Semliki Forest Virus (SFV), a member of the Alphavirus genus in the Togaviridae family, is a small-enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) virus. The virus is spread by mosquitos and can infect humans, resulting in mild febrile disease with symptoms that include fever, myalgia, arthralgia, persistent headaches and asthenia. Virulent strains of SFV in mice cause lethal encephalitis by infecting neurons in the central nervous system. In on-going experiments in the research group using a focused siRNA screen we have investigated the role of deubiquitylases (DUBs) during SFV infection (as a model alphavirus) and monitored the effect of DUB depletion on cell viability after infection. We identified a group of DUBs that have a pro-viral effect. The DUB, USP5, from this screen was validated to determine its effect upon viral replication. Here, we show that depleted USP5 in HeLa cells resulted in SFV RNA and viral yield at 8 h post-infection being significantly reduced. In the multi-step viral growth curve assay, in the absence of USP5, similar yields of SFV were determined at 2 and 4 h post-infection. However, a significant reduction in the infectious viral particles release at 6, 8, 10 and 12 h post-infection was observed and this could be reversed by direct constraining viral replication. These results raise the potential for USP5 to play a distinct role in the replication of SFV, suggesting that USP5 may be a possible anti-viral therapy for alphavirus infection.
Various activities taking place within the city of Baghdad have significantly contributed to organic pollution in Rivers Tigris and Diyala. The present study aimed to assess some physical, chemical and biological aspects of six sites on Rivers Tigris and Diyala as they flow through the city of Baghdad. Monthly samples were collected for the period January to December, 2005. Marked differences in the physical and chemical characteristics of water were noted between the two rivers’ sites. Average values during the study period of dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, particulate organic matter, nitrate, phosphate and total dissolved solids for Tigris and Diyala were 7.8,4.7; 2.4,10.4; 350.1,921.4;7.8,13.9;1.2,4.8;814,2176 mg / l re
... Show MoreThe nigra scale, Parasaissetia nigra (Nietner, 1861) (Hemiptera, Coccidae) recorded as a new insect pest attacking fig trees, Ficus carica (Moraceae) in Iraq. It was observed during April 2014 in residential garden at Al-Hurriyah district in Baghdad.
Sensibly highlighting the hidden structures of many real-world networks has attracted growing interest and triggered a vast array of techniques on what is called nowadays community detection (CD) problem. Non-deterministic metaheuristics are proved to competitively transcending the limits of the counterpart deterministic heuristics in solving community detection problem. Despite the increasing interest, most of the existing metaheuristic based community detection (MCD) algorithms reflect one traditional language. Generally, they tend to explicitly project some features of real communities into different definitions of single or multi-objective optimization functions. The design of other operators, however, remains canonical lacking any inte
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There is a theoretical controversy in the books of Usul al-Fiqh, in the past and the present, about whether the ruling should be attached to its reason (al-Hikmah), or its apparent and stable cause (al-Illah). Looking at the practical cases of the jurists, we found them sometimes attaching rulings to its reason, and sometimes to its cause, so there is a need to know the factors that affect their choices. By extrapolation, the researcher reached at nine factors that affect referring the ruling to its cause or to its reason in jurisprudential cases.
A numerical simulation is made on the thermal lensing effect in an laser diode end-pumped Nd:YAG laser rod. Based on finite element method (FEM), the laser rod temperature distribution is calculated and the focal length is deduced for a Gaussian and super-Gaussian pump beam profiles.
At the pump power of 20W, the highest temperature located at the center of end-pumped face was 345K, and the thermal lens focal length was 81.4mm along the x-z axis.
The results indicate that the thermal lensing effect sensitively depend on the pump power, waist radius of the pump beam and the pump distribution in a laser rod geometry.
Ternary semiconductors AB5C8 (A = Cu/Ag, B = In and C = S, Se or Te) have been investigated. The CuIn5S8 and AgIn5S8 have been synthesize in cubic spinel structure with space group (Fd3m), whereas CuIn5Se8, AgIn5Se8, CuIn5Te8 and AgIn5Te8 have tetragonal structures with space group P-42m. The relaxed crystal geometry, electrical properties such as electronic band structure and optoelectronic properties are predicted by using full potential method in this work. For the determination of relaxed crystal geometry, the gradient approximation (PBE-GGA) is used. All the studied compounds are semiconductors based on their band structures in agreement with the experimental results, and their bulk moduli are in the range 35 to 69 GPa. Wide absorption
... Show MoreObjective(s) : This study aimed at evaluating the seroprevalence of anti -HCV and studying the
correlation between hemophilia and risk factors for acquiring HCV such as age , marital status &
occupation among hemophilic patients .
Methodology : 210 hemophilic patients in children welfare teaching hospital/medical city/Baghdad–Iraq
(hemophilia center) were investigated using prepared questionnaire and tested for HCV infection, those
were measuring patient’s age, hemophilia types and severity, marital status, residency and history of
previous HCV infection .
Results : Most hemophilic patients were hemophilia A at severe , hemophilia was at age group 20 – 29
years , the majority of patients were unmarried a
Sixty urine samples were collected from women with urinary tract infection in different ages. The aims of this study were determined the dominancy of pathogens isolated from urine of women with UTI and evaluating the antibacterial activity of Rosmarinus officinalis L. essential oil against these pathogenic isolates. Identification of bacteria was done on Chromogenic orientation agar while disc diffusion method was used for determination the sensitivity of bacterial isolates to antibiotics and Agar well diffusion method was used for evaluation the antibacterial effect of Rosemary essential oil on these isolates. The results showed that 50% of women infected with Escherichia coli, it was dominants in ages above 15 years old while Staphylococc
... Show MoreThe effects of T-shaped fins on the improvement of phase change materials (PCM) melting are numerically investigated in vertical triple-tube storage containment. The PCM is held in the middle pipe of a triple-pipe heat exchanger while the heat transfer fluid flows through the internal and external pipes. The dimension effects of the T-shaped fins on the melting process of the PCM are investigated to determine the optimum case. Results indicate that while using T-shaped fins improves the melting performance of the PCM, the improvement potential is mainly governed by the fin’s body rather than the head. Hence, the proposed T-shaped fin did not noticeably improve melting at the bottom of the PCM domain; additionally, a flat fin is ad
... Show MoreAnemia of chronic disease (ACD) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are the two most important types of anemia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Functional iron deficiency in ACD can be attributed to overexpression of the main iron regulatory hormone hepcidin leading to diversion of iron from the circulation into storage sites resulting in iron-restricted erythropoiesis. The aim is to investigate the role of circulating hepcidin and to uncover the frequency of IDA in RA. The study included 51 patients with RA. Complete blood counts, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, ferritin, and hepcidin- 25 were assessed. ACD was found in 37.3% of patients, IDA in 11.8%, and combined (ACD/IDA) in 17.6%. Serum hepcidin was higher in ACD than in con
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