Background: Strangles is a highly contagious equine respiratory disease caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. It is a globally significant pathogen and one of the most common infectious agents in horses. In Iraq, no sequencing data on this pathogen are available, and only two molecular studies have been published to date. This study provides preliminary insights into strain diversity and provides a foundation for future large-scale investigations. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the molecular characteristics, identify SeM gene alleles, and perform a phylogenetic analysis of S. equi isolates from horses in Baghdad, Iraq. Methods: We analyzed 59 Streptococcus spp. isolates previously obtained from equine clinical samples. Conventional PCR targeting the SeM gene was used to identify S. equi. Additionally, nine PCR-positive SeM gene products were sequenced, followed by phylogenetic analysis and allele identification. Results: We confirmed 49 isolates as S. equi from the 59 isolates according to the molecular assay. Additionally, nine PCR products were used for sequencing and allele typing of the SeM gene which provided the initial report of SeM-97 allele identification in Iraq. Phylogenetic analysis along with SeM gene typing revealed a close relationship between the Iraqi strains and one Iranian strain with 100% sequence identity, revealing important epidemiological relationships that may indicate regional ties to the strain detected in Iran. Conclusion: The present study represents the first investigation of SeM allele typing in Iraq, identifying the SeM-97 allele of S. equi along with its unique amino acid variations. The findings highlight genetic similarities between Iraqi isolates and a strain from Iran, suggesting the potential regional dissemination of S. equi.
The research aims to characterize the strategic plan of the Educational Professional Development Center, to reveal the most important training needs for teachers from this center, to reveal the extent to which this center meets those needs, and to identify the differences between teacher responses about the degree of importance, availability of those needs according to variables of sex, specialization, and years of experience. This descriptive study adopted a questionnaire applied to (256) teachers in the K.S.A. The results of the study showed that all training needs ranged in the degree of importance from large to very large and that the most important were the skills associated with communicating with members of the learning community.
... Show MoreThe phytoremediation technique has become very efficient for treating soil contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted where the Dodonaea plant (known as hops) was grown, and soil previously contaminated with metals (Zn, Ni, Cd) was added at concentrations 100, 50, 0 mg·kg-1 for Ni and Zn, and at concentrations of 0, 5, 10 mg·kg-1 for cadmium. Irrigation was done within the limits of the field capacity of the soil. Cadmium, nickel and zinc was estimated in the soil to find out the capacity of plants to the absorption of heavy and contaminated metals by using bioconcentration factors (BCFs), bioaccumulation coefficient (BAC) and translocation factor (TF). Additionally, BCF values of both Ni and Zn were l
... Show MoreThis work studies the performance of zeolite permeable reactive barrier in removing cadmium from a contaminated shallow aquifer. Batch tests have been performed to characterize the equilibrium sorption properties of the zeolite in cadmium-containing aqueous solutions. A 1D numerical finite difference model has been developed to describe pollutant transport within groundwater taking pollutant sorption on the permeable reactive barrier (PRB), which is performed by Langmuir equation, into account. Numerical results show that the PRB starts to saturate after a period of time (~120 h) due to reduction of the retardation factor, indicating a decrease in the percentage of zeolite functionality. However, a reasonable agreement between model predict
... Show MoreNew data on jumping spiders (Salticidae) and tangle-web spiders (Theridiidae) of Armenia are provided on the basis of recently collected specimens in various regions of Armenia. One species, Ballus rufipes (Simon, 1868) is recorded as new to the Caucasus Region, in addition to the following species: Neon reticulatus (Blackwall, 1853), Pellenes brevis (Simon, 1868), Salticus scenicus (Clerck, 1757) and Synageles dalmaticus (Keyserling, 1863) that belong to a family Salticidae, are recorded in Armenia for the first time.
A further 7 species of Theridiidae are recorded in Armenia for the first time Kochiura aulica (C. L. Koch, 1838), Steatoda albomaculata (De Geer, 1778), Steatoda bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758), Steatoda castanea Clerk, 175
Water scarcity is one of the most important problems facing humanity in various fields such as economics, industry, agriculture, and tourism. This may push people to use low-quality water like industrial-wastewater. The application of some chemical compounds to get rid of heavy metals such as cadmium is an environmentally harmful approach. It is well-known that heavy metals as cadmium may induce harmful problems when present in water and invade to soil, plants and food chain of a human being. In this case, man will be forced to use the low quality water in irrigation. Application of natural materials instead of chemicals to remove cadmium from polluted water is an environmental friendly approach. Attention was drawn in this research wor
... Show MoreThe present work is to investigate the feasibility of removal vanadium (V) and nickel (Ni) from Iraqi heavy gas oil using activated bentonite. Different operating parameters such as the degree of bentonite activation, activated bentonite loading, and operating time was investigated on the effect of heavy metal removal efficiency. Experimental results of adsorption test show that Langmuir isotherm predicts well the experimental data and the maximum bentonite uptake of vanadium was 30 mg/g. The bentonite activated with 50 wt% H2SO4 shows a (75%) removal for both Ni and V. Results indicated that within approximately 5 hrs, the vanadium removal efficiencies were 33, 45, and 60% at vanadium loadings of 1
... Show MoreBackground: For many decades, the ECG was the
workhorse of non-invasive cardiac test and today although
other techniques provide more details about the structural
anomalies in congenital heart diseases, ECG is likely to be
part of clinical evaluation of patients with such diseases
because it is inexpensive, easy to perform and in certain
situations may be both sensitive and specific.
Objective: this study carried out to identify the pattern of
ECG study in patients with TOF.
Methods: this is a retrospective study of 200 patients
with TOF, referred to Ibn Al-Bitar cardiac center from
April 1993 to May 1999. The diagnosis of TOF established
by echocrdiographic, catheterization and angiographic
study.
The continuous advancement in the use of the IoT has greatly transformed industries, though at the same time it has made the IoT network vulnerable to highly advanced cybercrimes. There are several limitations with traditional security measures for IoT; the protection of distributed and adaptive IoT systems requires new approaches. This research presents novel threat intelligence for IoT networks based on deep learning, which maintains compliance with IEEE standards. Interweaving artificial intelligence with standardization frameworks is the goal of the study and, thus, improves the identification, protection, and reduction of cyber threats impacting IoT environments. The study is systematic and begins by examining IoT-specific thre
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