Verification and comparison of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database based on number of beats

The ECG signal processing methods are tested and evaluated based on many databases. The most ECG database used for many researchers is the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. The QRS-detection algorithms are essential for ECG analyses to detect the beats for the ECG signal. There is no standard number of beats for this database that are used from numerous researches. Different beat numbers are calculated for the researchers depending on the difference in understanding the annotation file. In this paper, the beat numbers for existing methods are studied and compared to find the correct beat number that should be used. We propose a simple function to standardize the beats number for any ECG PhysioNet database to improve the waveform database toolbox (WFDB) for the MATLAB program. This function is based on the annotation's description from the databases and can be added to the Toolbox. The function is removed the non-beats annotation without any errors. The results show a high percentage of 71% from the reviewed methods used an incorrect number of beats for this database

Identification of Candida spp. isolated from vaginal swab by phenotypic methods and multiplex PCR in Duhok, Iraq

Background: Candida species are the second most common cause of vulvovaginitis worldwide. The purpose of this study was to identify the species of vaginal Candida isolates by using phenotypic and Multiplex PCR techniques.  Methods: 91 isolates from patients admitted to Azadi hospital and Maternity hospital in Duhok city were collected. The vaginal swab specimens were inoculated on Sabouraud dextrose agar. Colonies were then sub cultured on Chromogenic Candida agar. Genomic DNA extraction was performed using a Genomic DNA Extraction kit. For rapid identification of Candida spp., specific primers based on the genomic sequence of DNA topoisomerase 11 of C. albicans, C. parapsilosis I, C. parapsilosis II, C. guilliermondi, C. dubliniensis, C. krusei, C. kefyr and C. glabrata, C. tropicalis I, C. tropicalis II, C. lusitaniae were used. The multiplex PCR products were separated by electrophoresis in 1.5% agarose gel, visualized by staining with ethidium bromide, and photographed.  Results: 4 Candida species, namely C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei and C. tropicalis were distinguished by Chromogenic Candida agar on the basis of colony colour and morphology. PCR with the primer mixes yielded 7 different sized of PCR products corresponding to C. albicans, C. guilliermondii, C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata, C. kefyr, C. krusei and C. tropicalis II. The analysis revealed C. glabrata and C. albicans were the most common species isolated with the percentage 40% and 30% respectively.Conclusions: This study concluded that phenotypic characteristics on selective agar medium such as chromogenic candida agar are useful for presumptive identification of Candiada spp. with the support of molecular method such as multiplex PCR.  

Isolation of Entomopathogenic and Opportunistic Fungi from Soil in Duhok Province,Kurdistan Region of Iraq by Different Selective Isolation Media

Soil is a natural habitat for several important insect pathogenic fungi which play a key role in regulating populations of soil dwelling insect pests. Forty soil samples were collected during 2012-2013 from different agro ecosystems at Duhok governorate were screened for the presence of soil dwelling entomopathogenic fungi using four different selective isolation media. The four isolation media were prepared by modifying previously prepared DOC2 medium and a selective medium based on the use of Cetyletrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) with oatmeal agar (OT) as a basal medium. The percentage occurrence of fungi and number of detected species was significantly affected by the type of isolation medium. The least number of recovered species (5 species) was on DOC2 medium, whereas, the highest number (14 species) was displayed by CTAB+OT medium. The two true entomopathogenic species Lecanicillium lecanii and Metarhizium anisopliae were successfully recovered only with our new formula by combination of DOC2+CTAB and OT+CTAB media, whereas, DOC2 and DOC2+OT media failed to recover the two species. This result indicated that addition of CTAB to media was a vital factor for the recovery of the two entomopathogenic species. L. lecanii and M. anisopliae have been recorded for the first time from Iraqi soil. Several other opportunistic pathogens were also detected. These include Aspergillus flavus, A.parasiticus, Clonostachys rosea and Fusarium species. The distribution of entomopathogenic and opportunistic fungi is discussed in relation to different agroecosystems and to some physical and chemical characteristics of soil samples. Key words: Entomopathogenic fungi, soil, Iraq.

Comparison Between the Most Frequent Fungal Species Colonizing Grapevine Berries at Different Maturation Stages

The study was undertaken to investigate the most frequent fungal species present on the surface of grape berries at different maturation at vineyards from Duhok governorate, Kurdistan region of Iraq. The associated fungi were detected both before and after surface disinfection on  Dichloran Rose Bengal Chlormophenicol agar (DRBC) medium. The most abundant genera and species found on all the three stages of maturation by decreasing orders were Aspergillus (A.niger, A.carbonarius, A.tubingensis), Cladosporium cladosporoides, Penicillium (P.brevicompactum,P.citrinum,P.glabrum), Alternaria alternata  and Aureobasidium pullalans.  This result support the theory that risk of ochratoxin A contamination can be defined based on the mycobiota present on surface of healthy grape berries

PHYSIOLOGICAL ,CYTOGENETIC AND MOLECULAR STUDY OF SAMPLE OF CAPTAGON ADDICTS IN AL-RAMADI PROVENANCE.

The study was carried out on (80) individuals of insomnia tablets (Captagon), The ages of the individuals was between (20-40) years and the period of tablet taking was between (2-5)years . The study sample was divided into two group (40)drivers and(40)night guards , and (20) person as control sample , The study aimed to study some side effects of the drugs which accompany this case of addiction. The study also aimed to identify the physiological changes which could happen to the addicts of such drugs and study the cytogenetic and molecular measurements of the addicts . It has been found that the use of Captagon causes many side effects like (fatigue and anxiety) and a significant decrease P average of the total W.B.Cs Count (4600 and 4100)cell/ml3 , associated with decrease of immunity of the addicts greatly.There is a significant increase of the average of the E.S.R. P increase of the biomarkers of the liver function tests TSB ( 3.2 and 3.8)mg/dl , ALP(24 and 28)K.A.U./dl ,GOT(32 and 34)U/L and GPT (36 and 38)U/L . On the other hand there were a significant increase of the average of the biomarkers of Kidney function tests blood urea (42 and 47)mg/dl and serum creatinine (1.4 and 1.8) mg/dl . Although there were no chromosomal aberrations or disorders , there were formations of micronuclei of the individuals of sample(9 and 13)% and this may refer to micro deletions breaks which could not be observed easily through this test. Also there was an increase in the mitotic index (MI) with (3.0 and 2.7) and molecular aberrations were forming new bands in the RAPD-PCR test (3 and 7)% of the individual of the sample

A Wearable Heartbeats Classification System Based on A New Method: Selective-Mask Artificial Neural Network

The electrocardiograph (ECG) signal is an essential biomedical human body signal that shows heart activity and can diagnose cardiovascular diseases. Many researchers investigate heartbeats detection and classification based on ECG to achieve a high-performance method. The main problem with improving performance is increasing the computation, such as in many existing methods. In this paper, a new artificial neural network (ANN) method named Selective-Mask Artificial Neural Network (SMANN) is proposed to improve the performance with low computational processes. Furthermore, A new mixture of features from reused the QRS-detection stage features and the others features from the RR-interval and between-RR are used to decrease the computation for features extraction. The proposed method performance evaluation is based on the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database using MATLAB program for software evaluation moreover a hardware implementation. The proposed method’s promising results show high accuracy of 99.9224 %, and the total classification errors for the SMANN are 80 comparing with the 583 errors for the same data with traditional ANN. The method with low error assists the clinical decision-maker in diagnosing the long-time ECG signals or the real-time monitoring. It was implemented as a prototype wearable system using Node-MCU with the internet of things (IoT). The system can operate online patient monitoring and offline for heartbeats detection and classification

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGY Full Length Article Reduction of Free Gossypol Levels in Cottonseed Meal by Microbial Treatment

ABSTRACT Experiments were carried out to study the effect of some local selected fungi on the reduction of free gossypol (FG) levels during solid-state fermentation (SSF) of cottonseed meal (CSM) and evaluate the most effective strain for biodegradation of FG (BFG) through optimization the parameters of SSF process and also to determine the crude protein (CP) and amino acid (AA) content of CSM substrate fermented under optimal conditions. Results indicated that microbial fermentation could greatly decreased FG levels in CSM, but it differed among species of microorganisms with Candida tropicalis the most effective. The optimum fermentation conditions for BFG by C. tropicalis were incubation period of 48 h, incubation temperature at 30°C, inoculum level at 1 x 10 7 cells g -1 of solid substrate, moisture content of solid substrate 55% and pH in nature (5.2). The CP and AA content of the fermented substrate under optimizing conditions were improved markedly