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.
problem of the research is the decline of the role of urban space with time as an influential system in societal relations. The research aims to define indicators for achieving social interaction in the city, and to determine indicators for achieving integration in the urban space, and to study the relationship between the integration of urban space and community interaction over time. the research assumed that by distinguishing the social interaction space from the urban space and developing urban spaces in order to be truly interactive spaces, this will help us achieve social interaction and build a positive relationship between them, which enables us to achieve integration within the urban spaces leading to social interaction. Because
... Show MoreThe developments and transformations taking place in the era and the growth of knowledge economies and communication technology led this development to compel higher education institutions in Iraq to reconsider their objectives to keep pace with development. And one of the most important tools of development was the application of e-learning standards and its long-term impact on the performance of the educational institution. Performance auditing plays an important role in verifying the extent to which these institutions have implemented their activities and programs that auditing performance by adopting e-learning standards helps the institutions’ management by providing appropriate information on the extent to which they achieve thei
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the relationship between mathematical ability and academic resilience among secondary school students. The research sample consisted of (280) students of the fourth scientific grade in secondary and preparatory schools of the General Directorate of Education in Baghdad / Karkh 2. The researchers built - based on previous studies and literature - a test of mathematical ability and a measure of academic resilience. The researchers used the T-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient to compare the results. The results revealed that fourth-grade students possessed mathematical ability and academic resilience. The research proved the existence of a positive correlation between mathematical ability and academic
... Show MoreThe aim of the study was to identify the nutritional awareness of middle school students and its relation to some variables of the sample of the research according to the gender variable (male and female), the variable type of family and the variable achievement of the parents.
The descriptive approach was adopted and the sample of the study consisted of (795) male and female students who were selected by the random stratified method. The research tool was prepared based on the literature and previous studies. The food awareness measure in its final form was (25) after the data collection was processed using the appropriate statistical met
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the level of functional engagement and hope-based thinking of kindergarten teachers, identify if there is a significant difference in functional engagement and hope-based thinking in terms of specialization and years of service for kindergarten teachers, identify if there is a significant correlation between functional engagement and hope-based thinking of kindergarten teachers. The current research is determined by kindergarten teachers in the Second Rusafa Baghdad Education Directorate for the academic year (2022-2023). In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher prepared a functional engagement scale, which consists of (45) items in three areas: Perceptual and functional engagement
... Show MoreThe current research's problem includes the impact of cognitive reappraisal and reformulate on self-experience of emotional response and its negative feelings and the activity of cognitive reappraisal in changing response. The aim of this research is to detect the relation between adaptive response and cognitive reappraisal upon students of secondary school, and to find differences in gender and stage. The sample contained male and female student for the year(2022-2023) and consists of (480) students (240) male and (240) female in the karkh education/ 1 To achieve this aims researcher used descriptive method and to measure the two variables researcher built a scale for adaptive response according to theory of compound emotion (Barrett,20
... Show MoreThe study aims to identify the level of modesty and self-assertiveness among Tikrit university’s students in regard with students’ gender and major (scientific, human studies), and to identify the correlation between modesty trait and self-assertiveness of students. To this end, the researcher has designed a scale to measure modesty that consisted of four-domains (decency, avoiding of unattractive, pang of conscience, and apprehension). Moreover, the researcher adopted a scale of self-assertiveness that designed by (shawki, 1998). The sample included (600) student on first-stage at the university of Tikrit. The results revealed that students have a high level of modesty and self-assertiveness; there is a correlation between modesty t
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