SARS-CoV-2 stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 which is the causative agent of spreading coronavirus disease 2019 that is known as COVID-19 pandemic, the disease leads to severe acute respiratory illness. Matrix metalloproteinases- 9 (MMP-9) plays several important physiological functions. This enzyme could also be implicated in the "cytokine storm" in some way, which may represent one of the possible scianrios during coronavirus infection, in addition to its role in the mechanism of lung fibrosis on molecular basis.. The tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) are well characterized for controlling the activity of MMPs in extracellular matrix remodeling. They also considered as signaling molecules analogous to cytokine activities in the sense of impact on a variety of biological processes; this study aimed to investigate the link between each of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), and COVID19 disease. A total of 58 COVID-19 patients and 30 apparently healthy adults were enrolled in this study. The ORF1ab, E. and N genes of SARS-CoV-2 were detected using Multiplex real-time PCR, while the ELISA technique was used to estimate the level of serum matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), and CRP. The study results demonstrated higher concentrations of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in COVID-19 patients compared with controls, with non-significant differences obtained. Unlike, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), showed considerably higher levels in the patients group than in controls, with high significant differences according to the data statistical analysis (p≤0.001). In a conclusion, the rising trend of TIMP-1 in COVID patients could be promising to suggest serum tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) as an applicable biomarker in the diagnosis of COVID‐19.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of staff nurses at primary health care centers in Baghdad city and to compare them with their demographic characteristics of age, gender and education.
Methodology: A descriptive design was carried out at Baghdad City’s primary health care centers from January 2nd 2019 to May 1st 2020. An instrument was developed for the purpose of the study. A non-probability, multi-stage purposive sample of (52) staff nurses was recruited from nurses working at primary health care centers in Baghdad City. The instrument is used to evaluate staff nurses’ performance which includes (62) items. These items are divided to (13) main domains related to evaluation of work quantity, work quality,
Results of the current study demonstratedthat out of eighty-three isolatesof Pseudomonas aeruginosa,only twenty-five isolateswere resistant to five different antibiotics (of different classes) that were consequentlyconsideredmultidrug resistant isolates.These isolates developed variable susceptibility toward Eucalyptuscamaldulensisleavesoil (ECO). GC-MS analysis of ECOrevealed that the aromatic oil eugenol is the major constituent.However, the most frequent MIC was 0.39 µg/ml, while the lowest frequent MIC was 3.125 µg/ml.Moreover, this oil at ½ MIC (0.195µg/ml) increased the gene expression of exoU. Itis concluded from the outcomes of the studythat ECOmay cause severe damagewhen used to treat infections caused by P. aeruginosa.
... Show MoreColorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal malignancy and one of the top ten common cancers worldwide with approximately 2 million cases. There are multiple risk factors that could lead to CRC emergence; of which are genetic polymorphisms. Excision repair cross-complementing group 2 (ERCC2) gene encodes for ERCC2 enzyme which plays a crucial role in maintaining genomic integrity by removing DNA adducts. Several studies suggested that there could be a link between genetic polymorphisms of ERCC2 gene and the risk of CRC development. Hence the present study aims to validate the relationship between the following ERCC2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs13181, rs149943175, rs530662943, and rs1799790) and CRC susceptibility. A t
... Show MoreA study of irrigation water was conducted Baghdad city to find out extent of its pollution by some heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Co, CU, Cr, Zn and Fe). Water samples were collected randomly from different sources (river, well and stream). Results showed that the concentration of studied heavy metals were as follows: Lead between 0.43-11.75 mg L-1, Cadmium between 0.01-0.95 mg L-1, Nickel between 0.008-0.46 mg L-1, Cobalt between Nil - 0.185 mg L-1, Copper is between 0.326 - 1.58 mg L-1, Chromium is between Nil-0.068 mg L-1, Zinc 0.398-1.182 mg L-1, as for Iro
In this study, oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene (DBT) with H2O2 as an oxidant was studied, whereas the catalyst used was zirconium oxide supported on Activated carbon (AC). Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) was impregnated over prepared activated carbon (AC) and characterized by various techniques such as XRD, FTIR, BET, SEM, and EDX. This composite was used as a heterogeneous catalyst for oxidation desulfurization of simulated oil. The results of this study showed that ZrO2/AC composite exhibited significant catalytic activity and stability, effectively lowering sulfur content under mild conditions. Factors such as reaction temperature (30, 40, 50, 60°C), time (5, 10, 15,20,30,60, 80 100 min), catalyst dose (0.3, 0.5,
... Show MoreEuphrates River extends about 125 km within the study area located in Annassiriyah City, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. The impact of the seven hydraulic structures on the discharge capacity of the Euphrates River needs to be considered. The main objectives of this research are to increase the discharge capacity of Euphrates River within Annassiriyah City during flood seasons and study the impact of these hydraulic structures on the river capacity by using HEC-RAS 5.0.3 software. Five scenarios were simulated to study the different current condition of Euphrates River within Annassiriyah City. Other additional four scenarios were implemented through river training to increase the river capacity to 1300 m³/s; it is the flood
... Show MoreThis in vivo study was conducted to investigate the effect of different concentrations of ozonated water on experimentally skin infection with some of bacterial isolates (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus ) which Showed dermal infection in experimental animals after 48 hours of exposure to these Microorganisms. Results revealed that ozone has the power to accelerated the healing process depending on the perfect concentration of ozonated water used and the severity of infection & nature of causative agent , in which the recovering period was 7 days for the infection caused by P. aeruginosa and 5 day for S.aureus by using the concentration 60 µg/ml . Results also indicated in this study the stimulated effect of O
... Show MoreThe amine group (NH2) and the carboxyl group (COOH-) are the fundamental components of amino acids. They regulate several essential physiological functions of organisms and are found in all forms of life, including humans, plants, and microorganisms. Furthermore, they serve as vital energy sources and also act as neurotransmitters. An analysis of the kidneys of Pterocles alchata, an Iraqi Pin-tailed sandgrouse, revealed the presence of 18 specific amino acids. The data indicate that there were no significant differences in the total amounts of amino acids among the three renal lobes. The concentrations in the anterior, middle, and posterior lobes were measured to be 14.154 ą97. 273, 12.437 ą87. 255, and 11.882 ą88. 157 correspondingly, w
... Show MoreReconstruction of female identity is one of the important issues in modern times. The majority of the females who descent from the countries of the third world confront lots of problems because of their race and gender. Black females or colored skin females because of the oppression of the white society upon them, try hard to cope with society in order to get some relief and feel that they are part of this cruel white society. One of the solutions for these black females is to reconstruct their identity by mimicry to the English beauty standards. Zadie Smith is a postcolonial author. She deals with third- world women and how they are treated in a minority and in a racist way. She strives to empower the subaltern black females who ha
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a new structure for a Fractional Order Sliding Mode Controller (FOSMC) to control a Twin Rotor Aerodynamic System (TRAS). The new structure is composed by defining two 3-dimensional sliding mode surfaces for the TRAS model and introducing fractional order derivative integral in the state variables as well as in the control action. The parameters of the controller are determined so as to minimize the Integral of Time multiplied by Absolute Error (ITAE) performance index. Through comparison, this controller outperforms its integer counterpart in many specifications, such as reducing the delay time, rise time, percentage overshoot, settling time, time to reach the sliding surface, and amplitude of chattering in control inpu
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