Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disease caused by Leishmania tropica parasite. Current treatments for this parasite are undesirable because of their toxicity, resistance, and high cost. Macrophages are key players against pathogens. Nitric oxide (NO), a molecule produce by immune cells, controls intracellular killing of pathogens during infection. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against various types of infectious diseases. It has the ability to stimulate oxygen species production. This study aims to analyze the macrophages activation through NO production and estimate the cytotoxicity based on the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release upon exposure to L. tropica and Ag NPs. Serially concentrations of Ag NPs were used under two conditions during and following macrophages exposure to L. tropica. MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity of Ag NPs on L. tropica amastigotes during infection of macrophages in vitro. The results showed that by increasing the Ag NPs concentrations, the viability percentage of L. tropica amastigotes decreased and reached to 21.7 ± 0.64 % during infection compared with the control. The 50% inhibitory concentration of Ag NPs on amastigotes was 2.048µg/ml during infection. Moreover, post-phagocytosis study involved the assessment of NO and LDH release by macrophages upon exposure to L. tropica. It have shown that untreated macrophages released low levels of NO while in the presence of Ag NPs, macrophages were activated to produce higher levels of NO under all experimental conditions. On the other hand, macrophages were capable of controlling cytotoxicity and decreasing LDH levels during phagocytosis of L. tropica amastiogotes. Taking together, these findings suggest that Ag NPs can enhance macrophages NO production which provides a method for the identification of Ag NPs ligands with microbicidal and anti-cytotoxic properties against L. tropica pathogens.
The current standard for treating pilonidal sinus (PNS) is surgical intervention with excision of the sinus. Recurrence of PNS can be controlled with good hygiene and regular shaving of the natal cleft, laser treatment is a useful adjunct to prevent recurrence. Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser is a gold standard of soft tissue surgical laser due to its wavelength (10600 nm) thin depth (0.03mm) and collateral thermal zone (150mic).It effectively seals blood vessels, lymphatic, and nerve endings, Moreover wound is rendered sterile by effect of laser. Aim of this study was to apply and assess the clinical usefulness of CO2 10600nm laser in pilonidal sinus excision and decrease chance of recurrence. Design: For 10 patients, between 18 and 39 year
... Show MoreA new algorithm is proposed to compress speech signals using wavelet transform and linear predictive coding. Signal compression based on the concept of selecting a small number of approximation coefficients after they are compressed by the wavelet decomposition (Haar and db4) at a suitable chosen level and ignored details coefficients, and then approximation coefficients are windowed by a rectangular window and fed to the linear predictor. Levinson Durbin algorithm is used to compute LP coefficients, reflection coefficients and predictor error. The compress files contain LP coefficients and previous sample. These files are very small in size compared to the size of the original signals. Compression ratio is calculated from the size of th
... Show MoreThe major objective of this study is to establish a network of Ground Control Points-GCPs which can use it as a reference for any engineering project. Total Station (type: Nikon Nivo 5.C), Optical Level and Garmin Navigator GPS were used to perform traversing. Traversing measurement was achieved by using nine points covered the selected area irregularly. Near Civil Engineering Department at Baghdad University Al-jadiriya, an attempt has been made to assess the accuracy of GPS by comparing the data obtained from the Total Station. The average error of this method is 3.326 m with the highest coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.077 m observed in Northing. While in
Fractal image compression gives some desirable properties like fast decoding image, and very good rate-distortion curves, but suffers from a high encoding time. In fractal image compression a partitioning of the image into ranges is required. In this work, we introduced good partitioning process by means of merge approach, since some ranges are connected to the others. This paper presents a method to reduce the encoding time of this technique by reducing the number of range blocks based on the computing the statistical measures between them . Experimental results on standard images show that the proposed method yields minimize (decrease) the encoding time and remain the quality results passable visually.
Green bell peppers, a staple in kitchens worldwide,are notorious for their short shelf life. Fortunately, a simple technology of an evaporative cooling system can offer a promising solution to extend their freshness and reduce spoilage. Extensive studies have been conducted to measure the shelf life of crops during cold storage by using different techniques, that control relative humidity. Evaporative cooling, air speed, and packaging used to store green pepper and compared with sustainability methods and non-packaging. The aim of the study was prolonging shelf life for at least seven days. The characteristics included weight loss (%), temperature (o
... Show Morethirty adult NewZealand rabbits used in this study, they were divided in to two groups (control and treaded with Helium — Neon laser). A square skin flap done on the medial aspect of the auricle of both sides, a square piece of cartilage incised, pealed out from each auricle and fixed in the site of the other, then the flaps sutured .The site of the operation in the rabbits of the treated group were irradiated using a Helium —Neon laser with (5mw) power for (10 days) began after the operation directly, (3 rabbits) from each group used for collection of specimens for histopathological examination at the weeks (1,2,3,4, & 6) weeks post the operation .The results revealed Early invasion of the matrix with elastic fibers which continue to t
... Show MoreInformation security is a crucial factor when communicating sensitive information between two parties. Steganography is one of the most techniques used for this purpose. This paper aims to enhance the capacity and robustness of hiding information by compressing image data to a small size while maintaining high quality so that the secret information remains invisible and only the sender and recipient can recognize the transmission. Three techniques are employed to conceal color and gray images, the Wavelet Color Process Technique (WCPT), Wavelet Gray Process Technique (WGPT), and Hybrid Gray Process Technique (HGPT). A comparison between the first and second techniques according to quality metrics, Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE), Compression-
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