Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that involves the narrowing of the lung airways and excessive mucus production. Resveratrol (RES), a polyphenolic stilbene, is known to control asthmatic attacks via different molecular mechanisms. However, no studies have examined the effect of resveratrol on the microbiome in the ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma mouse model. In this study, we induced asthma in BALB/c mice by injecting OVA followed by 7 days treatment with RES. Plethysmography showed that the expiratory resistance in the lung tissue was significantly reduced in the RES treated group, while mean volume, peak expiratory flow, and frequency of respiration was increased. Histopathological examination of the lungs of the RES-treated group showed significant reduction in inflammatory cell infiltration and led to restoration of normal lung tissue architecture. In addition, there were significant increases in the expression of the genes encoding tight-junction molecules (claudin-1 and cadherin-18) in the RES-treated group. We performed 16S rRNA microbial analysis of cecal flushes and pulmonary tissues, which showed that RES treatment alters the gut microbiome by significantly increasing the level of Bacteroides acidifaciens spp. compared to disease controls. In addition, there was a significant increase in Akkermansia muciniphila (AM) species within the lungs after RES treatment. AM is a gram-negative, non-spore-forming bacterium known to induce mucus degradation. Since asthma is characterized by an increase in mucus in the lungs, we concluded that RES improves asthma in OVA-induced mouse model by significantly increasing AM and preventing mucus build-up in the lungs.
This study seeks to investigate Sinan Antoon’s I’jaam (2004) through applying different theoretical frameworks including those of Althusser (1971) and Foucault (1978). Antoon, considered as one of the most internationally recognized Iraqi writers, wrote this dystopian, war novel in Arabic and translated it to English. Antoon’s emphasis placed on literature acting as an oppositional political voice has, in turn, created its own form of censorship inside the fictional world and outside the actual state censorship during Saadm Hossein reign. Thus, particular political messages within literary texts, like I’jaam, have been received with critical attention. The writing culture in Iraq has established an atmosphere in which literary criti
... Show MoreThe current work discusses the removal of brilliant dyes. These dyes were Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB) and Brilliant Green (BG) by the use of poly acrylic acid hydrogel beads (PAA). We examined the adsorption isotherms and found that the factors preferring it are temperature and salt, shaking effects, wet PAA, (BCB) and (BG) follows Freundlich equation more than other equations. Based on the results, there is a positive correlation between adsorption of dyes (BCB and BG) and temperature (Endothermic process). We calculated the thermodynamic functions (ΔG, ΔS, and ΔH). The ion strength effects on the adsorptions at (20 °C) increased adsorption if the salt concentrations is high. We treated the kinetics outcomes based on Lagergren Equation
... Show MoreThe present investigation is concerned for the purification of impure zinc oxide (80-85 wt %) by using petroleum coke
(carbon content is 76 wt %) as reducing agent for the impure zinc oxide to provide pure zinc vapor, which will be
oxidized later by air to the pure zinc oxide.
The operating conditions of the reaction were studied in detail which are, reaction time within the range (10 to 30 min),
reaction temperature (900 to 1100 oC), air flow rate (0.2 to 1 l/min) and weight percentage of the reducing agent
(petroleum coke) in the feed (14 to 30 wt %).
The best operating conditions were (30 min) for the reaction time, (1100 oC) for the reaction temperature, (1 l/min) for
the air flow rate, and (30 wt %) of reducing
A variety of oxides were examined as additives to a V2O5/Al2O3 catalyst in order to enhance the catalytic performance for the vapor phase oxidation of toluene to benzoic acid. It was found that the modification with MoO3 greatly promoted the little reaction leading to improve catalyst performance in terms of toluene conversion and benzoic acid selectivity. The effect of catalyst surface area, catalyst promoters, reaction temperature, O2/toluene, steam/toluene, space velocity, and catalyst composition to catalyst performance were examined in order to increase the benzoic acid selectivity and yield.
Many of mechanical systems are exposed to undesired vibrations, so designing an active vibration control (AVC) system is important in engineering decisions to reduce this vibration. Smart structure technology is used for vibration reduction. Therefore, the cantilever beam is embedded by a piezoelectric (PZT) as an actuator. The optimal LQR controller is designed that reduce the vibration of the smart beam by using a PZT element.
In this study the main part is to change the length of the aluminum cantilever beam, so keep the control gains, the excitation, the actuation voltage, and mechanical properties of the aluminum beam for each length of the smart cantilever beam and observe the behavior and effec
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted on 20 patients suffering from different types of lesion like
pyogenic granuloma, peripheral giant cell granuloma, mucoceles, pregnancy tumour, Fordyce's granules
and irritating fibroma.The cases were selected from outpatient clinic of the Al Kydhemya Teaching
Hospital. Patients were treated by diode laser (810±20 nm) at the affected areas of the oral cavity with
continuous contact focused mode until excision of the lesion with coagulation of the oozing area after
excision. Patients were followed up after 2 days, 7 days and 2 weeks to assess healing process and any
post operative complication. Some of undiagnosed lesion sent for histopathological examination. No
serious complications w
The removal of boron from aqueous solution was carried out by electrocoagulation (EC) using magnesium electrodes as anode and stainless steel electrodes as cathode. Several operating parameters on the removal efficiency of boron were investigated, such as initial pH, current density, initial boron ion concentration, NaCl concentration, spacing between electrodes, electrode material, and presence of carbonate concentration. The optimum removal efficiency of 91. 5 % was achieved at a current density of 3 mA/cm² and pH = 7 using (Mg/St. St. ) electrodes, within 45 min of operating time. The concentration of NaCl was o. 1 g/l with a 0.5cm spacing between the electrodes. First and second order rate equation were applied to study adsorp
... Show MoreThe degradation and mineralization of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) was investigated in this work, using both of UV/H2O2 and photo-Fenton UV/H2O2/Fe+3 systems.The reaction was influenced by the input concentration of H2O2, the amount of the iron catalyst, the type of iron salt, the pH and the concentration of 4-CP. A colored solution of benzoquinon can be observed through the first 5 minutes of irradiation time for UV/H2O2 system when low concentration (0.01mol/L) of H2O2 was used. The colored solution of benzoquinon could also be observed through the first 5 minutes for the UV/H2O2/Fe+3 system at high
concentration (100ppm) of 4-CP. The results have shown that adding Fe+3 to the UV/H2O2 system enhanced
Nicotine was separated from eggplant and green pepper seeds (Solanaceous) by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).The concentration of nicotine in the eggplant extract (0.871-0.877 μg/ml) was determined by injecting standard material with 0.5 and 1.5 μg/ml, while the concentrations of nicotine in green pepper extract (0.613-0.618 μg/ml) was determined when the standard material was injected with 0.5 and 1.5 μg/ml. The qualitative chemical data was calculated from derivations of the standard material. Nicotine concentration was measured qualitatively in both extracts through the calibration curve and method of the standard addition. This technique has high accuracy and compatibility, bringing the proportion of relati
... Show More
