Fungal Contamination of Airconditioner Units in Five Hospitals of Erbil Province- Kurdistan Region /Iraq

During April 2018, 75samples were collected from five hospitals in Erbil city. Samples were taken by sterile cotton swabs from the air dispenser window of air conditioner units (ACU) . They were cultured directly on Sabouraud's dextrose agar incubated at 25oC ±2. The samples were collected from five departments in each hospital include out-patient ward (OP),in-patient ward (IP), emergency room (ER), intensive care unit(ICU), and operation theater (OT). A total of (410) fungal colonies were counted, they belong to13 genera include ten hyphomycetes and only one of zygomycetes ,basidiomycetes , and hemiascomycetes. Penicillium represented in the highest total occurrence (40%) followed by Aspergillus(38.66%) and Alternaria (21.33%). The total frequency showed that Candidawas the highest (30%) followed by Penicillium(27.56%) and Aspergillus(13.17%). The highest density of filamentous fungi (no. of colony/sample) was detected in OP=16.75, and the lowest in OT=1.5. The diversity of isolates showed that ( 9) genera were recorded from ER(60%) and only one in OP (6%). All recorded genera in current study were regarded as indoor air pollutants. The predominant genera Alternaria, Aspergillus, Penicillium ,Cladosporiumand Candida are well-known allergens and may cause several pulmonary disorders as well as fetal infections in particular cases.

Prevalence of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Among Food Handlers in Duhok City

Food handlers harbouring S. aureus on their noses or in hands are considered as the main source of food contamination. Antibiotic resistance in S. aureus is a serious issue. The study aimed to find out the prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus among food handlers in restaurants of Duhok city. Nasal and hand swabs were taken from 200 food handlers. The collected swabs inoculated on mannitol salt agar and incubated at 37oC for 24-48h. Isolates identified as S. aureus underwent antimicrobial sensitivity testing to methicillin and vancomycin on Mueller Hinton agar. A total of 74 (37%) out of 200 cultures of food handlers were found to be colonized with S. aureus.53 (26.5%) isolated from the nose, compared with 8 (4.0%) from hands and 13 (6.5%) from both. 27% of the food handlers were found to be MRSA carrier, and none of the isolates were resistant to Vancomycin. The study revealed a high prevalence of MRSA among food handlers in Duhok city. Food handlers in public places are required to go through regular screening for both nasal and skin carriage of S. aureusfor the early detection and treatment of carriers. So as to protect the community from staphylococcal food poisoning and the spread of resistant S. aureus strains among the population.

Evaluation of Drought Characteristics in Iraq using SC-PDSI

Evaluation of drought characteristics in Iraq by analysis annual growing season of Self-Calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (SC-PDSI) for three climatic zones using run theory method. The efficiency of SC-PDSI for drought monitoring was examined from compared with Rainfall Departure from the mean (RD) for three zones (Arid and Semi-Arid, Steppes and Desert) for the period 1981-2015, were derived from Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The spatial interpolation techniques in ArcGIS package has been used, to cover the whole extent of country and extracting the zones. Statistical methods were applied to compute the probability of drought events at every zone. The results showed the years 1999, 2000, 2008 and 2009 experienced droughts in all zones except the desert zone where was experienced severe drought in 2012, while the years 1982 and 1988 experienced received precipitation above-average in all zones. The values of standard deviation of precipitation were compared with precipitation anomalies for each zone, the drier seasons are (2007-2008) and (1998-1999) in all Zones. The wetter seasons are (1987-1988) in Arid and Semi-Arid and Steppes zone, (1994-1995) and (1997-1998) are wetter seasons in Desert zone. Using run theory, the steppes zone have experienced more severe droughts than other zones evaluated in this study and the most susceptible areas to dry spell are steppes and Arid and Semi-Arid Zones during study period. While the desert zone experienced less droughts.

Assessment the Performance of the Triangular Integrated Collector

A numerical study was achieved on a new design of storage solar collector. The storage collector is a triangular face and a right triangular pyramid for the volumetric shape. It is obtained by cutting a cube from one upper corner at 45o, down to the opposite hypotenuse of the base of the cube. The numerical study was carried out using the computational fluid dynamics code (ANSYS-Fluent) software with natural convection phenomenon in the pyramid enclosure. The results show that, the temperature and velocity distributions throughout the operating period were obtained. The influence of introducing an internal partition inside the triangular storage collector was investigated. Also the optimum geometry and location for this partition were obtained. The enhancement was best at y= 0.25 m whereas the height of triangular collector was 0.5 m. The hourly system performance was evaluated for all test conditions.

Study the Effects of Reactive Materials Replacement on Some Properties of Cement Mortar

This study involves natural--materials replacement and its reaction with cement mortar behavior for many mortar samples under variable curing time with constant water to cement ratio (W/C = 0.5).In this researchsomeproperties such as (compressive strength the surface hardness and water absorption test), were affected by adding small ratios ofpowder (from (RHA) and (BRP) particles)as replacements to the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) / type (I). The percentages of natural materials additives replacement on the mixture of mortar include (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%) with constant (W/C) ratio. Also the amount of the fine aggregate used was three times the amount of cement. The results showed that, the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength and water absorption of the mortars for (replacement) gives better properties than mortar without replacement in all tests. Best enhancements in properties for mortars with pozzalanic replacements were achieved at (15%) for (RHA) and 10% for (RBP) replacement from weight of cement.

Optimization of Asymmetric Magnetic Recording Heads Inclination Angle and Study the Characteristics for a Higher Bit Density Recording of HDD

This paper study the optimization of the asymmetric magnetic recording heads, the calculations demonstrate sharp field gradient performance for both the horizontal, and vertical field components for this type magnetic recording heads at large inclination and small distance between the head and underlayer. In addition, the characteristics for a higher bit density recording of HDD have been studied. These characteristics can be utilized to raise bit density in both recording method conventional and vertical, respectively.

Synthesis and Spectral Characterization of Some New Substituted Bis-spirocyclohexanones Derived from Acetone

Diarylidene acetones (DAA) (1-5) had been prepared by the condensation of acetone with substituted benzaldehydes via Claisen-Schmidt reaction, DAA’s brought to condense with anthrone to afford the title compounds (6-10) through Michael addition. The structures of the products were suggested in the light of spectral data (UV, IR, 1H&13C-NMR).

One-Pot Synthesis, Pharmacological Evaluation, Docking Study, and DFT Calculations for Selected Imidazolidine-2,4-Diones

The title compounds with different 5-substituted imidazolidine-2,4-dione were synthesized through a solvent-free reaction. Imidazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives are found to be an active pharmacophore for design and development of various bioactive lead compounds. Positive values of energy obtained for compound 1and 3, while a negative value for compound 2 was calculated by DFT in Gaussian. keto-enol tautomerism was supported by energy values and indicated the most stable tautomeric form. The biological evaluation has been supported by docking studies using molecular operating environment program to show binding with androgen receptor. Supplementary Materials: https://sjuoz.uoz.edu.krd/suppma

Comparative Study of the Endocrine Disorders of Βeta-Thalassemia Major Patients and Control Group in Duhok Province

Beta- thalassemia major is a type of inherited blood disorder, characterized by impaired synthesis of the beta chains. Currently, blood transfusion and sufficient iron chelation therapy are important for treatment and follow up of thalassemia patients. Unfortunately, repeated blood transfusion causes the progressive iron overload. Consequently, the excess iron is deposited as hemosiderin and ferritin in the tissues and multiple endocrine complications. In comparison with healthy control group, the results indicated significant (p<0.05) increased TSH level (3.86 ± 2.7 1µIU/ml), whereas the serum level of T4 hormone did not significantly differ between the two groups. In the thalassemia patients, 23.68% (9/38) had subclinical hypothyroidism. The mean level of estradiol in patients (30.60± 14.68pg/ml) is high significant (p< 0.01) decreased that compared with the control persons (13.83 ± 9.06 pg/ml) more than 13 years. Testosterone level in patients was significantly different (P< 0.001) respectively from the control group. The mean of testosterone level was 1.22± 0.83 ng/ml in thalassemia patients and 3.71± 1.32ng/ml in control group more than 14 years. These results indicate high prevalence hypothyroidism and puberty defection. Endocrine drugs supplementation is a safe for patients which have each type of endocrine disorders.

Investigation of Optical Properties of ZnO Nanorods Grown on Different Substrates

ZnO nanorods arrays are synthesized over the different substrates namely; Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), Kapton Tape (KT), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Porous Silicon (PS) and Silicon (Si) using modified chemical bath deposition (MCBD) method at 95 ºC for 4 h. The MCBD is the air bubbles inside growth solution during CBD process. The ZnO nano-seed layers are coated on different substrates using RF magnetron sputtering technique. The optical properties (transmittance, reflectance and energy band gap) and surface morphology of ZnO nanorods grown on different substrates have been investigated in details by using UV-Visible Spectrometer and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. The results found that the morphology and diameter of ZnO nanorods is closely concerned to the nature of substrates. Also it is indicated that the substrate has strong and important impact on the growth, optical properties, Egand quality of synthesized ZnO nanorods (NRs). The higher transmittance has been observed for ZnO NRs grown over KT substrates and is about (~ 33 %). The average transmittance decreases sharply near UV region at wavelength around 393 nm for ZnO nanorods grown on ITO substrate. However, for PET and KT substrates, the transmittance decreases sharply near visible region around 401nm and 498 nm, respectively. Besides, the ZnO NRs grown on PS substrate have the strong reflectance characteristics after approximately 395 nm, and then decreases in the wavelength range of 410 nm to 700 nm. On the other hand, the strong reflectance property of ZnO NRs grown on Si substrate is observed at 400 nm. Also the minimum and maximum Egare obtained for ZnO nanorods that fabricated on the KT substrate and porous silicon substrate, respectively.