDI), and zeta potential (ZP). A series of in-vitro and in-vivo studies were carried out on the new formula. The produced vesicles’ EE, PS, PDI, and ZP values were all good. SLNs eye drops were numerically adjusted to include carbopol, a stabilizer, lipids, and a surfactant, among other substances. ZP of -36.5 ± 0.20 m
... Show MoreThe preparation of the phenanthridine derivative compound was achieved by adopting an efficient one-pot synthetic approach. The condensation of an ethanolic mixture of benzaldehyde, cyclohexanone and ammonium acetate in a 2:1:1 mole ratio resulted in the formation of the title compound. Analytical and spectroscopic techniques were used to confirm the nature of the new compound. A mechanism for the formation of the phenanthridine moiety that is based on three steps has been suggested
PMMA (Poly methyl methacrylate) is considered one of the most commonly used materials in denture base fabrication due to its ideal properties. Although, a major problem with this resin is the frequent fractures due to heavy chewing forces which lead to early crack and fracture in clinical use. The addition of nanoparticles as filler performed in this study to enhance its selected mechanical properties. The Nano-additive effect investigated in normal circumstances and under a different temperature during water exposure. First, tests applied on the prepared samples at room temperature and then after exposure to water bath at (20, 40, 60) C° respectively. SEM, PSD, EDX were utilized for samples evaluation in this study. Flexural
... Show MoreWe propose two simple, rapid, and convenient spectrophotometric methods which are described for the determination of cephalexin in bulk and its pharmaceutical preparations. They are based on the measurement of the flame atomic emission of potassium ion (in the first method) and colorimetric determination of the green colored solution at 610 nm formed after the reaction of cephalexin with potassium permanganate as an oxidant agent (in the second method) in basic medium. The working conditions of the methods are investigated and optimized. Beer's law plot shows a good correlation in the concentration range of 5-40?g ml-1. The detection limits are 2.573,2.814 ?g ml-1 for the flame emission photometric method and 1.844,2.016 ?g ml-1 for colo
... Show MoreIn this work, composite materials were prepared by mixing different concentrations of ferrites with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer. Using the electrospinning technique, these composites were deposited on a p-type silicon wafer. The prepared samples demonstrated nanofibers in both pure PAN polymers and their composites with ferrite. Prior to examining the humidity sensing effectiveness with a percentage of relative humidity at a frequency of 10 kHz, based on ambient temperature and a relative humidity range of 50–100%, the composite nanofibers demonstrated stronger humidity sensing compared to the pure PAN nanofibers, which demonstrated a powerful resistance response. More precisely, the PAN@ferrite nanocomposite showed a broad adsorption
... Show MoreThe presented work shows a preliminary analytic method for estimation of load and pressure distributions on low speed wings with flow separation and wake rollup phenomena’s. A higher order vortex panel method is coupled with the numerical lifting line theory by means of iterative procedure including models of separation and wake rollup. The computer programs are written in FORTRAN which are stable and efficient.
The capability of the present method is investigated through a number of test cases with different types of wing sections (NACA 0012 and GA(W)-1) for different aspect ratios and angles of attack, the results include the lift and drag curves, lift and pressure distributions along the wing s
... Show MoreIntroduction: Carrier-based gutta-percha is an effective method of root canal obturation creating a 3-dimensional filling; however, retrieval of the plastic carrier is relatively difficult, particularly with smaller sizes. The purpose of this study was to develop composite carriers consisting of polyethylene (PE), hydroxyapatite (HA), and strontium oxide (SrO) for carrier-based root canal obturation. Methods: Composite fibers of HA, PE, and SrO were fabricated in the shape of a carrier for delivering gutta-percha (GP) using a melt-extrusion process. The fibers were characterized using infrared spectroscopy and the thermal properties determined using differential scanning calorimetry. The elastic modulus and tensile strength tests were dete
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