Periodontitis is one of the most prevalent bacterial diseases affecting man with up to 90% of the global population affected. Its severe form can lead to the tooth loss in 10-15% of the population worldwide. The disease is caused by a dysbiosis of the local microbiota and one organism that contributes to this alteration in the bacterial population is Prophyromonas gingivalis. This organism possesses a range of virulence factors that appear to contribute to its growth and survival at a periodontal site amongst which is its ability to invade oral epithelial cells. Such an invasion strategy provides a means of evasion of host defence mechanisms, persistence at a site and the opportunity for dissemination to other sites in the mouth. However, previous studies have demonstrated that invasion of the mammalian cells in a population by P. gingivalis is heterogenous, with some cells becoming heavily invaded while others harbour no or only a few bacteria. An understanding of this heterogeneity may throw light on the mechanisms involved and we hypothesised that the phase of the host cell cycle may explain this phenomenon. In an attempt to study the factors influencing P. gingivalis invasion and the cell response to that invasion, a standard antibiotic protection assay was employed and an oral keratinocyte cell line, H357. The results showed that P. gingivalis NCTC 11834 invasion was significantly increased with increasing time of exposure to the cells and the cell density. This may reflect an increased host cell surface area available for bacterial attachment. No effect on invasion of P. gingivalis invasion was observed by the bacterial growth phase, H357 cell passage number or whether cells were pre-incubated with P. gingivalis lipopolysaccharide. Epithelial cells did, however, respond to the presence of P. gingivalis in a number of ways. For example, the mRNA expression of endothelin-1 and urokinase receptor were upregulated with increasing P. gingivalis infection time, suggesting that these proteins could act as inflammatory mediators and possibly as useful markers of the severity of periodontal disease or in the diagnosis and treatment of periodontitis. iii Secondly, in an attempt to investigate the reason for the observed heterogeneous P. gingivalis invasion of H357 cell populations, the effect of cell cycle phase on P. gingivalis invasion was investigated. H357 cells were synchronized by serum starvation. On re-introduction of serum, characterisation of cell cycle phase distribution was performed by flow cytometry following staining with propidium idodide (PI) or by immunofluorescence using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), which specifically identifies cells in S-phase. The effect of cell cycle phases on P. gingivalis invasion was measured using the antibiotic protection assay, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry and these were correlated with gene and surface expression of the urokinase receptor and the α5-integrin subunit, which is thought to mediate P. gingivalis invasion. Results showed that the percentage invasion was enhanced with increasing serum re-introduction time, and positively correlated with the number of cells in S-phase. In addition, flow cytometry data showed that the highest association of fluorescent P. gingivalis was with PI positive S-phase cells. Moreover, BrdU positive S-phase cells were 3 times more likely to be invaded and contained 10 times more P. gingivalis than cells in other phases. Also, α5-integrin was more highly expressed in cells in S-phase than other phases, which could explain the mechanism underlying this enhanced invasion. Data presented here have suggested that P. gingivalis targeting of cells in S- phase could, in vivo, allow preferential invasion of the junctional epithelial cells which turns over rapidly. The data presented in this thesis suggest that P. gingivalis invasion is greatly dependent on several factors attributed to the host, the bacteria itself, and to the environment which the bacteria reside in. The invasion occurs within a population of host cells in a heterogeneous fashion, and is dependent on the cell cycle phase, specifically S-phase. This novel finding, in addition to the previously reported mechanisms of P. gingivalis invasion, increases our understanding of this virulence trait and suggests that such a strategy is a highly organised process which the bacteria can follow to ensure its survival within the host. Furthermore, knowledge of these mechanisms could provide novel approaches to treatment of periodontal diseases.
The aim of the present study is to identify the level of prosoical behavior of Baghdad University's students and to recognize the differences between male and female students. Moreover, it also aims to identify the level of openness to experience for these students. A random sample of (123) students has been selected; 77 males and 46 females. Two scales have been used in the study. The Prosocialness scale for adults by Caprara. Et al (2005) has been translated into the Arabic language and relies on four types of actions (Helping, Sharing, Taking care, and feeling Empathetic with others) and the other scale is the Openness to Experience Scale, which is one of the Big Five Inventory by John and Srivastava (1999). The main results showed a
... Show MoreThe present study aims to identify wisdom-based thinking and its relationship to psychological capital. It further aims to find out the differences in the level of wisdom-based thinking and psychological capital according to the variables of gender and specialization (scientific, humanities). To achieve this, the study has been conducted on a sample of (380) male and female students. The two scales, wisdom-based thinking and psychological capital are implemented to the sample after being constructed by the researcher and after ensuring their psychometric characteristics' suitability for the study's aims. Results concerning the first aim have shown that there is a significant relationship among students. The second aim has revealed that t
... Show MoreRegulatory T (Treg) cells are one of the major immunosuppressive cell types in cancer and a potential target for immunotherapy, but targeting tumor-infiltrating (TI) Treg cells has been challenging. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing of immune cells from renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients, we identify two distinct transcriptional fates for TI Treg cells, Fate-1 and Fate-2. The Fate-1 signature is associated with a poorer prognosis in ccRCC and several other solid cancers. CD177, a cell surface protein normally expressed on neutrophil, is specifically expressed on Fate-1 TI Treg cells in several solid cancer types, but not on other TI or peripheral Treg cells. Mechanistically, blocking CD
SUMMARY. The objectives of the present study were to assess the possible predictors of COVID-19 severity and duration of hospitalization and to identify the possible correlation between patient parameters, disease severity and duration of hospitalization. The study included retrospective medical record extraction of previous coron avirus COVID-19 patients in Basra hospitals, Iraq from March 1st and May 31st, 2020. The information of the participants was investigated anonymously. All the patients’ characteristics, treatments, vital signs and laboratory tests (hematological, renal and liver function tests) were collected. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS (version 22, USA). Spearman correlation was used to measure the relations
... Show Morethe appearance and increasing of the young immigration within 2015, the researcher intuition as a mother and part of the society, and the role of the psychological attitude in enabling the individual to make decision, in the light of all the above come up the need for studying this problem.
The study aims at finding out:
1. The mental strain of the study sample.
2. The differences in mental strain of the study sample according to the gender, specification, the university, the study (private, not private), and if they have immigrated friends or relatives out of the Iraq.
3. The study sample attitudes towards immigration.
4. The study sample levels of attitudes towards immigration.
5. The differences in the sample attitud
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a permanent loss of kidney function which is diagnosed when the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is under 60 ml\min\1.73m2 for more than three months. The present study was conducted at Kidney Transplant and Dialysis Center in the Medical City in Baghdad from October 2018 to April 2019. Sixty CKD patients with an age ranged of 40 to 65 years and 25 healthy subjects were involved in this study. Blood samples were collected to evaluate the levels of kidney function parameters and thyroid hormones. The levels of urea, creatinine and uric acid showed highly significant (p ≤ 0.01) increases in CKD patient in comparison with the control group, while the values of GFR and creatinine clearance showed highly
... Show MoreCeliac disease (CD) is the most common genetically - based disease in correlation with food intolerance. The aim of this study is to measure the activity of ALT enzyme and purify enzyme from sera women with celiac disease. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity has been assayed in (30) women serum samples with celiac disease, age range between (20-40) year and (30) serum of healthy women as control group, age range between (22-38) year. In the present study, the mean value of ALT activity was significantly higher in patients with celiac disease than healthy group (p<0.01). The ALT enzyme was partial purified from sera women with celiac disease by dialysis, gel filtration using Sephadex G- 50 and ion exchange chromatography using DEAE- cell
... Show MoreCeliac disease (CD) is the most common genetically - based disease in correlation with food intolerance. The aim of this study is to measure the activity of ALT enzyme and purify enzyme from sera women with celiac disease. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity has been assayed in (30) women serum samples with celiac disease, age range between (20-40) year and (30) serum of healthy women as control group, age range between (22-38) year. In the present study, the mean value of ALT activity was significantly higher in patients with celiac disease than healthy group (p<0.01). The ALT enzyme was partial purified from sera women with celiac disease by dialysis, gel filtration using Sephadex G- 50 and ion exchange chr
... Show MoreInflammation markers are significantly higher among hemodialysis (HD) patients, which have been associated with chronic activation of the immune system. Hemodialysis centers in Baghdad appear to be taking measures with low adequacy and frequency of dialysis sessions, which can be a reason for decreased kidney functions. Therefore, the objective of this study focuses on the assessment of different aspects of hemodialysis for regular HD patients in Baghdad, including inflammatory markers (serum C-reactive protein, CRP, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, ESR), dialysis dose, comorbidities, and demographic factors for a period of one year (2018), the assessment covered four major hospitals in Baghdad namely (Al-Kind
... Show MoreThis study aims to know the relationship between the birth order and lifestyles among a sample of adolescent students. The sample of the study consisted of (200) students selected from the governmental schools in the Directorate of Education of Qabatiya, in the second semester of the academic year 2020/2021. The results of the study have revealed that the most common lifestyles among the sample of the study are represented by: (the belonging) style, (the submissive) style, (the avenger) style, (the pampered) style, respectively. The study has also found that there are statistically significant differences in the lifestyles of: (the victim, the domineering, the avenger, and the harmful) which are ascribed to the gender variable. Mor
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