Quorum sensing (QS) is a perfectly orchestrated molecular communication system. It is a boon for Klebsiella pneumoniae, and bane for the host. This system is believed to make K. pneumoniae a leading cause of multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial infections. This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial and anti-biofilm potential of medicinal plant extracts through interfering with QS of K. pneumoniae. The effect of different concentrations of ethanolic extracts of cinnamon and clove on K. pneumoniae was determined by analyzing the growth curve, survival assay (MTT), Qualitative and quantitative biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, along with studying gene expression of the genes encoding the above traits, using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The low concentrations of the plant extracts did not affect neither on the bacterial growth, nor on the viability of K. pneumoniae, supported with growth curves. Additionally, the biofilm production was inhibited even by lower plant concentrations, and both cinnamon and clove extracts were able to render the MDR bacteria to be more susceptible to antibiotics. At the molecular levels, the bacterium treated with either clove or cinnamon or in combination showed under expression of the biofilm formation regulation gene (bssS), the carbapenem resistance gene (bla), as well as the QS target gene (LuxS). Both clove and cinnamon ethanolic extracts exerted potent impacts on reducing pathogenic traits regulated by QS in K. pneumoniae. Finally, the study recommends further exploration of clove and cinnamon extracts separately or in combination to develop alternative therapies against MDR K. pneumoniae infections.
This work focuses on the use of biologically produced activated carbon for improving the physi-co-chemical properties of water samples obtained from the Tigris River. An eco-friendly and low-cost activated carbon was prepared from the Alhagi plant using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an impregnation agent. The prepared activated carbon was characterised using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to determine the functional groups that exist on the raw material (Alhagi plant) and Alhagi activated carbon (AAC). Scanning electron microscope–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscope was also used to investigate the surface shape and the elements that compose the powder. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis was used to evaluate the spe
... Show MoreIn this study predication of crop coefficient (Kc) values through growing season for cucumber plant was conducted. A field experiment was carried out at AL Yusufiyah Township, in the Governorate of Baghdad, (latitude: 33°09' N, longitude: 44°24' E, and altitude: 34 m) in medium loam soil. The plant was cultivated inside the greenhouse under subsurface trickle irrigation system with soil water retention technology (SWRT) during the growing season 2017. Crop coefficient values were guessed from the direct method of measurements of daily crop evapotranspiration, while reference evapotranspiration was obtained from Agricultural Meteorology Project - Station of Baghdad - Abu-Ghraib. The obtained results were showed that crop coeffici
... Show MoreThe aims of this study are to measure the defect rate and analyze the problems of production of ready concrete mixture plant by using Six Sigma methodology which is a business strategy for operations improvement depending basically on the application of its sub-methodology DMAIC improvement cycle and the basic statistical tools where the process sigma level of concrete production in the case study was 2.41 σ.
The aim of this research is to use robust technique by trimming, as the analysis of maximum likelihood (ML) often fails in the case of outliers in the studied phenomenon. Where the (MLE) will lose its advantages because of the bad influence caused by the Outliers. In order to address this problem, new statistical methods have been developed so as not to be affected by the outliers. These methods have robustness or resistance. Therefore, maximum trimmed likelihood: (MTL) is a good alternative to achieve more results. Acceptability and analogies, but weights can be used to increase the efficiency of the resulting capacities and to increase the strength of the estimate using the maximum weighted trimmed likelihood (MWTL). In order to perform t
... Show MoreThe study included examination of three types of different origin and orange juice at the rate of recurring per sample, the results showed that the highest rates of acid (pH) in the A and juice were (4). And salts of calcium is 120 ppm in juice C and 86 ppm of magnesium in the juice B, for heavy metals the highest rate of lead .18 recorded ppm in juice B, 1.32 ppm of copper in juice A, 5 ppm of iron in the juice B, 1.3 ppm of zinc in the juice B, 0.05 ppm of aluminum in each of the sappy B and A, 0.02 ppm of cobalt in the juice B, 0.3 ppm of nickel in the juice B, 170.6 ppm sodium in C juice, but for the acids, organic that the highest rates were 3.2 part Millions of acid in the juice owner a, 260 ppm of the acid in the juice the ascorbi
... Show MoreCr2O3 thin films have been prepared by spray pyrolysis on a glass substrate. Absorbance and transmittance spectra were recorded in the wavelength range (300-900) nm before and after annealing. The effects of annealing temperature on absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant and optical conductivity were expected. It was found that all these parameters increase as the annealing temperature increased to 550°C.
Water pollution as a result of contamination with dye-contaminating effluents is a severe issue for water reservoirs, which instigated the study of biodegradation of Reactive Red 195 and Reactive Blue dyes by E. coli and Bacillus sp. The effects of occupation time, solution pH, initial dyes concentrations, biomass loading, and temperature were investigated via batch-system experiments by using the Design of Experiment (DOE) for 2 levels and 5 factors response surface methodology (RSM). The operational conditions used for these factors were optimized using quadratic techniques by reducing the number of experiments. The results revealed that the two types of bacteria had a powerful effect on biodegradable dyes. The regression analysis reveale
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