Journal of Techniques

Some virulence factors were studied for the two strains of Serratia marcesens.
Antibiogram profile shows that both strains are resistant to Ampicillin and sensitive to Cefotaxime and Gentamicin, where as only one is resistant to Cephalexin.

It was found that both strains are able to produce colonization factor antigen type 1 (CFA/1) in the presence of mannose sugar, but none of them shows the ability to produce (CFA/3).

Colony hybridization technique reveals that none of the strains has showed hybridized signals when heat-stable enterotoxin or heat-labile enterotoxin gene are used separately as a probes.

Moreover, none of the strains is able to produce uronic acid extracellulary or hemmolysin on both rabbit blood or human blood agar at 37°C.

The study was carried out to evaluate performance of DOTS programme (directly observed short course treatment) in Najaf governorate, that was established by the WHO. Two cohorts of patients attending Najaf TB center were followed retrospectively. The 1st cohort included 180 patients registered from 1/4/2000 – 31/3/2001, while the second cohort included 232 patients registered from 1/4/2001 – 31/3/2002. The collected data were analysed for case detection, treatment outcomes, retreatment outcomes, treatment success and retreatment success.
The following rates are extracted from the 1st and 2nd cohorts:
• Case detection rate: 34.7% and 47.9% respectively.
• Treatment outcome for new patients (cured=68.8%, completed treatment=8.2%, defaulter=18%, treatment failure=3.3%, died=0.0% and transfer out=1.6%) and (cured=66.3%, completed treatment=9.9%, defaulter=10.9%, treatment failure=3%, died=5% and transfer out=5%) respectively.
• Treatment outcome for retreatment patients (cured=50%, completed treatment=0.0%, defaulter=50%, treatment failure=0.0%, died=0.0% and transferout=0.0%) and (cured=76.2%, completed treatment=4.8%, defaulter=14.3%, treatment failure=0.0%, died=4.8% and transferout=0.0%) respectively.
• Treatment success rate: 77% and 76.2% respectively.
• Retreatment success rate: 70% and 81% respectively.

These findings are lower than the WHO targets with regard to case detection rate, treatment success rate and retreatment success rate (70%, 85% and 85% respectively). Application of (Z-test) revealed significant statistical differences which indicate a clear defect in programme performance.

Dermatophytoses were studied in 100 patients , (63%) of them were males and(37%) females in the ratio of 1.7:1 , over a period from January till June 2002 in Al-Kindy Hospital .Out of 100 scraping specimens , (58%) showed dermatophytoses and the commonest age group was (6-10) years old (22%) .

The most common fungal lesion was tinea corporis (65.5%) followed by tinea capitis (60.7%) , tinea pedis 25% and tinea unguium 20% . Out of 58 positive cases , only 10 (17.2%) patients had previous infection , whereas 30 (51.7%) of them had family history with dermatophytes . This study shows there is no relation between the place of living and dermatophytes

Fifty three samples of dental calculi were collected and speculated for bacteria colonizing them. Only twenty two calculi were harbouring bacteria. Streptocccus mutans was isolated from 18 samples while Staphylococcus aureus from 4 calculi. Most of used antibiotics were effective against both bacterial species. The antimicrobial activity of aqueous and oil extracts of clove (Eugenia caryophyllus), nigella (Nigella sativa), chamaemplum (Anthemis mobils), and lemon grass (Cymbopahon schoenanthus) were tested. It was found that S.aureus was more efficient than Streptococcus mutans in resisting the oil and aqueous extracts of medicinal plants used in study. Oil extract of lemon grass was the most efficient extract in the inhibition of growth of both isol

55 Iraqi patients suffering from different diseases were used in this study which was carried out in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department-Neurosurgery Hospital , in Baghdad for the period from 1-7 to 1-10-1998.

The patients were classified in to four groups depending on the diseases they suffered from, most of the patients were females who form about 63.63% of the total number of the patients while the males form just 36.36 % of the patients, also the patients had different ages beginning from 27 up to 74 years.

Points used for Laser Acupuncture were the same, which is used in the Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis.

Classic Traditional Chinese Medicine using Ga.Al.As. diode Laser (904nm) with power(1mW) and a time of (1min) for each point. Laser Acupuncture which means stimulating selected acupoints by Low Level Laser is a painless, easy and cheap procedure which can be accepted by even the apprehensive patients, it is useful as a reliever in cases with chronic pain including Migraine pain, Low Back pain, most of these patients reduced drug intake, also it is useful to decrease or stop drug intake especially steroids in cases of Urticaria.

Forty patients, 38 males and two females suffering from hemophilia-A 72.5%, hemophilia B 15% and Von- Willebrand's disease 12.5% were studied for evidence of liver disease and exposure to hepatitis - B virus.

There was a history of an attack of hepatitis in 32.5% of them, speenomegally in 12.5% and hepatomegally in 10%.

None of them showed stigmata of chronic liver disease.
Liver function studies showed an abnormality of one or another test in 72.5%.

Hepatitis- B markers were positive in 87.5% of them. There was no death attributed to liver disease in one year period.

We conclude from this study that our hemophiliacs are exposed to liver disease but it seems that serious liver disease is not common in them.

The effect of sub-minimal inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of three antibiotics (amikacin, ceftazidim and ciprofloxacin) on production ability of pyocyanin by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied .It was found that ciprofloxacin and ceftazidim were the most effective antibiotics followed by amikacin .The treatment with ciprofloxacin rendered the production of pyocyanin restricted to control growth. Ciftazidim completely suppressed the production on 0.5 and 0.25 of the MIC . On the other hand 91.66% of the isolates were suppressed on 0.125 of the MIC. Amikacin completely inhibited the production on 0.5 of the MIC and 75% of the isolates were suppressed on 0.125 of the MIC,but only 8.33% were suppressed on 0.125 of the MIC.

This study was designed to show the effects of new derivatives of phenindione on the activity of ChE in sera. All compounds studied demonstrated inhibitory effects on the enzyme activity and these effects are increased with increasing the concentrations of the compounds. The compound 2-(3-Chloro propanoyl)-2-phenyl-1,3-indandione has the highest ability to inhibit ChE of other compounds. Kinetic properties of these inhibitors reveal that compounds (3,6,8 and 10) cause mixed type of inhibition, compounds (1,4,7 and 9) act as competitive inhibitors, compound (5) acts as a non-competitive inhibitor and compound (2) behaves as an un-competitive inhibitor. The mechanism of action of these types of compounds acting as inhibitors to the ChE is suggested.

The nicotinic acid is refluxed with thionyl chloride to give acid chloride, which is converted to acid hydrazide by treatment with hydrazine hydrate. Thiosemicarbazone and 4-phenyl-thiosemicarbazone are synthesized by treatment of acid chloride with thiosemicarbazide and acid hydrazide with phenyl isothiocyanate, respectively.

The cyclization of thiosemecarbazone is achieved by using H2SO4 and NaOH to give 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivative and 1,3,4-triazole derivative respectively.

The acid hydrazide is also converted into 5-marcapto 1,3,4-Oxadiazole by refluxing with CS2 and KOH in absolute ethanol, then thiol group is converted into hydroxyl group by treating with H2O2 and formic acid.

IR and U.V spectra were used to characterize the prepared compounds.
Effect of the synthesized compounds on human serum ChE activity was studied, the results show that all compounds (except compound A2) cause inhibition to the enzyme activity. Kinetic parameters were studied and the results show that compounds (A1, A3, A4 and A7) cause competitive inhibition and compounds (A5, A6 and A8) cause mixed type of inhibition.

A new simple and rapid colorimetric method for the determination of ceric ion is described. It is based on the effect of ceric ion as oxidizing agent in the coupling of phenothiazine and sulphacetamide sodium to give an intense bluish-green water-soluble dye with maximum absorption at 614 nm. A graph of absorbance versus concentration shows that Beer’s law is obeyed over the concentration range 7-840 g of ceric ion in a final volume of 25 ml (i.e., 0.28-33.6 ppm), with a molar absorptivity of 4.52  103 l.mol-1.cm-1, and Sandell sensitivity of 0.0310 g.cm-2,with a relative error of less than  2.8% and a relative standard deviation of better than  3% depending on the concentration

This study was carried out in Al-Nasseria Hospital , Forty- two specimens were obtained patients (31maels and 11 females patients ) underlying diabetic foot infections. All wound swabs were cultured directly under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

Aerobic isolates were the most common pathogens as Proteus spp. (24.52%), Staphylococcus aureus (16.98%), Klebsiella spp. (15.09%) and Streptococcus spp. (15.09%) Pseudomonas spp. (9.43%) ,Enterobacter spp. (7.54%) and Escherichia coli (5.66%) respectively ,while anaerobic isolates with low frequently such as Bacteroides spp.(5.66%).

Results of 12 types of antibiotic sensitivity which used in the hospital showe that Ciproflaxcin and Gentamycin are the highly effective antibiotic agents Gram-negative isolates and mild effective against Gram-positive isolates .On the other hand - lactame group antibiotics was low effective against isolates

During two years period 373 Cases of infants and young children with skin rash and seborrhoeic dermatosis were managed in private medical clinic in Basrah city.

Vitamins (B2,B6) deficiency was detected in 139/373(37.3%) and mixed infection with bacterial, fungal, and allergic cases were detected in 234/373 (62.7%).

The vitamins deficiency was more common among children from rural areas (44%) than from urban areas (28,6 %). The prevalence rate of vitamins (B2,B6) deficiency was lower in infants who were breast-fed (15.7%) than in bottle -fed (58.2%) or those who were combined - fed (41,4 %) .

Eighty infants were treated with vitamins (B2,B6) and 59 infants treated with local antibiotics and antifungal ointment as tetracycline and fugidin ointments respectively.

The cure rate was (91.3%) in vitamins (B2,B6) treated group and (8.5%) in the Control group.

To determine the types of contraceptive methods used by Iraqi women, and the types of complications attributed to these methods, and their relationship with different factors, the study was conducted in Baghdad Province, using a cross-sectional design. Data was collected by a direct interview with the aid of special questionnaire. The sample constituted 200 married women of the child-bearing age (15-45 years), collected from the outpatient clinic of Baghdad Teaching Hospital.
Analysis of the sample (200 women) showed that oral contraceptive pills were the most commonly used contraception by the study sample (53%), followed by the intrauterine device (IUD). The rate of oral contraceptives was higher in the youngest age group (<20), followed by age group (40-49). The IUD was more frequently used by age group (20-29). Complications were present in (56%) of the study sample which were mostly present in users of the IUD (72 %), followed by tablets users (46%). All women suffering from a chronic disease other than hypertension were suffering from complications (100%), women who had hypertension had a rate of complications of (64.3%).
The complications in case of oral contraceptives were mostly pain (20%), malaise (10.4%), and psychological disturbances (8.55%). IUD users had suffered mainly from bleeding (39.5%) and infection (22.4%). Injectable contraceptive users had suffered from infection only in a rate if (14.3%). Analysis of the results by One-way ANOVA showed that the age group and type of contraceptive used were the only significant factors associated with the type of complaints.
The Oral contraceptive pills are the most frequently used method of contraception, followed by IUD. Women complained of bleeding, infection, and pain. These complaints can be minimized by the use of the appropriate contraceptive method for woman age

Myiasis by old world screw worm is one of the main economic problems that lead to economic losses in the livestocks, which may cause death to many kinds of mammals as well as man. No case of myiasis has been recorded in Iraq before 1996, therefore the recent study is a retrospectives study of human myiasis in Iraq during the period from September 1996 to December 2002.

Twenty three (23) human cases were reported during this period All the cases were diagnosed clinically by finding the larvae in the wounds which were diagnosed and classified; in the natural history museum in Baghdad . This study reveals that the highest prevalence rate of myiasis is in the age group 1(10-14) year (34.9%).The prevalence rate in the female (60.8%)is higher than in the male(39.01%). Most of the cases were reported in rural area (73.9%) while it was (26.1%) in urban area .

The incidence of the disease in Iraq for both human and animal has declined due to the control imposed by General Veternary Company by using insecticides and the treatment of infestations through the public health educational programmes for farmers and livestock’s owners.

This research is designed for isolation, purification and idenification of human lung tumor associated antigen from two different tumors using perchloric acid, affinity chromatography, polyacrylamide gel electro-phoresis and sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis. The lung tumors have been shown to have identical physicochemical properties and appear to be composed of three subunits, each with a molecular weight of 25000 .

A cross-sectional study of hypertensive patients was conducted in Sumer Public Medical Clinic , and drug complince was estimated according to regularity of using drugs and blood pressure control .

Two hundred sixty hypertensive patients were included in this study . the data were collected by using a specially designed questionnaire . the were tested using the Chi-square test .

The results revealed that the mean age of the study sample was (57.7+ 10.6 years) , (55.7%) had the disase for more than 5 years . And it was found that only (39.6%) had controlled blood pressure . And (53.1%) of the patients had been treated with one drug , (62.7%) were taking a single dose/ day and (32.7%) took their drugs irregularly , of whom (55.4%) because of emergence of side effect .

It was concluded that although about two thirds of the patients were compliant with their thrapy , only little mor than one third had controlled blood pressure which indicates bad management of those patients , and the number of drugs is the most important factor that highly affect the regularity of drugs taken by the patients and consequently on control of blood pressure .

During the holy month of Ramadhan, Muslims abstain from all food and drink between down and dusk. The present study examines the effect of fasting on certain biochemical variables. pregnant mothers aged 18-35 years have been selected. Blood sample and determination of the fasting plasma glucose, was done in the 2nd, 14th and 28th days of Ramadhan. Pregnant mothers undergoing a normal physiological fast were served as a control. The values of plasma glucose insulin and lactate were significantly decreased at the 28th day of Ramadan in comparison to basal level of of the control group. Also significant increases of serum hydroxybutyrate at 28th days were observed. Considering this result, mothers should take up the dispensation from fasting during pregnancy, which is allowed according to our Holly Quran, Sura Al-Bakarah .

Highly viscous K.pneumoniae isolated from urine of patient suffering from urinary tract infection was cultured on media containing different concentrations of Lincomycine, Metronidazole and Ciprofloxacine.

The results showed that growth of encapsulated K.pneumoniae in medium containing sub-MICs of Lincomycine (16-64)µg/ml progressively increased the viscous slime formation and the amount of crude exopolysaccharide execrated. There were no notable or significant differences in slime formation occurred after the addition of sub-MICs of Metronidazole (8-32)µg/ml but there was remarkable reduction in the amount of crude exopolysaccharide execrated.

On the other hand growth of encapsulated K.pneumoniae in media containing sub-MICs of Ciprofloxacine reduce the viscous slime formation at (4&8) µg/ml and remarkably increased the amount of exopolysaccharide execrated but only at low concentrations of sub-MICs which is 2 µg/ml. Further concentrations of sub-MICs of Ciprofloxacine (4-8)µg/ml reduced the viscous slime formation but have only a little effect on crude exopolysaccharide production.

Increasing the production of exopolysaccharide with Lincomycine and low concentrations of Ciprofloxacine without inhibiting bacterial growth may be useful in extraction of capsular exopolysaccharide for research and laboratory purposes such as vaccine production.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, it is a widespread problem in most of the medical clinics . This symptom has various causes .

Selected samples taken, but not randomly , from 74 patients who consisted of 39 males and 35 females . who used to attend private clinics in Kirkuk city, besides the samples of a group of 60 control individuals whose ages were ranging from several months to 30 years .The duration of the study lasted from the beginning of April 2001 till the end of December of the same year.

Blood sample were collected from each patient and control member and were centrifuged ; the serum samples were kept at( -20 ºc) so as to measure the concentration of sodium, potassium and urea in them .

It was found that there was a decrease in sodium concentration but an increase in potassium was concentration in an epileptic, while the urea level was normal.

Marriage in family especially in blood relation is a common feature in our society . Such marriage are calls consanguineous marriages which has a long standing tradition and offers significant social and economical benefits . The study conducted to identify the health effects of consanguineous marriage on the reproductive outcomes. Stratified random sample (600 couples) were selected from 12 blocks in Ninavah governorates, as a rate of (50) households from each block ( 341 couples of the sample of consanguineous marriage while 259 couples were of non-consanguineous marriage ), the all subjects were interviewed directly for the purpose of the study . It last (5) months to complete ( February through June –2004) . Frequency , prevalence rate and chi-square were used in statistical analysis of findings of this study. Statistically significant relation at (P.<0.01) were, shown for the variables: Abortion, Still birth , Infant death and Congenital abnormalities, while the variables: Twins and Prematurity had no significant relation as pregnancy outcomes in relation with consanguineous marriage . The study concluded that consanguineous marriage has an adverse health effects on offspring . Community health education through mass media regarding this social phenomena and its negatory consequences was the main recommendation.