Back ground: Visceral leishmaniasis is endemic in the
middle and south of Iraq, it involves mostly infants. The
disease is observed mainly among rural areas that are far
from equipped medical centers. Therefore, there is a need
for anon- invasive, cost- effective, reliable, easily
available and fast method of diagnosis of this dngerous
disease.
Objective: The aim was to compare the validity and
predictive values of the recombinant K39 antigen (rK39)
test with that of the indirect fluorescent antibody test
(IFAT) test (the usual laboratory method) in the detection
of visceral leishmaniasis.
Methods: A Cross-sectional study was done in ALMansour Pediatric Hospital (in AL-Rusafa), and Central
Pediatric Hospital (in AL-Karkh) in Baghdad for 6
months duration (from the 1st of December 2004 to 30th of
May 2005). Children less than five years who suspected to
be infected with visceral leishmaniasis were selected and
investigated by IFAT test and rK39 dipstick strip.
Results: The validity of rK39 test when evaluated with
the standard methods IFAT test showed a sensitivity of
90.5%, specificity of 90.7%, predictive value positive of
77.9%, predictive value negative of 96.4% and 90.7%
accuracy.
Conclusions: The rK39 antigen strip test is valid in the
diagnosis of suspected children with visceral
leishmaniasis as the test is rapid, sensitive, and specific
Urinary tract infections are mainly caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli, which represent a significant global issue along with the rising of antibiotic resistance and treatment challenges. The aim of this study was to evaluate ciprofloxacin efficacy as a treatment in animal models following infection with multidrug-resistant UPEC and multidrug-susceptible UPEC and to determine the nephrotoxic effect of these antibiotics on the renal cortex. Up to 76 E. coli isolates were collected from UTI patients in Baghdad province, characterized by morphological and biochemical features, and confirmed using the Vitek-2 compact system. Mice were orally infected via gastric gavage with G33 using a bacterial load of 107 cells/ml, followed by p
... Show MoreThis paper analyzes the effect of scaling-up model and acceleration history on seismic response of closed-ended pipe pile using a finite element modeling approach and the findings of 1 g shaking table tests of a pile embedded in dry and saturated soils. A number of scaling laws were used to create the numerical modeling according to the data obtained from 1 g shake table tests performed in the laboratory. The current study found that the behaviors of the scaled models, in general have similar trends. From numerical modeling on both the dry and saturated sands, the normalized lateral displacement, bending moment, and vertical displacement of piles with scale factors of 2 and 35 are less than those of the pile with a scale factor of 1 and the
... Show MoreCompounds of (ZnO)1-x(SnO 2 ) x were prepared with various proportions of tin oxide (SiO 2) (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) by mixing zinc oxide (ZnO) with highpurity tin oxide and then sintering the mixture in an oven at a temperature of 1000 °C for a period of 1 h. The resulting powders were ground and pressed into tablets of 1 cm diameter and 0.5 cm thickness. The properties of (ZnO) 1-x(SnO 2 ) x composites flms were prepared and studied as sensitive to the diferent gases NO2 and H2 S. Thin flms were prepared from (ZnO) 1-x(SnO 2 ) x via pulsed laser deposition method using glass and single crystal silicon for investigation the morphology and gas sensing properties with a thickness of 150 nm. The morphology examinat
... Show MoreThis study provides a systematic and bibliometric review of ASTM F75 cobalt–chromium alloys, focusing on microstructure and the shift from conventional to laser-based manufacturing. Using combined analytical methods, it evaluates microstructure, mechanical properties, corrosion behavior, and biocompatibility. Results show that laser-based techniques such as LPBF and DMLS produce finer grain sizes (1–10 µm vs. 50–200 µm), leading to improved hardness (20–40%) and tensile strength (15–30%). Despite challenges like residual stress and process optimization, these methods show strong potential for high-performance and sustainable applications.
The Iraqi pharmaceutical sector faces significant challenges arising from the prevalence of substandard and falsified (S/F) medications, which pose a direct threat to public health safety. To strengthen regulatory oversight, health authorities have implemented national medicine track-and-trace system. However, the ultimate efficacy of these regulatory tools is heavily dependent on public awareness and the level of societal acceptance.
This study ai
Lowering specific energy consumption (SEC) in reverse osmosis (RO) plants is one of the most important criteria in water treatment industry. The present work focused on best suggested RO pilot plant configurations for minimizing specific energy consumption, finding the best configurations experimentally to recover the water with minimizing salts in permeate side in RO module, study the factors affecting the performance of single and two stage systems, TFC membrane is used in spiral wound module. Brackish water is used as feed solution with different concentrations (2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 ppm). The operating parameters studied were permeate flux, rejection and SEC. The experimental results showed the permeate concentration increased and w
... Show MoreThis study explored the feasibility of removing nickel (Ni) and Pb (II) from water solutions using the adsorption technique by cellulose recovered from office paper waste. Metal removal is required to reduce the direct or indirect exposure of industrial waste to the environment, due to its potential for harm to human health and ecosystems. The release criterion is maintained to keep the efficient wastewater treatment of the metals of concern, which are toxic to both humans and other organisms. The cellulose was first prepared from office paper waste. The removal values can be rationalized as follows: Lead removal efficiencies of were obtained upto %95.0632, while the removals of nickel were obtained as 54.3866%. The adsorption proce
... Show MorePoly(ethylene oxide) is a promising material for solid-state lithium batteries due to its safety, ease of processing, and compatibility with lithium. However, conventional linear PEO falls short of practical requirements due to its limited ionic conductivity, a consequence of the high crystallinity of its ethylene oxide chains. This crystallinity hinders the movement of lithium ions, limiting its performance in solid-state battery applications. In this study, we successfully prepared the plasticized solid polymer electrolytes (PSPEs) based on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/ tetracyanoethylene (TCE) complexed with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) salt and studied the effect of TCE on structural, mechanical, electrical and elec
... Show MoreThis research explores the use of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) as a conductive medium for sodium ions in sodium‐ion batteries, presenting a possible alternative to traditional lithium‐ion battery technology. The researchers prepare SPEs with varying molecular weight ratios of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and sodium tetrafluoroborate (NaBF4) using a solution casting method with dimethyl formamide as the solvent. Through optical absorbance measurements, we identified the PAN:NaBF4 (80:20) SPE composition as having the lowest energy band gap value (4.48 eV). This composition also exhibits high thermal stability based on thermogravimetric analysis results. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy re
... Show MoreThis study presents the design, modeling, and experimental evaluation of a three-level electro-hydraulic elevator system controlled by a Delta DVP-20SX2 Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) equipped with an integrated Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) module. The PLC, programmed in Ladder Logic using ISPSoft 2.46, regulates cabin motion across all three levels. A detailed MATLAB/Simulink model was developed, incorporating three PID controllers: one for displacement regulation via a proportional directional control valve and two for dynamic pressure regulation using a proportional pressure relief valve. Conventional PID parameters were initially tuned using the trial-and-error method based on time-domain performance indices a
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