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.
This research aims to estimate stock returns, according to the Rough Set Theory approach, test its effectiveness and accuracy in predicting stock returns and their potential in the field of financial markets, and rationalize investor decisions. The research sample is totaling (10) companies traded at Iraq Stock Exchange. The results showed a remarkable Rough Set Theory application in data reduction, contributing to the rationalization of investment decisions. The most prominent conclusions are the capability of rough set theory in dealing with financial data and applying it for forecasting stock returns.The research provides those interested in investing stocks in financial
... Show MoreThis research includes the study of dual data models with mixed random parameters, which contain two types of parameters, the first is random and the other is fixed. For the random parameter, it is obtained as a result of differences in the marginal tendencies of the cross sections, and for the fixed parameter, it is obtained as a result of differences in fixed limits, and random errors for each section. Accidental bearing the characteristic of heterogeneity of variance in addition to the presence of serial correlation of the first degree, and the main objective in this research is the use of efficient methods commensurate with the paired data in the case of small samples, and to achieve this goal, the feasible general least squa
... Show MoreInformation security in data storage and transmission is increasingly important. On the other hand, images are used in many procedures. Therefore, preventing unauthorized access to image data is crucial by encrypting images to protect sensitive data or privacy. The methods and algorithms for masking or encoding images vary from simple spatial-domain methods to frequency-domain methods, which are the most complex and reliable. In this paper, a new cryptographic system based on the random key generator hybridization methodology by taking advantage of the properties of Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) to generate an indefinite set of random keys and taking advantage of the low-frequency region coefficients after the DCT stage to pass them to
... Show MoreBiomass has been extensively investigated, because of its presence as clean energy source. Tars and particulates formation problems are still the major challenges in development especially in the implementation of gasification technologies into nowadays energy supply systems. Laser Induced Fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF) method is incorporated for determining aromatic and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) produced at high temperature gasification technology. The effect of tars deposition when the gases are cooled has been highly reduced by introducing a new concept of measurement cell. The samples of PAH components have been prepared with the standard constrictions of measured PAHs by using gas chromatograph (GC). OPO laser with tun
... Show MoreIn this paper, a comparison between horizontal and vertical OFET of Poly (3-Hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as an active semiconductor layer (p-type) was studied by using two different gate insulators (ZrO2 and PVA). The electrical performance output (Id-Vd) and transfer (Id-Vg) characteristics were investigated using the gradual-channel approximation model. The device shows a typical output curve of a field-effect transistor (FET). The analysis of electrical characterization was performed in order to investigate the source-drain voltage (Vd) dependent current and the effects of gate dielectric on the electrical performance of the OFET. This work also considered the effects of the capacitance semiconductor on the performance OFETs. The value
... Show MoreWellbore instability problems cause nonproductive time, especially during drilling operations in the shale formations. These problems include stuck pipe, caving, lost circulation, and the tight hole, requiring more time to treat and therefore additional costs. The extensive hole collapse problem is considered one of the main challenges experienced when drilling in the Zubair shale formation. In turn, it is caused by nonproductive time and increasing well drilling expenditure. In this study, geomechanical modeling was used to determine a suitable mud weight window to overpass these problems and improve drilling performance for well development. Three failure criteria, including Mohr–Coulomb, modifie