Background: Opportunistic viral infections make an important threat to renal transplantation recipients (RTRs), and with the use of more intense newly-developed immunosuppressive drugs; the risk of renal allograft loss due to reactivation of these viruses has increased considerably. At the top priority of these viruses lie BK polyomavirus (BKV) and human cytomegalovirus (CMV). Reactivation of these viruses in these chronically immunosuppressed RTRs can lead to renal impairment and subsequently allograft loss, unless early detected and properly treated. Objectives: The study aimed to detect and quantify plasma viral load of BKV and CMV in RTRs using quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR), in order to study the prevalence of these two viruses in the sole renal transplantation center in Baghdad, and correlate viral load with the diseases severity. Furthermore, the prevalence of BKV-CMV coexistence in RTRs, to find out whether infection by one of them is a risk factor for infection by the other was investigated. Patients and Methods:A total of 99 RTR were enrolled in the study, and 15 non-transplanted patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD) together with 15 health living donors (LD) were taken as controls. Plasma samples were taken from all participants. From which viral DNA was extracted, and then real time PCR technique was used to measure the viral load. Results:Out of 99, 12 (12.12%) of RTR patients were positive for BK viremia with a viral load (VL) ranging from (1x102 to 1x109 copies/ml), while none of the control groups was BK positive, and 5 patients out of these 12 had BKV nephropathy. For CMV, 13.13% of RTR patients had positive CMV viremia with a VL ranging from (1.25x102 to 7.94x107 copies/ml), and only one of the CKD controls was CMV positive. Only 3 patients had BK-CMV coexistence, which was statistically not a significant risk factor for one another. Conclusion: Our study suggests that both BK polyomavirus and CMV should be considered important causes for nephropathy and allograft loss in RTRs in Iraq.
Abstract: Objectives: To investigate the effect of temperature elevation on the bonding strength of resin cement to the zirconia ceramic using fractional CO2 laser. Background: Fractional CO2 laser is an effective surface treatment of zirconia ceramic, as it increases the bonding strength of zirconia to resin cement. Methods: Thirty sintered zirconia discs (10 mm diameter, 2 mm thickness) were prepared and divided to three groups (N=10) and five diffident pulse durations were used in each group (0.1, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 ms). Group A was treated with 10 W power setting, group B with 20 W and group C with 30 W. During laser irradiation, temperature elevation measurement was recorded for each specimen. Luting cement was bonded to the treated z
... Show MoreBackground: One of the most common problem associated with the used of soft denture lining material is microorganisms and fungal growth especially Candida albicans, which can result in chronic mucosal inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of chlorhexidine diacetate (CDA) salt Incorporation into soft denture lining material on antifungal activity; against Candida albicans, and the amount of chlorhexidine di-acetate salt leached out of soft liner/CDA composite. Furthermore, evaluate shear bond strength and hardness after CDA addition to soft liner Materials and methods: chlorhexidine diacetate salt was added to soft denture lining material at four different concentrations (0.05%, 0.1% and 0.2% by weight). Four hund
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The aim of this study was to determine the influence of feeding diets containing different levels of sesame seeds and oil on the egg quality of laying quail. A total of 120, 10 weeks old, were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 dietary groups and fed for 12 weeks diets containing 0% sesame seeds + 0% sesame oil (control group; C) or 0.5% sesame oil (T1), 1% sesame oil (T2), 1% sesame seeds (T3), and 2% sesame seeds (T4).The study was terminated when the birds were 22 weeks of age. Egg quality characteristics involved in the present study were egg weight, yolk diameter, yolk height, yolk weight, albumen height, albumen weight,Haugh unit, shell weight, shell thickness, shell percentage, yolk percentage, and albumen percentage. The addition of sesame
... 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
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Quorum sensing (QS) is a perfectly orchestrated molecular communication system. It is a boon for Klebsiella pneumoniae, and bane for the host. This system is believed to make K. pneumoniae a leading cause of multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial infections. This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial and anti-biofilm potential of medicinal plant extracts through interfering with QS of K. pneumoniae. The effect of different concentrations of ethanolic extracts of cinnamon and clove on K. pneumoniae was determined by analyzing the growth curve, survival assay (MTT), Qualitative and quantitative biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, along with studying gene expression of the genes encoding the above traits, using quantitative real tim
... Show MoreThe experiment was conducted at the period from 20th Dec. 2015 to 30th Mar. 2016 to know the effect of growth medium and nodes number on the acclimatization success of tissue propagated potatoes seedlings (Burrin class) and study some plant physiological properties. The first experiment involved testing growth media: loam, peat moss, and perlite with different portions (1:1) to plant tissue propagated potato tubers, while the second experiment involved testing the nodes number where 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 plant nodes were chosen. Results of the first experiment showed the superiority of the culture media of peat moss + perlite to other culture media by giving the higher values of shoot system studied properties: plant height, branches number, le
... Show MoreOne of the important units in Sharq Dijla Water Treatment Plant (WTP) first and second extensions are the alum solution preparation and dosing unit. The existing operation of this unit accomplished manually starting from unloading the powder alum in the preparation basin and ending by controlling the alum dosage addition through the dosing pumps to the flash mix chambers. Because of the modern trend of monitoring and control the automatic operation of WTPs due to the great benefits that could be gain from optimum equipment operation, reducing the operating costs and human errors. This study deals with how to transform the conventional operation to an automatic monitoring and controlling system depending on a Programmable
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Background: Metabolic syndrome (Mets) is partially heritable. High mobility group AT-hook1 (HMGA1), an architectural transcription factor, affects the homeostasis of glucose. The marked inter-individual differences between T
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A simple physical technique was used in this study to create stable and cost-effective copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles from pure copper metal using the pulsed laser ablation technique. The synthesis of crystalline CuO nanoparticles was confirmed by various analytical techniques such as particle concentration measurement using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the crystal size and identify of the crystal structure of the prepared particles. The main characteristic diffraction peaks of the three samples were consistent. The corresponding 2θ is also consistent, and the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles was
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