Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is an important respiratory bacterial pathogen, especially among children. It causes acute upper and lower respiratory infections.Objective: This study was aimed to measure anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies among hospitalized children who were admitted to hospital diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infections.Method: Automated ELISA technique was performed to detect anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies (IgM and IgG antibodies) in serum from 108 children less than 5 years old. The children were admitted to the Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Suleimani city/Kurdistan Region/Iraq because of acute respiratory tract infections. A questionnaire was designed to collect demographic and clinical data from those children.Results: IgM anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies were positive in 15 (13.9%) out of 108 children. The highest seroprevalence was found in the age group 25-36 months while the lowest is in the age group 1-12 months. M. pneumoniae infections were more common among males than females though results were statistically not significant, and attendance of kindergarten or nursery, residency, history of chronic diseases, history of contact with similar conditions, and family history of chronic diseases, they were all statistically not significant. The IgMseropositive children were suffering from bronchitis, croup, pneumonia, or other respiratory infections, in frequencies of 7 (46.6%), 4 (26.7%), 3 (20%), and 1 (6.7%) respectively. Increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, diagnosis of croup, and diagnosis of bronchitis were more frequent in M. pneumoniae infected group and the results were statistically significant. The IgG anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies were positive in 31 (28.8%) out of the 108 children, and the greatest IgG seroprevalence was highest in age group 49-60 months.Conclusion: M. pneumoniae is an important respiratorypathogen among hospitalized children in Sulaimanigovernorate/Kurdistan/Iraq, and nearly one third of childrenhad experienced M. pneumoniae infection by the age of fiveyears
One of the most important features of American foreign activity during the second half of the 19th century was the encouragement of sending Protestant missionary missions to all countries around the world. The mission of these missions was facilitated by the weakened state of the Ottoman Empire, the increasing influence of European countries, and their interference in its internal affairs. Despite the Ottoman efforts to counter the activities of these missions, the American missionary missions adopted a well-planned strategy that suited the conditions of the region, aimed at achieving their goals through direct and indirect methods, including intervention in the field of education. These missions gave great importance to educational aspects
... Show MoreSome structures such as tall buildings, offshore platforms, and bridge bents are subjected to lateral loads of considerable magnitude due to wind and wave actions, ship impacts, or high-speed vehicles. Significant torsional forces can be transferred to the foundation piles by virtue of eccentric lateral loading. The testing program of this study includes one group consists of 3 piles, four percentages of allowable vertical load were used (0%, 25%, 50%, and 100%) with two L/D ratios 20 and 30, vertical allowable load 110 N for L/D = 20 and 156 N for L/D = 30. The results obtained indicate that the torsional capacity for pile group increases with increasing the percentage of allowable vertical load, when the percentage of allowable vertica
... Show MoreThis study aims at identifying the notion of Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) pertinent to the performance of three general hospitals constructed inside the Sulaimani City, tracing the relationship between the quality of the indoor environments and medical staff (doctors and nurses) satisfaction level. Using some indoor environment elements in the right way will positively influence the mood, stress level of the medical staff, and patient recovery as a result. The POE toolkits (AEDET and ASPECT) have been implemented on targeted wards at the selected hospitals. AEDET and ASPECT questionnaires were distributed among 152 medical staff to obtain their perspectives. In total, 112 valid questionnaires were received. The medica
... Show MoreThe mobile phone is widespread all over the world. This technology is one of the most widespread with more than five billion subscriptions making people describe this interaction system as Wireless Intelligence. Mobile phone networks become the focus of attention of researchers, organizations and governments due to its penetration in all life fields. Analyzing mobile phone traces allows describing human mobility with accuracy as never done before. The main objective in this contribution is to represent the people density in specific regions at specific duration of time according to raw data (mobile phone traces). This type of spatio-temporal data named CDR (Call Data Records), which have properties of the time and spatial indications for th
... Show MoreCorrosion inhibiting admixtures are unique among other methods to protect reinforced concrete from corrosion damage. In this study, the effect of furfural on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete mixes of 35 and 45 MPa compressive strengths as well as the corrosion inhibition of furfural was evaluated. Furfural was added at different dosages (1, 2 and 3% by weight of cement) with and without superplasticizer (HRWR). Different electrochemical measurements were performed (Half-cell potential, Tafel plot and linear polarization resistance). Electrochemical measurements confirmed that furfural dramatically reduces the rate of corrosion; the inhibition efficiencies were 62.7 and 63.8 % due to 3% furfural addition to 35 and 45MPa-concr
... Show MoreThe vortex rate sensor is a fluidic gyroscope with no moving parts and can be used in very difficult
conditions like radiation, high temperature and noise with minimum cost of manufacturing and
maintenance. A vortex rate sensor made of wood has been designed and manufactured to study
theoretically and experimentally its static performance .A rig has been built to carry out the study,
the test carried out with three different air flow rates (100, 150, and 200 l/min).The results show that
the relation between the differential pressure taken from the sensor pickoff points and the angular
velocity of the sensor was linear.The present work involved theoretical and experimental study of
vortex rate sensor static characteri
A progressive increase in the desire for environmentally friendly lubricants by users and strict government regulations for the use of these lubricants has provided an opportunity to use plant oils as biodegradable lubricants, therefore vegetable oils have been investigated to replace oil lubricants because of their maintaining the conditions of nature (environment) properties. In this paper, the influences of the blending ratio of mustard seeds oil with commercial mineral oil (SAE40) on the tribological characteristics were investigated and compared with mineral oil using the four-ball tribotester. Mustard seeds oil was blended with mineral oil at a volumetric ratio ranging from 22.5 to 90%. All experimental works were
... Show MoreThe vortex rate sensor is a fluidic gyroscope with no moving parts and can be used in very difficult conditions like radiation, high temperature and noise with minimum cost of manufacturing and maintenance. A vortex rate sensor made of wood has been designed and manufactured to study theoretically and experimentally its static performance .A rig has been built to carry out the study,
the test carried out with three different air flow rates (100, 150, and 200 l/min).The results show that the relation between the differential pressure taken from the sensor pickoff points and the angular velocity of the sensor was linear.The present work involved theoretical and experimental study of vortex rate sensor static characteristics .Vortex rat
In this work, the linear properties of Vitamin D3-5000IU soft gel were investigated by measuring its absorption and fluorescence spectra. It was observed that there was a shift towards longer wavelength within limits (75 nm), with quantitative efficiency equal to (33.58%). The values of absorbance were used to calculate the extinction coefficient, optical refractive index, optical conductivity and optical dielectric constant values.
The non-linear properties of Vitamin D3-5000IU soft gel was also studied using the Z-Scan technique by using Neodymium-doped Yttrium Garnet (Nd: YAG) continuous laser (CW) emitting in &n
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