Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii ) is considered a critical healthcare problem for patients in intensive care units due to its high ability to be multidrug-resistant to most commercially available antibiotics. The aim of this study is to develop a colorimetric assay to quantitatively detect the target DNA of A. baumannii based on unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from different clinical samples (burns, surgical wounds, sputum, blood and urine). A total of thirty-six A. baumannii clinical isolates were collected from five Iraqi hospitals in Erbil and Mosul provinces within the period from September 2020 to January 2021. Bacterial isolation and biochemical identification of isolates were carried out followed by DNA extraction from 36 isolates and six negative ATCC strains (Salmonalle typhi, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aures) and only one positive control ATCC A. baumannii using Phenol/Chloroform method. AuNPs were synthesized using the citrate reduction method and examined by XDR, FTIR, UV-VIS, FE-SEM, and TEM. The optimized colorimetric assay was employed based on unmodified spherical AuNPs and PCR amplification of 16S rRNA intergenic spacer sequences (ITS) with species-specific DNA oligo-targeters. Detection and optimization of A. baumannii amplicons using unmodified AuNPs were performed based on species-specific DNA oligonucleotide. The AuNPs assay was able to colorimetrically detect and distinguish A. baumannii from other ATCC bacterial isolates. The turnaround time of this assay was about 3 hours, including sample preparation and amplification, to show (0.025-6 ngµl-1) as a detection limit of DNA concentration. The efficacy of colorimetric detection was proved to effectively diagnose A. baumannii isolates with high sensitivity, simplicity, and robustness to rapidly diagnose A. baumannii isolates from different clinical samples.
This study aimed to identify and describe one of the bacterial feeder nematode Acrobeloides varius Kim, Kim and Park, 2017 (Rhabditida, Cephalobidae), which was isolated from soil samples that were collected from Baghdad, central of Iraq, and was classified using both morphological and molecular criteria. All specimens of A. varius were cultured, identified and described using morphometric criteria. Selected specimens (Zah. IRQ3 OR994579.1 isolate) of this species were characterized by having the body length of the male ranging from (184.94 – 221.72 μm), the body length of the female ranging (507.38 – 521.92 μm) and the body length of the juvenile ranging from (355.53 – 490.35 μm). Selected specimens of this species were m
... Show MoreGenerally, radiologists analyse the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by visual inspection to detect and identify the presence of tumour or abnormal tissue in brain MR images. The huge number of such MR images makes this visual interpretation process, not only laborious and expensive but often erroneous. Furthermore, the human eye and brain sensitivity to elucidate such images gets reduced with the increase of number of cases, especially when only some slices contain information of the affected area. Therefore, an automated system for the analysis and classification of MR images is mandatory. In this paper, we propose a new method for abnormality detection from T1-Weighted MRI of human head scans using three planes, including axial plane, co
... Show MoreFeature selection (FS) constitutes a series of processes used to decide which relevant features/attributes to include and which irrelevant features to exclude for predictive modeling. It is a crucial task that aids machine learning classifiers in reducing error rates, computation time, overfitting, and improving classification accuracy. It has demonstrated its efficacy in myriads of domains, ranging from its use for text classification (TC), text mining, and image recognition. While there are many traditional FS methods, recent research efforts have been devoted to applying metaheuristic algorithms as FS techniques for the TC task. However, there are few literature reviews concerning TC. Therefore, a comprehensive overview was systematicall
... Show MoreIn this study, novel Schiff base complexes with Zn(II) and Co(II) ions were successfully synthesized. The malonic acid dihydrazide was converted into the Schiff base ligand by combining it with 1-hydroxy-2-naphthaldehyde, and the last step required reacting it with the appropriate metal(II) chloride to produce pure target complexes. The generated complexes were thoroughly characterized using FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, GC-mass, and UV-Vis spectroscopies. In order to photo-stabilize polystyrene (PS) and reduce the photodegradation of its polymeric chains, these chemicals have been used in this work. The efficiency of the generated complexes as photo-stabilizers was evaluated using a variety of techniques, including FTIR, weight loss, visc
... Show MoreAfter word war ll, the United States of America pursued a policy of containment aimed at preventing the Soviet Union from penetrating into the countries of the world, especially the regions of the Middle East, Therefore, it worked to emphasize the establishment of relations that include various political, economic and even cultural aspects, and focused its policy in his aspect on Turkey due to its geopolitical position. At a time when Turkey was undergoing developments at various levels and a change in govemment policy after the Demccratic Party came to power, which focused in its foreign policy on strengthening reltions with the West in general and the United States America in particular. The US government was the supporter of Democrat
... Show MoreThe research aimed at designing a rehabilitation program using electric stimulation for rehabilitating knee joint working muscles as a result of ACL tear using an apparatus developed by the researchers that stimulate the muscle vibration and work as well as the ability to rehabilitate the join in shorter periods. In addition to that, it aimed at identifying the effect of this program on rehabilitating the knee joint working muscles. The researchers used the experimental method on Baghdad clubs’ players who suffer from complete knee joint ACL tear aged (19 – 24) years old. The results showed that the training program developed the working muscles significantly achieving normal levels of activity.
The aim of the current research is to identify the level of organizational culture among the headmasters and teachers of intermediate and secondary schools in Arar city. It also aims to identify the effect of job variables, qualifications, educational stage, and years of experience on the level of organizational culture and its domains. The research sample consisted of 62 participants divided into 7 headmasters and 55 teachers. The researcher used the questionnaire of the organizational culture. The researcher used also statistical methods such as mean, standard deviation, t-test, and One way ANOVA. The results revealed that the level of organizational culture and its four domains were high, and there was no effect of the variables (teac
... Show MoreIn this paper, the species of the genus of Chlaenius Bonelli, 1810 (Coleoptera, Carabidae) were reviewed, and it was revealed that there are 21 confirmed species in Iraq; among them, the species of Chlaenius hamifer Chaudoir, 1856 was recorded for the first time in Iraq.
Diagnostic characters, a redescription of some of the morphological features, photographs and illustrations are provided for the new record species in this investigation.