A total of 60 cotton swabs are collected from patients suffering from burn wound and surgical site infections admitted to Baghdad Teaching Hospital and Burn Specialist Hospital in Baghdad city during 9/2013 to 11/2013. All cotton swabs are cultured initially on blood agar and MacConkey agar and subjected for standard bacteriological procedures for bacteriological diagnosis. Twenty samples out of sixty are identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa by conventional methods. The results of antibiotic susceptibility test illustrate that the antibiotics resistance rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates is as follows:100% (2020) for ceftriaxone, cefepime and carbencillin, 70% (14/20) for amikacin, 65%(13/20) for tobramycin, ceftazidim and gentamycin, 55% (11/20) for ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin, 50% (10/20) for piperacillin and impeneme, 30% (6/20) for aztreonam. All Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates are investigated for detection of some virulence factors (haemolysin, protease, lipase enzymes, and extracellular pigments) and biofilm formation. The results of virulence factors reveal that all the isolates are haemolysin, protease, lipase enzymes and extracellular pigments producer, while 95% of the isolates are biofilm producer. Six isolates are selected to irradiation by using CO2 laser according to the results of antibiotic susceptibility and virulence factors at power densities (2000, 2500, and 3000) W/cm2 with exposure time (60 and 90) second. The results of CO2 laser irradiation illustrate that CO2 laser irradiation lead to a reduction in the mean value of the viable number CFU/ml of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates with the increase of the power density and exposure time. The results of the statistical analysis by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) one way and least significant differences-LSD show that there are statistical significant differences in the mean of the viable number CFU/ml between different power densities and different exposure times. After irradiation, antibiotic susceptibility and virulence factors tests of the irradiated strains are performed. The current study concludes that CO2 laser has bactericidal effect on P. aeruginosa isolates without any effect on its antibiotics susceptibility and virulence factors.
Double-layer micro-perforated panels (MPPs) have been studied extensively as sound absorption systems to increase the absorption performance of single-layer MPPs. However, existing proposed models indicate that there is still room for improvement regarding the frequency bands of absorption for the double-layer MPP. This study presents a double-layer MPP formed with two single MPPs with inhomogeneous perforation backed by multiple cavities of varying depths. The theoretical formulation is developed using the electrical equivalent circuit method to calculate the absorption coefficient under a normal incident sound. The simulation results show that the proposed model can produce absorption coefficient with wider absorption bandwidth compared w
... Show MoreThe CuInSe2 (CIS) nanocrystals are synthesized by arrested precipitation from molecular precursors are added to a hot solvent with organic cap- ping ligands to control nanocrystal formation and growth. CIS thin films deposited onto glass substrate by spray - coating, then selenized in Ar- atmosphere to form CIS thin films. PVs were made with power conversion efficiencies of 0.631% as -deposited and 0.846% after selenization, for Mo coated, under AM 1.5 illumination. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis it is evident that CIS have the chalcopyrite structure as the major phase with a preferred orientation along (112) direction and the atomic ratio of Cu : In : Se in the nanocrystals is nearly 1 : 1 : 2
In this study, the effect of fire flame on the punching shear strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete flat plates was experimentally investigated using nine half-scale specimens with dimensions of 1500×1500 mm and a total thickness of 100 mm. The main investigated variables comprised the steel fiber volume fraction 0, 1, and 1.5% and the burning steady state temperature 500 and 600 °C. The specimens were divided into three groups, each group consists of three specimens. The specimens in the first group were tested with no fire effect to be the reference specimens, while the others of the second and third groups were tested after being exposed to fire-flame effect. The adopted characteristics of the fire test were; (one hour) b
... Show MoreArtificial lift techniques are a highly effective solution to aid the deterioration of the production especially for mature oil fields, gas lift is one of the oldest and most applied artificial lift methods especially for large oil fields, the gas that is required for injection is quite scarce and expensive resource, optimally allocating the injection rate in each well is a high importance task and not easily applicable. Conventional methods faced some major problems in solving this problem in a network with large number of wells, multi-constrains, multi-objectives, and limited amount of gas. This paper focuses on utilizing the Genetic Algorithm (GA) as a gas lift optimization algorit
In every country in the world, there are a number of amputees who have been exposed to some accidents that led to the loss of their upper limbs. The aim of this study is to suggest a system for real-time classification of five classes of shoulder girdle motions for high-level upper limb amputees using a pattern recognition system. In the suggested system, the wavelet transform was utilized for feature extraction, and the extreme learning machine was used as a classifier. The system was tested on four intact-limbed subjects and one amputee, with eight channels involving five electromyography channels and three-axis accelerometer sensor. The study shows that the suggested pattern recognition system has the ability to classify the sho
... Show MoreBackground: Lateral sinus augmentation and simultaneous insertion of dental implants is a highlypredictable procedure and associated with high rate of implants success.Aims: To evaluate implant stability changes following maxillary sinus augmentation utilizing deproteinizedbovine bone alone or mixed with platelet-rich fibrin.Materials and Methods: A total of 34 lateral sinus augmentation procedures were performed and 50 dentalimplants simultaneously installed. The lateral sinus augmentation cases were allocated randomly into 3groups: Group A comprised 13 procedures and 21 dental implants utilizing solely deproteinized bovine bone.Group B involved 10 cases and 16 dental implants using deproteinized bovine bone mixed with leukocyteand
... Show MoreThe present study focuses on synthesizing solar selective absorber thin films, combining nanostructured, binary transition metal spinel features and a composite oxide of Co and Ni. Single-layered designs of crystalline spinel-type oxides using a facile, easy and relatively cost-effective wet chemical spray pyrolysis method were prepared with a crystalline structure of MxCo3−xO4. The role of the annealing temperature on the solar selective performance of nickel-cobalt oxide thin films (∼725 ± 20 nm thick) was investigated. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of high crystalline quality thin films with a crystallite si
Background : Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy of upper extremities and Open carpal tunnel release is the most frequent surgical procedure and the gold standard for cases that do not respond to conservative treatment. Aims :This study is used to evaluate the functional outcome of limited palmar mini-incision of carpal tunnel release. This study aims to determine the safety and symptomatic and functional efficacy of median nerve decompression with limited incision in carpal tunnel syndrome surgery. Patients and methods:Carpal tunnel release with a 1.5-2 cm limited palmar incision was performed on 20 patients. Patients were evaluated initially at one month after treatment according to symptom severity
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