Efficacy of the Examination of Saliva Sample by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction in Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Al-Fallujah City, Iraq

Saliva samples could be used as a non-invasive method to diagnose COVID-19. We aimed to assess the results of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of saliva specimens in the detection of COVID-19. We collected saliva and nasopharyngeal (NP) samples from consecutive COVID-19 suspects in Al-Fallujah Teaching Hospital, Anbar, Iraq from November 29, 2021 to February 15, 2022. The results of the two specimens were compared using RT-PCR. For the positive saliva tests, repetition of the test was undertaken at weekly intervals for four weeks from the time of the presentation. There were 55% men and 60% people ≤ 35 years. The majority of cases presented within 2-5 days (92%) and were of mild severity (89%). A hundred pairs of samples were taken. COVID-19 was diagnosed by NP swab RT-PCR in 56% and 31% of the saliva samples. The saliva samples had 100% sensitivity (95% confidence interval [CI] 60.4% e96.6%), 63.8% specificity (95% CI 96.1% e99.9%), and mild coefficient agreement (kappa coefficient = 0.522). The positive test for the saliva samples remained as such in all examined cases in the first and second weeks after the first test, 31/31 and 30/30, respectively. While half of them were positive in the third week (15/30). All cases became negative in the fourth week (0/15). We recommend not using the saliva swab as an alternative to the NP swab in the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR. However, saliva sample can be used for the follow-up of the COVID-19 subjects, in children, elderly, and handicapped patients

Effect of Infilled Walls On The Performance of Steel Frame Structures

Today, the subject of a building's resistance to lateral loads is one of the most important concerns of structural engineers. The partitions and infilled walls are non-structural elements that are important due to their effects on the lateral resistance of the building frame. Recently, it has been observed that great damage is occurring to infilled walls, partitions, and buildings in an earthquake-prone area. Infilled walls are effective at increasing the hardness and resistance of building frames, which changes the seismic properties of structures. Therefore, the study of interactions between the structural frame and the infilled walls is essential for a better understanding of structural behaviors. In this paper, the effect of infilled walls is investigated on the behaviour of steel frames using ABAQUS software. Modeling is carried out for different types of infilled materials, including brick and panel, as well as different thicknesses of the infills. It was observed that with an increase in the thickness of infills from 7 to 20 cm, the final capacity and energy absorption increased by 78%. Also, the panel-infilled frames have 18% more capacity and 3.8% more energy absorption than the brick-infilled frame in the same full state. As a result, panel-infilled frames outperform brick-infilled frames in terms of performanc

Prediction and Forecasting of Maximum Weather Temperature Using a Linear Autoregressive Model

This paper investigates the autoregressive (AR) model performance in prediction and forecasting the monthly maximum temperature. The temperature recordings are collected over 12 years (i.e., 144 monthly readings). All the data are stationaries, which is converted to be stationary, via obtaining the normal logarithm values. The recordings are then divided into 70% training and 30% testing sample. The training sample is used for determining the structure of the AR model while the testing sample is used for validating the obtained model in forecasting performance. A wide range of model order is selected and the most suitable order is selected in terms of the highest modelling accuracy. The study shows that the monthly maximum temperature can accurately be predicted and forecasted using the AR model

Genetic and Morphological Diversity Assessment of Five Kalanchoe Genotypes by SCoT, ISSR and RAPD-PCR Markers

Determining the appropriate parents for breeding programs is the most important decision that plant breeders must make to maximize the genetic variability and produce excellent recombinant genotypes. Several methods are used to identify genotypes with desirable phenotypic features for breeding experiments. In this study, five kalanchoe genotypes were morphologically characterized by assessing plant height, number of inflorescences, number of flowers, flower length, flower diameter and number of petals. The analysis showed the distinction of yellow kalanchoe in the plant height trait, while the orange kalanchoe was distinguished in the number of inflorescences, the number of flowers and flower length traits, whereas the violet kalanchoe possessed the largest flower diameter and the highest number of petals. The molecular profiling was performed by random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and start codon targeted (SCoT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tools. Genomic DNA was extracted from young leaves and the PCR reactions were performed using ten primers for each SCoT, ISSR and RAPD marker. Only four out of ten primers showed amplicon profiles in all PCR markers. A total of 70 bands were generated by SCoT, ISSR and RAPD-PCR with 35 polymorphic bands and 35 monomorphic bands. The total number of bands of RAPD, ISSR and SCoT was 15, 17 and 38, respectively. The polymorphism percentages achieved by RAPD, ISSR and SCoT were 60.25%, 15% and 57%, respectively. The cluster analysis based on morphological data revealed two clusters. Cluster I consisted of violet and orange kalanchoe, and cluster II comprised red, yellow and purple kalanchoe. Whereas the cluster analysis based on molecular data revealed three clusters. Cluster I included only yellow kalanchoe, cluster II comprised orange and violet kalanchoe while cluster III comprised red, and purple kalanchoe. The study concluded that orange, violet and yellow kalanchoe are distinguished parents for breeding economically valued traits in kalanchoe. Also, the study concluded that SCoT and RAPD markers reproduced reliable banding patterns to assess the genetic polymorphism among kalanchoe genotypes that consider the basis stone for genetic improvements in ornamental plants

Betaine and nano-emulsified vegetable oil supplementation for improving carcass and meat quality characteristics of broiler chickens under heat stress conditions

IntroductionThis research aimed to examine the effects of water-added betaine (BET) and/or nano-emulsified vegetable oil (MAGO) on carcass and meat quality characteristics of broilers raised under thermoneutral (TN) and heat stress (HS) conditions.MethodsOn day 21, 640 birds (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to one of two thermal conditions (thermoneutral 22 ± 1°C and heat stress 32 ± 1°C) each containing four treatment groups: Control, BET, MAGO, and a mixture of both (BETMAGO) in a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement (eight groups). Each group has eight replicates, with ten birds each. The birds' carcass and meat quality characteristics were evaluated at 35 days.Results and discussionThe dressing percentage, breast, leg, wing, heart, initial pH, color change, cooking loss (CL), water-holding capacity (WHC), shear force (SF), and texture profile with exception of springiness significantly affected by the treatments. The results showed that HS had negative effects on carcass weight and relative weights of the breast, spleen, and heart. Moreover, HS increased dressing percentage, wing, initial pH, final core temperature, initial lightness, WHC, and hardness. Significant differences in interactions between treatments and temperature were observed in the spleen, WHC, and SF.ConclusionWater supplemented with BET effectively improved carcass dressing percentage, breast weight, and meat quality in terms of water-holding capacity and tenderness under HS conditions. More studies on the use of BET and/or MAGO at different levels were recommended

Electrical performance of conducting polymer (SPAN) grown on GaAs with different substrate orientations

This article reports the effect of n-type GaAs substrate orientation, namely (100), (311)A and (311)B, on the electrical properties of sulfonated polyaniline (SPAN)/GaAs heterojunction devices. In addition, the inhomogeneity of the interface between various GaAs substrates and SPAN is investigated in terms of barrier height and ideality factor by performing I–V measurements at different temperatures (20–420K). The I–V results indicate that the value of the rectification ratio (IF/IR) at 0.5V is higher for SPAN/(311)B GaAs samples than for SPAN/(100) GaAs and SPAN/(311)A GaAs samples. Moreover, the barrier height decreases and the ideality factor increases with decreasing temperature for all three heterostructure devices. The high value of mean barrier ˚¯ b of SPAN/(311)B (calculated from the plots of ˚b0 as a function of 1/2kT) confirms that the GaAs substrate orientation results in an increase of barrier homogeneities. Furthermore,the C-V characteristics were obtained at room temperature. The C-V measurements showed that the carrier distributions at the interface and away from the interface in high index (311) GaAs orientations are more uniform and have better barrier homogeneity than those grown on the conventional (100) GaAs substrates