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 current study was designed to investigate the alterations in the ultrastructure of orgenelles and cellular activity of exocrine pancreatic acini of experimentally induced-diabetic rats and to assess the usefulness of herbal combination supplementation in improving the ultrastructure and cellular activity of exocrine pancreas. The number of albino male rats used were 24 which divided into equally 4 groups; group I: control group, group II: alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus (single intraperitoneal dose of alloxan 120 mg/kg for 3 days), group III: herbal combination treatment composed from the extracts of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenum-graecum), black cumin (Nigella sativa) seeds, rhizomes
... Show MoreThe Evaluation of the immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani was determined in this study, particularly, the cellular immune response. Follow up has maintained to determine the Delayed Type of Hypersensitivity using skin test both in infected and control lab animals. Chicken red blood cells were used as a parameter to evaluate the immune system; they are dull and have the ability of immunization. Two concentrations of chicken R.B.C were examined to determine which gives the higher titration in Hamsters and those were 1.5 X 109 cell/ml and 3 X 109 cell/ml , the second concentration gave the maximum titration where then used in this work. After sensitization with Chicken R.B.C for both in
... Show MoreThe Evaluation of the immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani was determined in this study, particularly, the cellular immune response. Follow up has maintained to determine the Delayed Type of Hypersensitivity using skin test both in infected and control lab animals. Chicken red blood cells were used as a parameter to evaluate the immune system; they are dull and have the ability of immunization. Two concentrations of chicken R.B.C were examined to determine which gives the higher titration in Hamsters and those were 1.5 X 109 cell/ml and 3 X 109 cell/ml , the second concentration gave the maximum titration where then used in this work. After sensitization with Chicken R.B.C for both infected a
... Show MoreHigh-intensity laser-produced plasma has been extensively investigated in many studies. In this demonstration, a new spectral range was observed in the resulted spectra from the laser-plasma interaction, which opens up new discussions for new light source generation. Moreover, the characterizations of plasma have been improved through the interaction process of laser-plasma. Three types of laser were incorporated in the measurements, continuous-wave CW He-Ne laser, CW diode green laser, pulse Nd: YAG laser. As the plasma system, DC glow discharge plasma under the vacuum chamber was considered in this research. The plasma spectral peaks were evaluated, where they refer to Nitrogen gas. The results indicated that the
... Show MoreThis study focuses on the slab-beam interaction in one-way systems. In the context of this study, slab-beam interaction means how beam deflection can affect moment distribution in one-way slabs. This interaction is usually neglected in the traditional approximate analysis that is adopted in engineering practice and design codes. Slab positive moments have been considered as indicators on the accuracy of approximate methods, as they overestimate negative moments while underestimating positive moments.
After proposing of effecting parameters in slab-beam interaction including of panel length and width, beam dimensions, and slab thickness, Buckingham’s theorem has been adopted to transform the dimensional-mo
... Show MoreThe study aimed to prepare psychological measures of intellectual emptiness and mental distraction on university students. The two researchers used the descriptive approach in the two methods of surveying and correlational relations to suit the nature of the research, where the study sample consisted of (101) students of physical education and sports sciences. The phrase- Intellectual emptiness(35) and (34) is a phrase for mental distraction and presented it to experts in psychology, testing and measurement, and the statistical bag for social sciences (spss) was used, and the results of the research showed that intellectual emptiness has a moral relationship with straying among some students of the College of Physical Education
... Show MoreThe study aimed to identify the relationship between the speed and direction of the ball's rotation in the accuracy of the front and rear side longitudinal blow in wheelchair tennis players. The descriptive approach wasused in the manner of correlations to suit the nature of the problem to be studied. The research community identified the 32 players aged18 and over, and the search sample was selected from players with a local classification registered with the 2020 Wheelchair Ground Tennis Federation (2020) in the intentional manner of 8 players, using Smart Tennis Sensor technology to measure the speed and direction of the ball and test the accuracy of the front and rear side longitudinalstraightstrike. She conducted the reconnaissance exp
... Show MoreIn 2010, the tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) was reported for the first time in Iraq. The larvae can feed on all parts of tomato plants and can damage all the growth stages. The main host plant is tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, but it can also attack other plants in Solanaceae family. In this study it was found attacking alfalfa plants, Medicago sativa in Baghdad Province. This finding reveals that alfalfa also serves as a host plant for T. absoluta in Iraq.