Background: The anticancer impact of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) the highly active polyphenol of green tea was abundantly studied. Though, the exact mechanism of its cytotoxicity is still under investigation. Objectives: Hence, the current study designed to investigate the molecular target of EGCG in HepG2 cells on thirteen autophagy- and/or apoptosis- related genes. Methods: The apoptosis detection analyses such as flow cytometry and dual apoptosis assay were used. The genes expression profile was explored by the real-time quantitative-PCR. Results: EGCG increases G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and the real-time apoptosis markers proteins leading to stimulate apoptos
... Show MoreA significant increase in the incidence of non-O157 verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) infections have become a serious health issues, and this situation is worsening due to the dissemination of plasmid mediated multidrug-resistant microorganisms worldwide. This study aims to investigate the presence of plasmid-mediated verotoxin gene in non-O157 E. coli. Standard microbiological techniques identified a total of 137 E. coli isolates. The plasmid was detected by Perfectprep Plasmid Mini preparation kit. These isolates were subjected to disk diffusion assay, and plasmid curing with ethidium bromide treatment. The plasmid containing isolates were subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for investigating
... Show MoreSeveral toxigenic cyanobacteria produce the cyanotoxin (microcystin). Being a health and environmental hazard, screening of water sources for the presence of microcystin is increasingly becoming a recommended environmental procedure in many countries of the world. This study was conducted to assess the ability of freshwater cyanobacterial species Westiellopsis prolifica to produce microcystins in Iraqi freshwaters via using molecular and immunological tools. The toxigenicity of W. prolifica was compared via laboratory experiments with other dominant bloom-forming cyanobacteria isolated from the Tigris River: Microcystis aeruginosa, Chroococcus turigidus, Nostoc carneum, and Lyngbya sp. signifi
... Show MoreBackground: Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is a simple, low cost and minimally invasive way to obtain a natural concentration of autologous growth factors and is currently being widely experimented in different fields of medicine for its ability to aid the regeneration of tissue with a low healing potential. Fields of application are sports medicine, orthopedics, dentistry, dermatology, ophthalmology, plastic and maxillofacial surgery, etc. The rationale for using platelets in so many fields for the treatment of different tissues is because PLTs constitute a reservoir of critical GFs and cytokines, which may govern and regulate the tissue healing process that is quite similar in all kinds of tissues. Materials and Methods: Screw titanium implan
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted to investigate the antimicrobial activity of the hot water and the hot ethanolic extracts of Thuja orientalis against some pathogenic microorganisms (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Eschericha coli, Proteus mirrablis, Salmonilla typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilus, Acinobacter, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans). Results showed that both the water and alcoholic extracts of this plant exert marked inhibitory effect against all the bacterial isolates and yeast and at different ratio, and it was shown that ethanolic extract was more effective in microbial inhibition than the water extract. Maximum inhibition (16 mm) was recorded against Staphylococcus aur
... Show MoreChemical analysis for evaluation of Nigella sativa L. (black cumin) seeds showed a composition of Fat 39% ; Protein 28% ; Carbohydrate 21% ; Moisture 6% and Ash 4.5% . It was found that the black seed contains the following mineral element : Magnesium 0.26 gm /100gm seed ; Calcium 0.25 gm /100gm seed and Iron 25 ?g / gm /100gm seed ; zinc 4.51?g /gm /100gm seed and Copper 3.60 ?g /gm /100gm seed. The analysis also showed that mineral element I. e. ; lead ; Cobalt ; Nickel ; Chrom ; Cadmium and Aresenic are not present . It was found that the fat of the black seed contains the following fatty acids : Myristic 2.8%; Palmtic 16.6%; Stearic 0.8 % ; Oleic 13.79% ; Linoleic 64.2% and Arachidic 1.9% .
The current study focuses on the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii due to its importance as a nosocomial infections source in addition to its increased resistance against antibiotics. Different clinical and hospital environment samples were collected, and cultured on A. baumannii selective media: Leed Acinetobacter agar and Herellea agar. A. baumannii have been identified by traditional methods, followed by confirmation using molecular identification to detect blaoxa-51 like gene which is considered a diagnostic gene since it is present in genome of all A. baumannii strains. The result was, nineteen bacterial isolates of A.baumannii were obtained, from twenty-seven suspected isolate
... Show MoreIn this paper, a miniaturized 2 × 2 electro-optic plasmonic Mach– Zehnder switch (MZS) based on metal–polymer–silicon hybrid waveguide is presented. Adiabatic tapers are designed to couple the light between the plasmonic phase shifter, implemented in each of the MZS arms, and the 3-dB input/output directional couplers. For 6 µm-long hybrid plasmonic waveguide supported by JRD1 polymer (r33= 390 pm/V), a π-phase shift voltage of 2 V is obtained. The switch is designed for 1550 nm operation wavelength using COMSOL software and characterizes by 2.3 dB insertion loss, 9.9 fJ/bit power consumption, and 640 GHz operation bandwidth