Introduction The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) is being developed to enhance the localisation of radiopharmaceutical uptake in targeted tissues during surgical procedures such as sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. Purpose To assess the capability of the HGC, a lymph-node-contrast (LNC) phantom was constructed for an evaluative study simulating medical scenarios of varying radioactivity concentration and SLN size. Materials and methods The phantom was constructed using two methyl methacrylate PMMA plates (8 mm thick). The SLNs were simulated by drilling circular wells of diameters ranging between 10 mm and 2.5 mm (16 wells in total) in one plate. These simulated SLNs were placed underneath scattering material with thicknesses ranging between 5 mm and 40 mm. The second plate contains four rectangular wells to simulate background activity uptake surrounding the SLNs. The activity used ranged between 4 MBq and 0.025 MBq for the SLNs. The background activity was 1/10 of the SLNs activity. The collimator to source distance was 120 mm. Results Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) analysis and spatial resolution measurements of the simulated SLN were used to compare the imaging sets over acquisition times ranging between 60s and 240s. The HGC successfully detected 87.5% to 100% of the SLNs through 20mm of scattering material, and it could detect 75% to 93.75% of the SLNs through 40mm of scattering material. Measurement of Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum (FWHM) for the detected SLNs ranged between 9.5 mm and 12 mm. Conclusion The HGC is capable of detecting low activity uptake in small SLNs indicating its usefulness as an intraoperative imaging system during surgical SLN procedures.
Begomoviruses infecting zucchini squash were investigated. Leaf samples were collected from zucchini squash growing areas in Baghdad (Jhadryaa and Yusufiyah), Babylon (Jibela and Mahmudiyah) and Diyala (Khan Bani Saad) Provinces. Samples were screened for the presence of begomoviruses using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Deng genus specific primers. Sixteen out of 40 samples were begomovirus positive. Sequence analysis confirmed the detection of Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (TLCPALV)
Calendula officinalis L. (Asteraceae) known as marigold is known to have several pharmacological activities and used for the treatment of several diseases as measles, jaundice, constipation and several inflammations. Marigold flowers contain several chemical constituents mainly flavonoids, triterpenoids and essential oil. In this study marigold flowers cultivated in Iraq had been investigated for its flavonoids content. The study revealed the presence of quercetin and kaempferol glycosides and the absence of myricetin glycosides. The flowers were extracted with ethanol 70% fractionated with different solvent and the flavonoids were isolated by preparative HPLC. The isolated flavonoids were identified by measuring melting points, UV, IR,
... Show MoreHerpes simplex virus (HSV) is a common human pathogen that causes severe infections in newborns and immunocompromised patients. Conjunctivitis or corneal epithelial keratitis is caused by HSV type 1 all over the world and at all times of the year. The present study was aimed at detecting HSV in patients suffering from conjunctivitis. One hundred and ten (110) clinical samples (90 patients and 20 controls, both males and females) of eye conjunctiva swabs were collected from patients of different ages. The samples were analyzed using qPCR and ELISA techniques. The qPCR results revealed that HSV was present in 47 (52.2%) of the 90 patients who were infected. Of these patients, 25 (48.0%) were males and 22 (57.8%) were females, indicati
... Show MoreThe main problem established by a discovery of a thyroid nodule is to discriminate between a benign and malignant lesion. Differential diagnosis between follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) and benign follicular thyroid adenoma (FTA) is a great challenge for even an experienced pathologist and requires special effort. A developing number of some encouraging IHC markers for the differential diagnosis of thyroid lesions have emerged, including, Hector Battifora mesothelial (HBME-1) and galectin-3 (Gal-3). There was significant positive correlation between Galectin-3 and HBME-1 in follicular carcinoma and follicular variant of papillary carcinoma (r= 0.380, P= 0.041) and (r= 0.315, P=0.047) respectively. There was no significant correlation between
... Show MoreThis study is carried out to investigate the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) infections in cattle using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting IS1111A transposase gene. A total of 130 lactating cows were randomly selected from different areas in Wasit province, Iraq and subjected to blood and milk sampling during the period extended between November 2018 and May 2019. ELISA and PCR tests revealed that 16.15% and 10% of the animals studied were respectively positive. Significant correlations (P<0.05) were detected between the positive results and clinical data. Two positive PCR products were analyzed phylogenetically, named as C. burnetii IQ-No.5 and C. burnet
... Show More The present study is an attempt for detection of A. baumannii by conventional and PCR methods using species-specific primers for these A. baumannii. A total of 87 samples were collected from hospitals in Baghdad (Al-Rasafa and Al-Karkh Hospitals) during the period from 2019 to 2020.The samples included: 40 specimens, from wounds, respiratory infections (sputum), burns, CSF and 47 samples from the hospital environment (swabs), while samples collected from intensive care unit including patient beds, surgical instruments and appliances, emergency lobby and baby incubators. A. baumannii isolate identification depending on the morphologic characteristics on the culture media including, blood agar, MacConkey agar, as well as t
... Show MoreThe Internet of Things (IoT) is an expanding domain that can revolutionize different industries. Nevertheless, security is among the multiple challenges that it encounters. A major threat in the IoT environment is spoofing attacks, a type of cyber threat in which malicious actors masquerade as legitimate entities. This research aims to develop an effective technique for detecting spoofing attacks for IoT security by utilizing feature-importance methods. The suggested methodology involves three stages: preprocessing, selection of important features, and classification. The feature importance determines the most significant characteristics that play a role in detecting spoofing attacks. This is achieved via two techniques: decision tr
... Show More