Background: The beneficial gut bacterium E. coli can cause blood poisoning, diarrhoea, and other gastrointestinal and systemic disorders. Objective: This study amid to examines the antibiofilm activity of Laurus nobilis leaves extract on E. coli isolates and compares pre- and post-treatment gene expression of fimA and papC genes. Subjects and Methods: Ten isolates of E. coli were obtained from the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Institute, University of Baghdad, which was previously collected from Baghdad city hospitals and diagnosed by chemical tests, the diagnosis was confirmed using VITEK-2 System. The preparation of the aqueous and methanolic Laurus nobilis leaves extracts was done by using the maceration method and Soxhlet apparatus respectively. HPLC were conducted to determine the active compounds in the extracts. Moreover, molecular detection of fimA and papC genes and analysis of the gene expression by comparing the isolates treated with sub MIC of methanolic L. nobilis leaves extract with the untreated isolates. Results: Methanolic and aqueous extracts contained alkaloids, tannins, phenols, saponins, flavonoids, and glycosides. Seven polyphenolic compounds, four flavonoids derivatives (Apigenin, Luteolin, Rutin, and kaempferol) and three phenolic acids (Caffeic acid, Gallic acid, and Syringic acid), were identified by matching retention time with the standards. Laurus nobilis methanolic leaf extract inhibited 90% and 100% of E. coli biofilm development at 32 and 64 mg/ml. Conclusion: The result of the gene expression revealed that there is a decrease in the expression of the fimA and papC genes. The present study concluded that the Laurus nobilis leaves extract have rich phytochemical contents, so the methanolic extract had an excellent reduction effect on biofilm formation and showed remarkable down-regulation on the papC and fimA genes, which are responsible for the biofilm formation in E. coli.
This study thoroughly investigates the potential of niobium oxide (Nb2O5) thin films as UV-A photodetectors. The films were precisely fabricated using dc reactive magnetron sputtering on Si(100) and quartz substrates, maintaining a consistent power output of 50W while varying substrate temperatures. The dominant presence of hexagonal crystal structure Nb2O5 in the films was confirmed. An increased particle diameter at 150°C substrate temperature and a reduced Nb content at higher substrate temperatures were revealed. A distinct band gap with high UV sensitivity at 350 nm was determined. Remarkably, films sputtered using 50W displayed the highest photosensitivity at 514.89%. These outstanding optoelectronic properties highlight Nb2O5 thin f
... Show MoreIn current study, the dye from flowers petals of Strelitzia reginae used for the first time to prepare natural photosensitizer for DSSC fabrication. Among five different solvents used to extract the natural dye from S. reginae flowers, the ethanol extract of anthocyanin dye revealed higher absorption spectrum of 0.757a.u. at wavelength of 454nm. A major effect of temperature was studied to increase the extraction yield. The results show that the optimal temperature was 70 °C and there was a sharp decrease of dye concentration from 0.827 at temperature of 70 °C to 0.521 at temperature of 90°C. The extract solution of flowers of S. reginae showed higher co
... Show MoreIn this paper, chip and powder copper are used as reinforcing phase in polyester matrix to form composites. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength and impact test of polymer reinforcement copper (powder and chip) were done, the maximum flexural strength for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (85.13 Mpa) and (50.08 Mpa) respectively was obtained, while the maximum observation energy of the impact test for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (0.85 J) and (0.4 J) respectively
In this study, a packed bed was used to remove pathogenic bacteria from synthetic contaminated water. Two types of packing material substrates, sand and zeolite, were used. These substrates were coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which were prepared by decomposition of Ag ions from AgNO3 solution. The prepared coated packings were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The packed column consisted of a PVC cylinder of 2 cm diameter and 20 cm in length. The column was packed with silver nanoparticlecoated substrates (sand or zeolite) at a depth of 10 cm. Four types of bacteria were studied: Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Pseudomonas aerugi
... Show MoreThroughout this paper, a generic iteration algorithm for a finite family of total asymptotically quasi-nonexpansive maps in uniformly convex Banach space is suggested. As well as weak / strong convergence theorems of this algorithm to a common fixed point are established. Finally, illustrative numerical example by using Matlab is presented.
Excessive intake of fluoride, mainly through drinking water is a serious health hazard affecting humans worldwide. In this study, the defluoridation capacities of locally available raw waste beef bones have been estimated. Several experimental parameters including contact time, pH, bone dose, fluoride initial concentration, bone grains size, agitation rate, and the effect of co-existence of anions in actual samples of wastewater were studied for fluoride removal from aqueous solutions. Results indicated excellent fluoride removal effeciency up to 99.7% at fluoride initial concentration of 10 mg F/L and 120 min contact time. Maximum fluoride uptake was obtained at neutral pH range 6-7. Fluoride removal kinetic was well described by the ps
... Show MoreA total of 96 stool samples were collected from children with bloody diarrhea from two hospitals in Baghdad. All samples were surveyed and examined for the presence of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 and differentiate it from other Non -Sorbitol Fermenting Escherichia coli (NSF E. coli). The Bacterial isolates were identifed by using morphological diagnostic methods, Samples were cultured on liquid enrichment medium, incubated at 37C? for 24 hrs, and then cultured on Cefixime Tellurite -Sorbitol MacConkey Agar (CT- SMAC). 32 non-sorbitol fermenting bacterial isolates were obtained of which 11 were identified as Escherichia coli by using traditional biochemical tests and API20E diagnostic system without differentiation between
... Show MoreArtificial lift techniques are a highly effective solution to aid the deterioration of the production especially for mature oil fields, gas lift is one of the oldest and most applied artificial lift methods especially for large oil fields, the gas that is required for injection is quite scarce and expensive resource, optimally allocating the injection rate in each well is a high importance task and not easily applicable. Conventional methods faced some major problems in solving this problem in a network with large number of wells, multi-constrains, multi-objectives, and limited amount of gas. This paper focuses on utilizing the Genetic Algorithm (GA) as a gas lift optimization algorit
In this work, silicon nitride (Si3N4) thin films were deposited on metallic substrates (aluminium and titanium sheets) by the DC reactive sputtering technique using two different silicon targets (n-type and p-type Si wafers) as well as two Ar:N2 gas mixing ratios (50:50 and 70:30). The electrical conductivity of the metallic (aluminium and titanium) substrates was measured before and after the deposition of silicon nitride thin films on both surfaces of the substrates. The results obtained from this work showed that the deposited films, in general, reduced the electrical conductivity of the substrates, and the thin films prepared from n-type silicon targets using a 50:50 mixing ratio and deposited on both
... Show MoreThe Weibull distribution is considered one of the Type-I Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution, and it plays a crucial role in modeling extreme events in various fields, such as hydrology, finance, and environmental sciences. Bayesian methods play a strong, decisive role in estimating the parameters of the GEV distribution due to their ability to incorporate prior knowledge and handle small sample sizes effectively. In this research, we compare several shrinkage Bayesian estimation methods based on the squared error and the linear exponential loss functions. They were adopted and compared by the Monte Carlo simulation method. The performance of these methods is assessed based on their accuracy and computational efficiency in estimati
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