NTU Journal of Pure Sciences

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections affecting individuals of all age groups and represent a significant public health concern worldwide. They are responsible for a substantial number of hospital admissions and outpatient visits and are frequently associated with recurrent infections, prolonged treatment, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. The increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among uropathogens has complicated the empirical management of UTIs, highlighting the need for continuous surveillance of bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the most common bacterial pathogens causing urinary tract infections and to evaluate the antibiotic sensitivity and resistance profiles of the isolated bacteria. A total of 160 clinical urine samples were collected from patients with suspected UTIs who attended Kirkuk Hospital, Kirkuk City, Iraq, between October 2023 and February 2024. Samples were obtained from hospitalized and outpatient individuals following examination by specialist physicians and referral to the microbiology laboratory. Standard microbiological procedures were used for bacterial isolation and identification, followed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing against a panel of commonly prescribed antibiotics. The findings revealed that Escherichia coli was the predominant bacterial isolate associated with urinary tract infections. The isolate exhibited complete resistance (100%) to ampicillin, indicating that this antibiotic is no longer effective for empirical treatment of E. coli-associated UTIs in the studied population. Low susceptibility rates were observed for vancomycin (23.1%) and clindamycin (23.1%), as well as cefotaxime (12.3%), cefixime (21.5%), nalidixic acid (20.0%), ciprofloxacin (26.2%), levofloxacin (24.6%), trimethoprim (24.6%), and ceftazidime (29.2%). In contrast, higher susceptibility was recorded for gentamicin (75.4%), amikacin (50.8%), azithromycin (89.2%), imipenem (90.8%), while tobramycin demonstrated the highest effectiveness, with 100% sensitivity against the isolated E. coli strains. The study highlights the alarming increase in antimicrobial resistance among uropathogenic E. coli isolates and emphasizes the importance of routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing before initiating antibiotic therapy. The findings also support the use of imipenem, tobramycin, gentamicin, and azithromycin as more effective therapeutic options in the study area while discouraging the empirical use of ampicillin because of its complete resistance. Continuous monitoring of resistance patterns and the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs are essential to optimize treatment outcomes, reduce the spread of resistant strains, and improve the management of urinary tract infections.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered one of the main causes of chronic hepatic diseases which is an RNA virus that belongs to the family Flaviviridae and to the genus Hepacivirus. With persistence of HCV-RNA for more than six months, acute infection of HCV resulted in chronic hepatic diseases in about more than 85% of patients. The study aimed to evaluate molecular identification of HCV RNA as well as investigation of serum levels of TSB, ALP, ALT and AST in patients with chronic HCV infection. In Kirkuk city from 15th of October 2023 to 15th of April 2024 a cross-sectional study was carried out, blood samples were taken from 70 HCV patients previously diagnosed by ELISA technique for the presence of HCV-IgG antibodies aged (10-70) years and 50 healthy donors as control group. The serum from the specimens were tested for HCV RNA detection by using the RT-PCR Technique. Function tests of the Liver which include (ALP, ALT, AST and TSB) were examined in all the specimens that involved in the study. The result showed that out of the 70 HCV patients in the study group who had positive anti-HCV, 47 (67.14%) had positive HCV RNA, compared to 0% in the group of control. The highest rate of HCV patients were male (62.86%) who reside in urban area (68.57%) , and in those with age group (31-40)years(31.43%).When the study and control group were examined in terms of serum TSB, ALP, ALT, and AST levels, it was determined that TSB, ALP, ALT, and AST levels were elevated in chronic HCV patients compared with control groups and the results between the two groups were significant statistically. PCR is more accurate technique for detection of HCV and must be carried out along with ELISA technique. HCV had a significant effect on liver enzymes levels which were highly increased in patient with HCV.

Toxoplasmosis is a global zoonotic disease, that is mainly asymptomatic in healthy persons, but critical and life-threatening in immunocompromised patients. The infection is caused by an opportunistic obligate intracellular parasite protozoon “Toxoplasma gondii” (T. gondii) that can cause fatal complications in immunosuppressed patients. Cancer patients are being immunocompromised from the cancer itself and the cancer therapy they receive may reactive to a latent T. gondii infection that leaves them at high risk. The combined effect of Toxoplasmosis and cancer on the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) (important inflammatory cytokines) is complex and varies depending on many factors emphasizing the need for further study in this area. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii in cancer patients and detect levels of IL-6, IL-10 in those patients to evaluate the differences in cytokines levels and to investigate how toxoplasmosis affects the immune response. 150 blood samples were collected from oncology patients having different types of cancer and receiving chemotherapy, from different ages. And 30 samples from healthy people for control. Samples were collected from the first of October 2023 to the end of March 2024, at Kirkuk oncology and hematology center. The method used was Sandwich-ELISA for detecting levels of Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM, IgG, along with IL-6, IL-10 and the results were analyzed statistically. the overall anti-T gondii IgG and IgM seropositive samples were found to be 67 (37.2%) in the study population. Levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were elevated in cancer patients infected with T.gondii. A high seroprevalence rate of T.gondii was detected among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. A significant elevation in levels of IL-6 and IL-10 was detected in cancer patients associated with infection with T.gondi.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a popular antibiotic that belongs to the class of anthracyclines it is used as an anti-tumor, it is characterized by high cardiotoxicity, bone marrow suppression, and many other side effects. The high toxicity of DOX to organs such as the liver, kidneys, and heart limits its use in many clinical situations. The current study was conducted to identify the histopathological effects induced by the drug DOX on the liver and kidney of male white rats, providing a systematic reference for studying drugs with hepatic and renal effects. Experiments were conducted using two groups of adult male white rats, with 12 rats/group. The control group was given distilled water, while the experimental group received DOX at a concentration of 3 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally. The rats were dissected under anesthesia after the third week of treatment with DOX, and the other group was sacrificed in the sixth week after stopping treatment. Liver and kidney tissues were collected for the study. Histopathological evaluation revealed features of acute liver injury, with Part of the liver tissue transforming into a spongy liver after 3 weeks. in addition to the appearance of degeneration. After 6 weeks, these changes increased in severity and included a strong focal infiltration of inflammatory cells. In addition to pathological changes in the kidney tissue, which included enlargement of some glomeruli and degeneration of some urinary tubules. A DOX dose of 3 mg/kg body weight was chosen to establish a model of acute hepatic and renal toxicity model in adult rats to explore potential drug leads for the prevention of hepatic and renal toxicity.

The accumulation of polypropylene (PP) waste has become a significant environmental concern due to its widespread use and resistance to natural degradation. This study presents an effective approach for recycling waste polypropylene sacks through chemical modification and polymer blending to produce value-added materials with enhanced properties. Recycled PP was first functionalized by grafting maleic anhydride (MAH) onto the polymer backbone using dicumyl peroxide as a free-radical initiator. The grafted polymer (PP-g-MAH) was subsequently esterified with different long-chain alcohols, including pentanol, heptanol, octanol, and decanol, to introduce flexible side chains and improve its compatibility with cellulose acetate (CA). The resulting esterified polymers were blended with cellulose acetate to prepare a series of novel polymer blends. The synthesized materials were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and thermal analysis (TGA/DTA/DSC) to evaluate their chemical structure, surface morphology, and thermal behavior. FTIR spectra confirmed the successful grafting of maleic anhydride, esterification of the grafted polymer, and formation of polymer blends through the appearance of characteristic carbonyl and ester absorption bands. AFM analysis revealed homogeneous surface morphology with no obvious phase separation, indicating good compatibility between the blend components. Thermal analysis demonstrated that the prepared blends possessed favorable thermal stability, with glass transition temperatures ranging from approximately 81 to 98 °C and decomposition temperatures approaching 400 °C. Furthermore, the prepared blends exhibited excellent resistance to organic solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and toluene. The findings demonstrate that waste polypropylene can be successfully converted into functional polymeric materials through grafting, esterification, and blending with cellulose acetate, offering a sustainable strategy to produce environmentally friendly polymer blends with improved structural and thermal properties for potential engineering and industrial applications.

This study was conducted to find out the toxic effect of the southern cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus stages when its food (cowpea seeds and chickpeas) was treated with alcoholic extract of Conium maculatum fruits at concentrations of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 and 5%, as well as the control treatment. The study showed that the lowest percentage of hatching was50.79, 60.08% in chickpea and cowpea seeds respectively, at the concentration of 5% and there was a significant difference between the two treatments, and which differed significantly from the control treatment. which amounted to 91.33, 95% for both feeds. The treatments had a clear effect on the harmful larval stage, and the highest significant percentage of death was100% in chickpea seeds treated with a concentration of 5% while in cowpea seeds which amounted to 86.3% at the same concentration, and it differed significantly from the control treatment. The results also showed in the study that the mortality rate significantly increased in the pupa stage, reaching 100% for the two concentrations of 2.5 and 5% in cowpea seeds, compared to the control treatment, which amounted to 3.33%, while in chickpea seeds, the highest percentage was 42.06 at the concentration of 2.5%, which differed from the treatment. and for the comparison treatment, which amounted to 5%. The result also indicated the mortality rate significantly increased in the pupa thege, as it reached 100% for the two concentrations of 2.5 and 5% in cowpea seeds. The research also included a study of the distortions caused by the effect of the alcoholic extract of C. maculatum fruits on the emerging insects.

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite and about one-third of people on plants are affected by it. A wide range of factors, such as age, environment, way of life, cultural traditions, and personal health habits, can have an important effect on whether or not T. gondii can continue to exist and spread globally. Autism is complex developmental disorder characterized by altered social communication, with unknown origin. Autism is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions in the world. The aim of the study was to compare children with autism spectrum and people with cancer regarding the antibody’s detection to toxoplasma parasite in Kirkuk city. 70 autistic children, 20 non-autistic children, 70 cancer patients, and 20 healthy people, were collected between November 2022 and April 2023, by using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the Toxoplasma gondii antibodies among them after receiving an official agreement. Findings indicated that autistic children (44.3%, 31/70) had significantly higher seroprevalence than non-autistic children (30%, 6/20), and cancer patients showed (31.4%, 22/70) had a higher rate than controls (10%, 2/20). Among them 11 (15.7%) autistic children and cancer patients were shown to have Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies, whereas 16 (22.9%) autistic children and 4 (5.7%) cancer patients were found to have T. gondii IgM antibodies. Toxoplasma gondii in urban areas have highest seroprevalence rate with Toxo-IgM (21.4%) in autistic children and (14.3%) in cancer patients, and in rural areas have high rate with Toxo-IgG 2.8% in autistic children and with Toxo-IgG&IgM (4.3%) in cancer patients. Further preventive programs can be conducted through the developmental pathways leading to autism spectrum disorders and offer good, updated approaches for its prevention and treatment with the further large group populations are needed to identify risk factors.

A new class of associative rings with identity, namely locally right semi-involution regular (L.r.s.I.Reg.) rings, is introduced and systematically studied in this paper. A ring is defined to be locally right semi-involution regular if, for every element (a), either (a) or (1-a) is a right semi-involution regular element. The study establishes the fundamental properties of this class of rings and examines its relationships with several well-known classes of rings, including locally involution-regular rings, involution-regular rings, von Neumann-regular rings, and clean rings. Several characterizations of locally right semi-involution regular rings are presented, together with illustrative examples that clarify the new concept. It is shown that every element satisfying the defining conditions is a von Neumann regular element under suitable assumptions, and equivalent criteria involving direct summands of annihilator ideals are established. Furthermore, the paper proves that this class of rings is preserved under surjective ring homomorphisms and quotient constructions. Additional structural properties are obtained for abelian locally right semi-involution regular rings, including decomposition results involving semi-involution regular and nilpotent elements. The influence of principal injectivity on these rings is also investigated, yielding sufficient conditions under which locally right semi-involution regular rings become locally involution regular or clean rings. Moreover, conditions ensuring the existence of idempotent ideals are derived. The results presented extend existing work on locally involution regular rings and provide a broader framework for studying generalized regularity conditions in ring theory. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the algebraic structure of rings and their interrelationships with classical concepts in modern abstract algebra.

The current study investigated the effect of rearing the southern cowpea beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, on chickpea seeds treated with different concentrations (0.5%, 1%, 2.5%, and 5%) of plant-derived oils, including thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), peppermint (Mentha spicata), and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). The oil treatments also led to a significant reduction in percentage of egg hatching, dropping to 42.20% and 50.00% in the lavender and peppermint oil treatments, respectively, at 5% concentration, compared to 94.61% in the control . This prolonged development period led to a significant increase in larval mortality, reaching 100% at 2.5% and 5% concentrations in the peppermint oil treatment, compared to 5.89% in the control treatment. As a result of these effects, the number of emerged adult insects was notably reduced. The lowest number of emerged insects was 2.67 and 4.67 in the lavender and peppermint oil treatments at 5% and 1% concentrations, respectively, compared to 39.33 insects in the control treatment. The study also examined the potential transmission of oil treatment effects to the fertility of emerged females. The number of eggs laid by females was significantly reduced to 5.3 and 7.33 eggs per female in the peppermint oil treatment at 0.5% and 1% concentrations, respectively, compared to 57.33 eggs per female in the control treatment. Egg hatching percentage significantly decreased to 29.99% at 5% concentration in the lavender oil treatment and 37.33% at 1% concentration in the peppermint oil treatment. These values differed significantly from the control treatment, where the hatching percentage was 88.12%. The study also calculated the egg retention index (or oviposition inhibition index), which increased with higher oil concentrations. The highest retention percentages were recorded at 77.27% and 82.93% in the peppermint oil treatment at 0.5% and 1% concentrations, respectively, showing significant differences from most other treatments.

Medical Decision Support Systems (MDSSs) have become indispensable tools in modern healthcare, assisting physicians and healthcare professionals in disease diagnosis, treatment planning, patient monitoring, and clinical decision-making. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning has significantly enhanced the capabilities of these systems by enabling accurate analysis of complex medical data. However, conventional deep learning models often require extensive computational resources, large training datasets, and long processing times, limiting their application in real-time clinical environments. To address these challenges, this study introduces a Multi-Surrogate-Enhanced Deep Neural Network (MSEDNN) model that integrates surrogate modeling techniques, including Radial Basis Functions (RBF) and Support Vector Regression (SVR), with deep neural network architectures. The proposed framework improves feature extraction, reduces computational complexity, enhances real-time adaptability, and supports personalized clinical decision-making across multiple medical tasks. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated using several benchmark medical datasets involving diagnostic classification and medical imaging applications. Experimental results demonstrated that the MSEDNN model achieved an average classification accuracy of 96.5%, with a 97.0% sensitivity and an F1-score of 95.6%, indicating excellent diagnostic performance and reliability. Furthermore, the framework attained 97.2% accuracy on medical imaging datasets while maintaining a low inference latency of 140 ms, making it suitable for time-sensitive clinical applications. The incorporation of surrogate-based preprocessing also reduced model training time by approximately 25%, significantly improving computational efficiency without compromising predictive performance. These findings demonstrate that the proposed MSEDNN framework provides an effective, accurate, and computationally efficient solution for intelligent medical decision support. By combining surrogate modeling with deep learning, the model offers enhanced diagnostic accuracy, faster response times, and improved adaptability, highlighting its potential for integration into next-generation healthcare systems and precision medicine applications.

Background: Opportunistic microbial vaginitis is increasingly associated with spontaneous miscarriage. Disruption of vaginal microbiota facilitates pathogenic growth (E. coli, Staphylococcus spp., Klebsiella spp.), leading to infection and inflammation. Aim: To determine the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of pathogens in women with spontaneous miscarriage, guiding targeted interventions. Materials and Methods: Vaginal swabs from 100 women (17–50 years) were cultured and identified using biochemical tests and the Vitek2 system. Results: Positive cultures occurred in 34% of cases: Candida spp. (26.4%), E. coli (14.7%), S. aureus (11.8%), and Klebsiella spp. (8.8%). Women with ≥4 miscarriages had more S. aureus and Klebsiella spp. Candida spp. showed minimal correlation with miscarriage frequency. Klebsiella spp. and E. coli exhibited 100% β-lactam resistance; E. coli also had complete carbapenem resistance. S. aureus and S. haemolyticus were fully resistant to β-lactams and macrolides but sensitive to linezolid and tigecycline. Conclusion: Early pregnancy microbial screening and updated regional antibiotic guidelines are recommended.

Bi-topological spaces provide a general framework for studying mathematical structures endowed with two distinct topologies, enabling the investigation of concepts that cannot be fully characterized in classical topology. In this paper, we introduce a new class of bi-topological spaces, called Bi*-topological spaces, constructed from the families of semi-open and pre-open sets associated with a given topological space. The proposed structure extends several existing concepts in bi-topology and offers a broader setting for analyzing generalized topological properties. Fundamental definitions of Bi*-topological spaces are established, followed by the introduction of Bi*-open and Bi*-closed sets, interior and closure operators, derived sets, boundary, frontier, exterior, and convergence. In addition, several separation axioms and discrete properties are investigated, and relationships between Bi*-topological spaces, classical bi-topological spaces, and bi-supra topological spaces are examined. Numerous theorems are proved to demonstrate the basic characteristics of the new space, while illustrative examples are presented to clarify the independence of the introduced concepts and the non-equivalence of several converse statements. The obtained results show that Bi*-topological spaces constitute a meaningful extension of existing bi-topological structures and provide a useful framework for further theoretical developments in generalized topology and related mathematical research.

This study involves the synthesis of macrocyclic schiff bases also their structural properties and biological activity. Started by preparation two starting materials DHP derivatives due to hantzsch reaction (R1 and R3), then reacting 3,5-diacetyl-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihyropyridine DHP(R1) with diamine derivatives including benzidine, 1,3diamino propane 1,2-diamino cyclohexane and ethylene diamine lead to synthesis macrocyclic Schiff bases (R4-R7). In contrast macrocyclic Schiff bases (R8-R9) prepared through the reacting 2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarbohydrazide (R3) with acetyl acetone and 3,5-diacetyl-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihyropyridine, respectively. All condensation reactions were conducted under conventional reflux conditions. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized using carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C NMR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, as well as their physical properties such as melting point, TLC chromatography, color and yield. The spectroscopic data confirmed the successful formation of the proposed macrocyclic Schiff base structures, demonstrating the efficiency of the synthetic methodology and the high purity of the obtained products. The biological activity of compound R8 was evaluated against MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines using the MTT assay.

Thin films of nickel-doped ZnO nanoparticles were deposited on glass substrates by the thermal sputtering method with different doping ratios (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4) %. From the X-ray diffraction of the prepared samples, it was found that the structure is hexagonal (Wurtzite), the diffraction peak corresponding to the crystal orientation plane (200) appeared at a doping ratio of (4%) only, and this is due to the added nickel ions. Using the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of the prepared films shows an absorption peak for ZnO at λ= 363nm and this peak shifts towards shorter wavelengths with increasing doping ratios. The energy gap of the prepared films was measured, and it was found that it decreases from the doping ratios (0,0.5,1,2) %, which are respectively (3.24, 3.231, 3.227, 3.218 eV), then its value increases again (3.23 eV) at a doping ratio of (4) %. The fluorescence spectrum was measured using λEx =325 nm, it was observed that pure ZnO has a broad fluorescence peak at (357.1nm) and another less intense peak at (371.1nm) with increasing doping ratio, the fluorescence peaks suffer a slight shift towards longer wavelengths.

Intestinal parasites are a collection of infectious disorders that continue to pose a serious threat to public health in type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which is a chronic metabolic disorder. The incidence and prevalence of patients with T2DM are increasing worldwide, even reaching epidemic values in most high- and middle-income countries. T2DM could be a risk factor of developing complications in other diseases. Indeed, some studies suggest a bidirectional interaction between T2DM and COVID-19. A growing body of evidence shows that COVID-19 prognosis in individuals with T2DM is worse compared with those without. Moreover, various studies have reported the emergence of newly diagnosed patients with T2DM after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most common treatments for T2DM may influence SARSCoV-2. Determine the effect of COVID-19 on the infection with intestinal parasites in Type II diabetic patients. The current study is conducted on 135 patients: 72 diabetic patients infected with intestinal parasites with a previous infection with COVID-19 (38 males and 34 females) and 63 diabetic patients without any other infection (32 males and 31 females) served as a control aged (25-75 years) and diagnosed by a consultant physician, according to the laboratory diagnosis (HbA1c), from November 2021 to March 2022. (63 of 66 diabetic patients) were infected with COVID-19, with a percentage of 95.454%. Most diabetic patients infected with intestinal parasites were infected in the past with COVID-19.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has enhance critical to implant healing interpreter, accompanying the allure of the potential to improve the speed, veracity, and ability of ailment disease and classification This study determines an all-encompassing review of current advances in AI requests across miscellaneous healing concentration, containing endemic disease discovery, main central nervous system, cardiology, tumor, and ophthalmology. The review examines standard AI systems to a degree, deep learning, machine intelligence, and mixture models, emphasizing their effectiveness in demonstrative tasks including biosignals, clinical dataset, and medical depictions. In addition, the study debate challenges to executing AI in healthcare, including limited data, model interpretability, moral concerns, and legal limits. The study decides by investigating future directions, including allied education, explainable AI, and unification accompanying the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). In order to close the scientific and practical gaps between AI research and clinical use, this study integrates insights from infectious illnesses, cardiology, neurology, ophthalmology, and oncology. For researchers, physicians, and legislators seeking to appreciate the potential and disadvantages of artificial intelligence in reconstructing medical diagnoses, this study serves as a priceless resource.