Crop diseases are usually caused by inoculum of pathogens which might exist on alternate hosts or weeds as endophytes. These endophytes, cum pathogens, usually confer some beneficial attributes to these weeds or alternate hosts from protection against herbivores, disease resistance, stress tolerance to secondary metabolites production. This study was therefore carried out to isolate potential crop pathogens which exist as endophytes on weed species in the University of Ilorin plantations. Green asymptomatic leaves were collected from 10 weed species across the plantations, and processed for their endophytic fungi isolation. Isolates were purified into pure cultures and used for molecular identification using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA. Phylogenetic analysis of the fungal sequences using MEGA software revealed 9 fungal genera belonging to 13 species, with species in the genera Curvularia, Epicoccum and Daldinia occurring in more than one weed species, while other genera such as Alternaria, Fusarium, Chaetomium, Macrophomina, Arthrinium and Phomopsis occurred in just one weed species each. Daldinia eschscholtzii was isolated in this study as an endophyte from Loudetia arundinacea for the first time. This plant is very abundant in Nigeria and Africa where it is used majorly for thatching and feeding livestocks. This also represents the first endophytic fungi from the genus Loudetia. Potential relationship between the occurrences of these fungi as endophytes and as pathogens are discussed. These discoveries represent the first large-scale molecular identification and several first reports of endophytes from these weed species. These results also represent the first records of some of these fungi in Nigeria.
Background: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most commonly encountered valve lesion in modern clinical practice. Severe mitral regurgitation may cause systolic dysfunction. Left ventricular ejection fraction may not be an accurate measurement of LV function in patients with mitral insufficiency. Myocardial performance index (MPI) is a simple non invasive measure of myocardial function. Methods: The study involved 50 patients with valvular mitral regurgitation and 50 healthy subjects as a control group. Transthoracic echocardiography was carried out for all patients and control group. The echocardiographic measurements included left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic dimensions, left atrial diameter, ejection fraction (EF), and myoca
... Show MoreBackground: Hyperthyroidism refers to overactive of thyroid gland leading to excessive synthesis of thyroid hormones and accelerated metabolism in the peripheral tissue. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate a new member of the IL-1 super family of cytokines interleukin-33(IL-33) levels in serum .in order to evaluate its utility as clinical bio marker of autoimmune disease (i.e. hyperthyroidism) Methods: The present study was conducted on 30 patients from the Iraqi female patients with hyperthyroidism attending Baghdad teaching hospital, in addition to 30 healthy controls. All subjects were (35-65) years old. Parameters measured in the sera of patients and healthy groups, were interleukin -33 (IL-33), Thyroxin (T4), Thyroxin (T3)
... Show MoreAlterations of trace element concentrations adversely affect biological processes and could promote carcinogenesis. Trace element deficiency or excess is implicated in the development or progression of some cancers like colorectal cancer. The aim of the present study was to compare the serum copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) concentrations in patients with colorectal cancer from Iraqi male patient with those of healthy subjects. During the period of March 2015 until august 2015, a total of 25 patients with metastatic colon cancer and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled from the Al-Kadhimia Teaching Hospital after the diagnosis using a histopathological examination for the malignant tumor; their age was between (38-60) years. Higher levels o
... Show MoreBackground: Oxidative stress is a deleterious process that can be an important mediator of damage to cell structures and consequently various disease states. Exposure to free radicals from a variety of sources has led organisms to produce a series of defense mechanisms. The antioxidant ceruloplasmin is a copper-containing ferroxidase that can oxidize ferrous iron (Fe2+) to its nontoxic ferric (Fe3+) form. Ferrous iron (Fe2+) is extremely damaging because of its ability to generate toxic free radicals. Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory oral mucosal disease of unknown etiology. Previous studies reported that reactive oxygen species may be involved in the pathogenesis of lichen planus. The aim of this study was to estimate the
... Show MoreBackground: Arylesterase activity of Paraoxonase-1 (ARE-PON-1) exhibits an antioxidant role which protects lipoprotein from oxidation. It is known that ARE-PON-1 antioxidant activity associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) reduces the oxidative damage mediated by low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The present study was aimed to examine the level of serum ARE-PON1 in Iraqi patients with β-thalassemia minor and its relationship with lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C), and LDL-C) and hematologic changes as a part of antioxidant system action. Methods: In the present study, the ARE-PON-1 activity was investigated in serum of patients with β-thalassemia minor. Resu
... Show MoreThis paper deals with numerical study of the flow of stable and fluid Allamstqr Aniotina in an area surrounded by a right-angled triangle has touched particularly valuable secondary flow cross section resulting from the pressure gradient In the first case was analyzed stable flow where he found that the equations of motion that describe the movement of the fluid
A total of 33 Iraq male positive for Toxoplasmosis and Iraq male negative for Toxoplasmosis (controls) were studies to Evaluation of some biochemical and immunological parameters changes.The parameters included lipid profile such as (Cholesterol(C), Triglycerides(TG), High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and very Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) and complement component C3 and C4. The results revealed significant decrease in the total cholesterol, Triglycerides, LDL and non-significant in vLDL (129.96±1.63, 130.69± 2.80, 87.19±1.97, 29.24± 0.83 mg/dl respectively) and non-significant increase in HDL(24.22 ±0.62) mg/dl compared with control group(152.07± 1.63, 156.48± 6.55, 99.26 ±1.39, 31.49± 1.30 and 21.31±
... Show MoreThis study was established to investigate the correlation between the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1) and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Blood samples were collected from 55 female patients with inflammatory OA and controls for estimation of serum (MMP-1) levels. In the current study, there is significant increase (p<0.001) in the mean of serum MMP-1 levels in osteoarthritis females (4027.73 ± 1345.28 pg/ml) than that in control females (798.76 ± 136.79 pg/ml). It was concluded that MMP-1 may be associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.
One of the most important challenges facing the designers of the sewerage system is the corrosion of sewers due to the influence of sewerage contaminates which lead to failure of the main lines of sewers. In this study, a reference mix of 1: 1.5: 3 was used and the 4% Flocrete PC200 by weight of cement was added to the same mixing ratio in the second mixture. Twenty-four samples were tested for each mixture, 12 of which were used to compression strength test in ages (7, 14 and 28) day and six samples were submerged after 28 days of wet treatment at (5 and 10) % concentrations of sulfuric acid. The other six samples were painted after 28 days of wet treatment with coating Polyurethane and after 24 hours were flooded with a concentrat
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