Several toxigenic cyanobacteria produce the cyanotoxin (microcystin). Being a health and environmental hazard, screening of water sources for the presence of microcystin is increasingly becoming a recommended environmental procedure in many countries of the world. This study was conducted to assess the ability of freshwater cyanobacterial species Westiellopsis prolifica to produce microcystins in Iraqi freshwaters via using molecular and immunological tools. The toxigenicity of W. prolifica was compared via laboratory experiments with other dominant bloom-forming cyanobacteria isolated from the Tigris River: Microcystis aeruginosa, Chroococcus turigidus, Nostoc carneum, and Lyngbya sp. significant expression of mcyE gene and microcystin production was most evident in W. prolifica. Contrary to the prevailing concept that M. aeruginosa is a main microcystin producer in freshwaters around the world, no significant microcystin production was observed with this species throughout the time points studied in our laboratory methods. As for C. turigidus, N. carneum and Lyngbya sp., neither mcyE expression nor microcystin production was significant. Data from mcyE expression by RT-qPCR were generally in agreement with those obtained from microcystin quantification by ELISA. Interestingly, W. prolifica, which showed clear microcystin-producing ability in this study and which was not reported before in the literature to produce microcystin, can be added as a new microcystin producer to the list of toxigenic cyanobacteria.
Abstract:
This study aims to identify the level of patients’ satisfaction among a sample of hospitalized patients in the targeted hospital (Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital, and Al-Yarmook Teaching Hospital). Moreover, this study highlights the reality of services for patients, especially in the targeted governmental teaching hospitals. The Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care (PSNCS) has been measured in these hospitals through the revised scale by Tang et al, (2013).This scale includes four major domains; Health Information (5 items), Influencing Support (4 items), Decision Control (4 items), Specialized Technical Competence (7 items). The method of surveying patients’ opinions about the degree
... Show MoreThe developing countries, like our country Iraq suffer from deep comprehensive structural crisis, manifestations and a clear imbalance between the demand and the supply sides. The overall imbalance in the external balance. As a consequence, this caused the accumulation of foreign debts or failure in the implementation of economic development programs. The countries which are forced to resort to the International Monitoring Funds, and the World Bank for assistance and to express an opinion on policies that include restrictions controls that belong to the monetary, and fiscal side group, imposed on the economies crisis, as a condition for returning to normal which called reform programs. The organize of the events of radical changes in the
... Show MoreThe Evaluation of the immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani was determined in this study, particularly, the cellular immune response. Follow up has maintained to determine the Delayed Type of Hypersensitivity using skin test both in infected and control lab animals. Chicken red blood cells were used as a parameter to evaluate the immune system; they are dull and have the ability of immunization. Two concentrations of chicken R.B.C were examined to determine which gives the higher titration in Hamsters and those were 1.5 X 109 cell/ml and 3 X 109 cell/ml , the second concentration gave the maximum titration where then used in this work. After sensitization with Chicken R.B.C for both infected a
... Show MoreObjectives: The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program on nurses’ knowledge towards nursing management for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), as well as to find out the relationship between nurses' knowledge and some of their demographic characteristics (age, gender, level of education, and years of experience in cardiac units).
Methodology: A Quasi-experimental as one group (pre and post test) study was conducted at the Heart Center in Al-Diwaniyah city for the period from December 7, 2019 to February 23, 2020. A sample of (40) nurses working in the heart center was chosen from different nursing addresses. The sample covered one gro
... Show MorePolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the main cause of female infertility. The role of insulin resistance in the development of polycystic ovary is actively discussed here. The study included patients with PCOS without insulin resistance (n = 48) and with insulin resistance (n = 39). The comparison groups were patients with no history of PCOS: a control group without insulin resistance (n = 46) and a group of patients with insulin resistance (n = 45). The following parameters were determined in patients: FSH, LH, TSH, T3f, T4f, PRL, E2, 17-OHd, Pr, AMH, Test total, Testf, DHEAS, DHEASs, SHBG, ACTH, cortisol, IRI, IGF-1, C-peptide, and glucose level. The HOMA-IR index and the LH / FSH ratio and t
... Show MoreBackground: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the microleakage between Vertise Flow T M composite material and other conventional (Filtek Z250, riva light cure and SDR) composite materials when restoring CII mesial box only cavity at gingival margin through die penetration test Materials and methods: Forty maxillary first premolars were prepared with class II box design only cavities. Samples were divided into four groups of ten teeth according to material used: group I (FiltekZ250 only). Group II (SDR+FiltekZ250). Group III (Vertise Flow +FiltekZ250). Group IV (Riva light cure+ FiltekZ250). After 24 hrs. immersion in 2% in methylene blue, samples were sectioned and micro leakage was estimated. Results: None of the
... Show MoreThis paper presents a computer simulation model of a thermally activated roof (TAR) to cool a room using cool water from a wet cooling tower. Modeling was achieved using a simplified 1-D resistance-capacitance thermal network (RC model) for an infinite slab. Heat transfer from the cooling pipe network was treated as 2-D heat flow. Only a limited number of nodes were required to obtain reliable results. The use of 6th order RC-thermal model produced a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved using MATLAB - R2012a. The computer program was written to cover all possible initial conditions, material properties, TAR system geometry and hourly solar radiation. The cool water supply was considered time
... Show MoreSemiconductor-based photocatalytic processes are widely applied as ecofriendly technology for degrading organic pollutants. Establishing photocatalytic heterojunctions with Z-type photocarriers transfer pathways is projected to be a superb strategy to enhance photocatalytic behavior. In this paper, novel and stable (0D/2D) heterojunctions of CoS-embedded boron-doped g-C3N4 (CoS/BCN) with a high rate of charges transfer/separation were assembled for degradation of malachite green dye (MG). The CoS/BCN photocatalyst achieves a photodegradation efficiency of 96.9 % within 1 h of LED illumination, which is 2.5 and 1.4-fold enhancement compared with bare g-C3N4 and BCN, respectively. Besides, the results of species-trapping trials exhibited that
... Show MoreIn the past infectious diseases affected the quality of lifestyle during home confinement. The study conducted examines the influence of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on lifestyle, mental wellbeing, nutritional status, and sleeping pattern.
An online multicategorical questionnaire was distributed to collect demographic information combined with the following tools: Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), WHO-5 wellbeing score, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A snowball non-discriminate sampling procedure was