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.
Ten species of whiteflies (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) representing six genera were studied from a collection from different localities in the middle of Iraq. These species are Acaudaleyrodes rachipora (Singh, 1931); Bemisia afer (Priesner and Hosny,1934); Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius, 1889); Dialeurodes citri (Ashmead,1885); Dialeurodes kirkaldy (Kotinsky, 1907); Neomaskellia andropogonis Corbett, 1926; Siphoninus phillyreae (Haliday, 1835); Trialeurodes ricini (Misra, 1924); Trialeurodes vapovariorum (Westwood,1856) and Trialeurodes irakeensis (Al-Malo and Abdul-Rassoul, 2000). Notes are given on their localities, date of c
... Show More
(2)
(1)
Severe periodontitis is ranked as the sixth most prevalent disease affecting humankind, with an estimated 740 million people affected worldwide. The diagnosis of periodontal diseases mainly relies upon assessment of conventional clinical parameters. However, these parameters reflect past, rather than current, clinical status or future disease progression and, likely, outcome of periodontal treatment. Specific and sensitive biomarkers for periodontal diseases have been examined widely to address these issues and some biomarkers have been translated as point-of-care (PoC) tests. The aim of this review was to provide an update on PoC tests for use in the diagnosis and management of periodontal diseases. Among the PoC tests developed so
... Show More
(53)
(54)
Background: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a significant role in the activation of adaptive immunity and may have an essential role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objectives: To assess the gene expression of TLR4 in individuals with RA compared to healthy individuals. Methods: From July to December 2022. A total of 100 individuals were encompassed in the study, consisting of 50 individuals diagnosed with RA, of whom 42 were females and 8 were males, with an average age of 45.22 years. Additionally, there were 50 healthy control participants, 40 of whom were females and 10 were males, with an average age of 45.64 years. To assess the TLR4 transcript levels, blood samples were collected from each participant, and RN
... Show More
(1)
Background: The individual differences in emotional and behavioral style can be examined through personality instruments. These differences may explain the health status of the individuals. The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of Personality Types on gingival and periodontal health status among teachers in Baghdad city in relation to selected salivary hormone (Dehydroepiandrosterone). Materials and methods: Females teachers 534 of randomly selected schools were subjected to personality questionnaire using The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator. Teachers were examined to estimate the periodontal status according to the Community Periodontal Index (CPI). A group of teachers were selected for salivary analysis of Dehy
... Show More
(1)
In this work, thermodynamic efficiency of individual cell and stack of cells (two cells) has been computed by studying the variation of voltage produced during an operation time of 30 min as a result of the affected parameters:- stoichiometric feed ratio, flow field design on single cell and feed distribution on stack of cells. The experiments were carried out by using two cells, one with serpentine flow field and the other with spiral flow field. These cells were fed with hydrogen and oxygen at low volumetric flow rates from 1 to 2 ml/sec and stoichiometric ratios of fuel (H2) to oxidant (O2) as 1:2, 1:1 and 2:1 respectively. The results showed that
... Show MoreBackground: Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by destruction of supporting structures of the teeth. Intelligence quotient (IQ) was potentially reported to significantly associated with prevalence of gingivitis. Mild gingivitis was obtained in high IQ levels while moderate gingivitis may be attributed to poor oral hygiene seen among the subjects having low IQ levels. Method: One hundred volunteers aged between 20-45 years old were enrolled in this study, patients were equally divided into right- and left-handed (50 patients each)and each group then subdivided into patients with healthy gingiva(10), patients with gingivitis (20), and patients suffering from periodontitis (20).An IQ questionnaire was p
... Show More
Previous reports demonstrated the effectiveness of silibinin hemisuccinate as a potential intraocular pressure-lowering agent. The exact mechanism by which silibinin exerted this effect has not yet been documented, but might suggested to interfere with aqueous humor formation. The present study was designed to evaluate the comparative efficacy of silibinin as IOP lowering agent to that of betaxolol in normotensive rabbits, and the interaction of silibinin with betaxolol as a way for investigating the possible mechanism of action of silibinin in this respect. The effects of instillation of 0.75% silibinin solution and 0.5% betaxolol eye drops in the eyes of normotensive rabbits were evaluated using indentation tonometry. The results showe
... Show More
(1)
(1)
This study aimed at investigating the level of social skills and its relationship with self-regulation among gifted students according to the academic stage and gender. The sample consisted of (417) male and female students at King Abdullah II School for Excellence in Salt, Jordan. Two instruments were used to collect the data; A scale of social skills and a scale of self-regulation. The results revealed that the level of social skills was high among gifted students. There were statistically significant differences in the social skills among gifted students according to their academic stage in favor of the secondary stage and according to their gender in favor of female students. There were statistically signific
... Show MoreBackground: Visfatin is a novel adipokine that mainly secreted by visceral adipose tissue, had an important role in inflammation and immune system. Creatine Kinase (CK) which is an enzyme that is involved in energy metabolism, found in large amounts in myocardium, brain and skeletal tissues. This study is carried out To evaluate the periodontal health status of the study groups (chronic periodontitis and chronic periodontitis with coronary atherosclerosis) and control groups, to measure the salivary levels of visfatin and Creatine Kinase in these groups and compare between them, and to determine the correlations between salivary visfatin and Creatine Kinase levels with the periodontal parameters in the three groups. Materials and Methods: e
... Show More
(2)