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.
Used cooking oil was undergoing trans-esterification reaction to produce biodiesel fuel. Method of production consisted of pretreatment steps, trans-esterification, separation, washing and drying. Trans-esterification of treated oils was studied at different operation conditions, the methanol to oil mole ratio were 6:1, 8:1, 10:1, and 12:1, at different temperature 30, 40, 50, and 60 º C, reaction time 40, 60, 80, and 120 minutes, amount of catalyst 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt.% based on oil and mixing speed 400 rpm. The maximum yield of biodiesel was 91.68 wt.% for treated oils obtained by trans-esterification reaction with 10:1 methanol to oil mole ratio, 60 º C reaction temperature, 80 minute reactio
... Show MoreThis study aims to assess the accuracy of digital elevation model (DEM) created with utilization of handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) and comparing with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM), version 2. It is known that the quality of the DEM is affected by both of accuracy of elevation at each pixel (absolute accuracy) and accuracy of presented morphology (relative accuracy). The University of Baghdad, Al Jadriya campus was selected as a study area to create and analysis the resulting DEM. Additionally, Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to visualize, analyses and interpolate GPS track points (elevation data) of the study area. In this
... Show MoreShatt al-Arab is the only navigational artery in Iraq, extending from the city of Qurna to its mouth in the Arabian Gulf at the city of Al-Fao within the governorate of Basrah for a length of approximately 204 km. Its width ranges from 400 m to 2000 m, and its depth ranges from 8 m to 20 m. The southern part of it, 93 km long from Umm al-Rassas Island to Ras al-Bisha, represents the international border between Iraq and Iran, where the Thalweg line represents the border between the two countries, which is the deepest point in the riverbed (according to the 1975 Algiers Agreement). The western bank (the Iraqi side) within the common border of Shatt al-Arab is subject to continuous erosion, which leads to the shifting of t
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In this manuscript has investigated the synthesis of plasma-polymerized pyrrole (C4H5N) nano-particles prepared by the proposed atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma jet through the parametric studies, particularly gas flow rate (0.5, 1 and 1.5 L/min). The plasma jet which used operates with alternating voltage 7.5kv and frequency 28kHz. The plasma-flow characteristics were investigated based on optical emission spectroscopy (OES). UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to characterize the oxidization state for polypyrrole. The major absorption appears around 464.1, 449.7 and 435.3 nm at the three flow rate of argon gas. The chemical composition and structural properties of the
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In the city, building space could transform to be as place, because architecture does not include only traditional values such as housing, human protection, stability, etc, but could carry other dimensions beyond the housing or building occupancy or develop urban design. Rivers had vision in motion as a way to show dynamic processes in its flowing slowly, which are simply measured in time and the life of citizens. The research consider the river path in traditional cities as Alley connecting the spaces of the city ... old Baghdad was characterized by this property and it is look like Venice in the past, while traditional European cities were able to preserve this property till now, and capable to take transformation of the city with deve
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An analytical approach based on field data was used to determine the strength capacity of large diameter bored type piles. Also the deformations and settlements were evaluated for both vertical and lateral loadings. The analytical predictions are compared to field data obtained from a proto-type test pile used at Tharthar –Tigris canal Bridge. They were found to be with acceptable agreement of 12% deviation.
Following ASTM standards D1143M-07e1,2010, a test schedule of five loading cycles were proposed for vertical loads and series of cyclic loads to simulate horizontal loading .The load test results and analytical data of 1.95
... Show MoreIt has increasingly been recognised that the future developments in geospatial data handling will centre on geospatial data on the web: Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). The evaluation of VGI data quality, including positional and shape similarity, has become a recurrent subject in the scientific literature in the last ten years. The OpenStreetMap (OSM) project is the most popular one of the leading platforms of VGI datasets. It is an online geospatial database to produce and supply free editable geospatial datasets for a worldwide. The goal of this paper is to present a comprehensive overview of the quality assurance of OSM data. In addition, the credibility of open source geospatial data is discussed, highlight
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