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.
Background: Although the issue of anemia after renal transplantation (RT) has received increasing attention lately, the data on the exact prevalence of post-transplantation anemia (PTA) in the Iraqi patients are limited. Objective: In this study we sought to determine the prevalence of PTA among Iraqi patients and to correlate the renal allograft function measurements and the use of immunosuppressant with the prevalence of anemia. Patients and Methods: One hundred and twelve (74 male, 38 female) kidney transplant recipients (KTR) attending the kidney transplant center at surgical specialties hospital were studied. All patients were on maintenance, combined immunosuppressive therapy. The renal function tests [blood urea, serum cre
... Show MoreDiabetic retinopathy is an eye disease in diabetic patients due to damage to the small blood vessels in the retina due to high and low blood sugar levels. Accurate detection and classification of Diabetic Retinopathy is an important task in computer-aided diagnosis, especially when planning for diabetic retinopathy surgery. Therefore, this study aims to design an automated model based on deep learning, which helps ophthalmologists detect and classify diabetic retinopathy severity through fundus images. In this work, a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) with transfer learning and fine tunes has been proposed by using pre-trained networks known as Residual Network-50 (ResNet-50). The overall framework of the proposed
... Show MoreAdversity and psychosocial stress are involved in aging through the following pathways. psychological stress enhances the nerve system to secrete endocrine mediators (hormones). Mitochondrial respiration mediates energy production stimulated by binding to these hormones to their receptors. Energy produced by mitochondria accelerates metabolism and, in its turn, leads to increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS) of free radicals. Cellular stress and accumulation of damage can result from an excess of ROS. Accumulation of damage comprises damages in telomeric and nontelomeric DNA, in addition to mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA damage plays an important role in increasing the pathway of p53/p21. The expression of the PGC-1α gene
... Show MoreIn this paper, a study was made to determine the properties of Jovian radio bursts emitted at frequency 20.1MHZ. The data were provided from the Radio Jove archive for twelve years (2000-2012) for multi stations. The duration time for Long bursts (L) was (10-30) seconds and for Short bursts (S) was (10-20) seconds. The effect of radio bursts from the Sun and the galactic background were calculated at the same frequency and were found that radio bursts from the Sun will reduce the occurrence probability of Jovian radio bursts much more than radio bursts from the galactic background. The distribution of Jovian radio bursts was different; the occurrence probability with respect to the northern latitudes was more than the southern latitudes.
Fading channel modeling is generally defined as the variation of the attenuation of a signal with various variables. Time, geographical position, and radio frequency which is included. Fading is often modeled as a random process. Thus, a fading channel is a communication channel that experiences fading. In this paper, the proposed system presents a new design and simulate a wireless channel using Rayleigh channels. Rayleigh channels using two approaches (flat and frequency-selective fading channels) in order to calculate some path space loss efforts and analysis the performance of different wireless fading channel modeling. The results show that the bite error rate (BER) performance is dramatically improved in the value of signal to
... Show MoreThe present work divided into two parts, first the experimental side which included the
measuring of the first natural frequency for the notched and unnotched cantilever composite beams
which consisted of four symmetrical layers and made of Kevlar- epoxy reinforced. A numerical
study covers the effect of notches on the natural frequencies of the same specimen used in the
experimental part. The mathematical model for the beam contains two open edges on the upper
surface. The effect of the location of cracks relative to the restricted end, depth of cracks, volume
fraction of fibers and orientation of the fiber on the natural frequencies are explored. The results
were calculated using the known engineering program (ANSY
This study aims to test ceramic waste's capacity to remove nickel from aqueous solutions through adsorption. Ceramic wastes were collected from the Refractories Manufacturing Plant in Ramadi. Through a series of lab tests, the reaction time (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 minutes, and Ni concentrations (20, 40, 60, and 80) were tested using ceramic wastes with a solid to liquid ratio of 2g/30ml. At a temperature of 30ºC, the pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and electrical conductivity (EC) were all measured. The equilibrium time was set at 30 min. Thereafter, the sorption (%) somewhat increased positively with the Ni concentration. Freundlich's equation showed that the adsorption intensity is 1.1827 and the Freundlich c
... Show MoreTumours in pets occur naturally and are common in dogs as they are in humans. Tumours of the alimentary system have been reported in animals, although less frequently. Food patterns and specific diet components could have a big role in such tumour occurrence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the clinical signs and inspect the neoplasm lesions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract grossly and histopathologically in dogs in Baghdad, Iraq, and to see whether pet diets had any tumourigenic effect. Throughout two years sixteen dogs were referred to Teaching Animal Hospital and private clinics at Baghdad city with masses in (GI) tract. Males and large size breeds were more likely to be affected with GI tumours. Half of the cases a
... Show MoreThis paper presents a novel idea as it investigates the rescue effect of the prey with fluctuation effect for the first time to propose a modified predator-prey model that forms a non-autonomous model. However, the approximation method is utilized to convert the non-autonomous model to an autonomous one by simplifying the mathematical analysis and following the dynamical behaviors. Some theoretical properties of the proposed autonomous model like the boundedness, stability, and Kolmogorov conditions are studied. This paper's analytical results demonstrate that the dynamic behaviors are globally stable and that the rescue effect improves the likelihood of coexistence compared to when there is no rescue impact. Furthermore, numerical simul
... Show MoreBackground: It is well known that oral carriage
of Candida species increase in many situations, like
obesity, debility, leukemia, viral infection, use of
certain drugs in addition to diabetes mellitus.
Objective: find the relation between diabetes and
its control on oral carriage of Candida.
Methods: Thirty four hundred oral swabs from
diabetic patients 67% are females and 33% are
males, 41.7% are type 1 diabetes and 58.3% are type
2.different culture media are used.
Results: we found that 37.9% of diabetics had oral
carriage, older age group had more but the
difference is not significant statistically P>0.05, in
addition females carry more Candida than males
P<0.05, while type of diabetes