The emergence of staphylococci, either coagulase negative (CNS) or coagulase positive (CPS), as important human pathogens has implied that reliable methods for their identification are of large significance in understanding the diseases caused by them. The identification and characterization of staphylococci from biopsies taken from human breast tumors is reported here. Out of 32 tissue biopsies, a total of 12 suspected staphylococci grew on mannitol salt agar (MSA) medium, including 7 fermenters and 5 non-fermenter staphylococci based on traditional laboratory methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) successfully identified seven isolates at the genus level as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus spp. by targeting a common region of the mecA gene. Only two of the seven bacteria were S. aureus based on the three-specific primers designed to amplify the housekeeping gene recN, and two of the virulence genes icaD and pvl. Diagnosing the isolates using the Vitek system revealed different findings. Although 6 of 7 isolates belonged to the Staphylococcus genus, including: S. cohnii subsp. cohnii, 2 isolates; S. lentus, 2 isolates; and one isolate for each S. auricularis and S. xylosus, the last bacterium was completely different (Aerococcus viridans). Concerning the two bacteria characterised as S. aureus by PCR, they were identified as S. lentus by Vitek with comparatively low detection probabilities of 93% and 88%. The data of this study indicate that undoubtedly PCR is a reliable and accurate test for identification of mannitol fermenter and salt tolerant bacteria in comparison with other tests that depend mainly on biochemical characteristics.
Evaporation is one of the major components of the hydrological cycle in the nature, thus its accurate estimation is so important in the planning and management of the irrigation practices and to assess water availability and requirements. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of fuzzy inference system for estimating monthly pan evaporation form meteorological data. The study has been carried out depending on 261 monthly measurements of each of temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), and wind speed (W) which have been available in Emara meteorological station, southern Iraq. Three different fuzzy models comprising various combinations of monthly climatic variables (temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity) were developed
... Show MoreIn this study, the photodegradation of Congo red dye (CR) in aqueous solution was investigated using Au-Pd/TiO2 as photocatalyst. The concentration of dye, dosage of photocatalyst, amount of H2O2, pH of the medium and temperature were examined to find the optimum values of these parameters. It has been found that 28 ppm was the best dye concentration. The optimum amount of photocatalyst was 0.09 g/75 mL of dye solution when the degradation percent was ~ 96 % after irradiation time of 12 hours, while the best amount of hydrogen peroxide was 7μl/75 mL of dye solution at degradation percent ~97 % after irradiation time of 10 hours, whereas pH 5 was the best value to carry out the reaction at the highest degradation percent. In additio
... Show MoreA rapid and sensitive method for analysis of amino acid hydrolysates of nigella sativa L seed has been developed using O-phthaldialehyde(OPA ) as a pre-column derivatizing agent. OPA reagents in the presence of mercaptoethanol react rapidly with primary amino acids ( less than 60 sec.) to form isindole derivatives which easily separated with good selectivity on ODS column. Resolution of amino acid derivatives is carried out with a methanol gradient in 0.01 maqueous sodium acetate. pH 7.1 . The quantitation of amino acid derivatives is reproducible within an average relative deviation of + 1.4% the linearity for most amino acids were more than 0.9993 with detection limit of 0.2 ppm. 15 amino acid were detected in the analysis of
... Show MoreShear wave velocity is an important feature in the seismic exploration that could be utilized in reservoir development strategy and characterization. Its vital applications in petrophysics, seismic, and geomechanics to predict rock elastic and inelastic properties are essential elements of good stability and fracturing orientation, identification of matrix mineral and gas-bearing formations. However, the shear wave velocity that is usually obtained from core analysis which is an expensive and time-consuming process and dipole sonic imager tool is not commonly available in all wells. In this study, a statistical method is presented to predict shear wave velocity from wireline log data. The model concentrated to predict shear wave velocity fr
... Show MoreA statistical optical potential has been used to analyze and
evaluate the neutron interaction with heavy nuclei 197Au at the
neutron energy range (1-20 MeV). Empirical formulae of the optical
potentials parameters are predicted by using ABAREX Code with
minimize accuracy compared with experimental bench work data.
The total elastic, absorption, shape elastic and total compound crosssections are calculated for different target nuclei and different
incident neutron energies to predict the appropriate optical
parameters that suit the present interaction. Also the dispersion
relation linking between real and imaginary potential is analyzed
with more accuracy. The results indicate the behavior of the
dispersion c
In this study, iron oxide nanoparticles (α-Fe₂O₃ NPs) were prepared using a readily available chili pepper plant extract from local markets. This study aims to evaluate the magnetic properties of α-Fe₂O₃ prepared in green chemistry from Capsicum plant extract. After several simple preparatory steps, such as washing and cutting, they were treated with an inorganic complex (potassium hexacyanoferrate) (K3[Fe(CN)₆]). In the first analytical step, the in vitro detection of the plant extract solution after reaction with the potassium hexacyanoferrate (III) complex revealed characteristic adsorption bands of the cyanide group, which disappeared upon complexation. The iron oxide NPs were characterized using various methods, including X
... Show MoreThe research discussed the possibility of adsorption of Brilliant Blue Dye (BBD) from wastewater using 13X zeolite adsorbent, which is considered a byproduct of the production process of potassium carbonate from Iraqi potash raw materials. The 13X zeolite adsorbent was prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction that showed a clear match with the standard 13X zeolite. The crystallinity rate was 82.15% and the crystal zeolite size was 5.29 nm. The surface area and pore volume of the obtained 13X zeolite were estimated. The prepared 13X zeolite showed the ability to remove BBD contaminant from wastewater at concentrations 5 to 50 ppm and the removal reached 96.60% at the lower pollutant concentration. Adsorption measurements versus tim
... Show MoreThe foreguts of a total of 515 fish of Chondrostoma regium (Heckel, 1843) (locally: Bala’aot Malloky) were studied. These fish were collected from Tigris River at Salah Al-Deen Province (between Al-Hagag & Yathrib) for 20 months between March and October of the next year. Detritus, plant in origin materials (19.6%, 23.0% & 24.9%); green and blue green algae, mostly Cladophora, Cosmarium and Merismpedia sp. (17.1%, 12.9% & 12.2%) and diatoms, mostly Diatoma, Chanathes, Amphora and Cyulbella sp. (16.9%, 8.8% & 8.2%) were the main food categories taken by these fishes according to occurrence (O%), volumetric methods (V%) and ranking index (R%). Debris (not part of the diet) took 45.3% of the studied fish foreguts by volume. Detritus was also
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study to synthesize and characterize silver nanoparticles using phenolic compounds obtained from Camellia sinensis, to test the antibacterial properties of biosynthesized nanoparticles on the formation of biofilms in multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ten isolates of P. aeruginosa were obtained from the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Institute laboratories of the University of Baghdad. By using the VITEK-2 system and culturing the isolates on cetrimide agar, the diagnosis was confirmed. Camellia sinensis silver nanoparticles (CAgNPs) were created using an extract of the plant's aqueous and methanolic leaves. Based on the results of the nanoparticle synthesis, spherical nanoparticles that may be single or
... Show MoreDyes are extensively water-soluble and toxic chemicals. The disposing of wastewater rich with such chemicals has severely impacted surface water quality (rivers and lakes). In the current study, an anionic dye, methyl orange, were extracted from wastewater fluids using bulk liquid membranes supplemented with an anionic carrier (Aliquat 336 (QCI)). Parameters including solvent type (carbon tetrachloride and chloroform), membrane stirring speed (100-250 rpm), mixing speed of both phases (50-100 rpm), The feed pH (2-12) and implemented temperature (35-60 °C) were thoroughly analyzed to determine the effect of such variables on extraction effectiveness. Furthermore, the effect of methyl orange (10-50 ppm) in the feed stage and NaOH (0
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