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.
Academic chemical laboratories (ACL) are considered public places the employees come in contact with a variety of pollutants. The aim of the current study was to detect heavy metals levels in the indoor air of ACL in two universities in Baghdad city and assess their levels in the academic employees’ scalp hair as biomarkers. Air samples inside ACL were collected to detect Fe, Cd, Zn, Pb and Cu. Scalp hair samples were collected from 40 adult chemical laboratory employees aged 30-60 years, who worked 5 days/week for 6 hours a day. Personal information relating to employees such as age, duration of exposure, smoking habit and sex, was collected as a questionnaire. The results of this study concluded that academic laboratory employ
... Show MoreSolid‐waste management, particularly of aluminum (Al), is a challenge that is being confronted around the world. Therefore, it is valuable to explore methods that can minimize the exploitation of natural assets, such as recycling. In this study, using hazardous Al waste as the main electrodes in the electrocoagulation (EC) process for dye removal from wastewater was discussed. The EC process is considered to be one of the most efficient, promising, and cost‐effective ways of handling various toxic effluents. The effect of current density (10, 20, and 30 mA/cm2), electrolyte concentration (1 and 2 g/L), and initial concentration of Brilliant Blue dye (15 and 30 mg/L) on
Herein, the interfacial polymerization method has been used for the synthesis of PPy/NaVO3 composites with different compositions of NaVO3 (10 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 % and 50 %) as an efficient electrode material for supercapacitors. The successful formation and composition of the as-prepared composites (PV1-PV5) were confirmed by FTIR, XRD, EDX, and SEM analysis. The electrochemical properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanometric charge–discharge measurement (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte. As compared to other, the PV4 composite exhibit excellent specific capacitance of 391 F g−1 at a current density of 0.75 A/g with good cycling stability of ∼59 % after 1000 cycle
... Show MoreBackground: The COVID-19 virus outbreak had a massive effect on many parts of people's lives, as they were advised to quarantine and lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading, which had a big impact on people's mental health, anxiety, and stress. Many internal and external factors lead to stress. This negatively influences the body's homeostasis. As a result, stress may affect the body's capacity to use energy to defend against pathogens. Many recent investigations have found substantial links between human mental stress and the production of hormones, prohormones, and/or immunological chemicals. some of these researches have verified the link between stress and salivary cortisol levels. The aim of this study is to measure salivary corti
... Show MoreThe goal of this study was to investigate the protein peroxidation role by measuring serum levels of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in type 2 diabetic patients with or without retinopathy and comparing them to controls to see if circulating AOPP levels can be used as a detection biomarker for DR. And see which of the two widely used antidiabetic treatment groups had the most impact on this oxidative stress marker. The groups were divided into two subgroups: 1) 70 type 2 diabetic patients (36 male, 34 female), 35 with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 35 with no evidence of DR, and 2) non-diabetic controls (11 male, 9 female) were chosen from Ibn AL-Haitham Hospital for Ophthalmology and a Specialized Center for Endocrinology and Dia
... Show MoreThe present study is an attempt to throw light on the nature of the US policy regarding the Middle East region as portrayed by AI-Sabah, Al-Mashriq and Tariq Al-Shaab papers over a period of three months from 1st of July to 30th of September 2013.
In writing this study, a number of goals have been set by the researcher. These goals may include but in no way limited to the nature of the US image as carried by the above three papers, the nature of the topics tackled by them and the nature of the Arab countries which received more and extensive coverage than others.
A qualitative research approach is proposed for the study. This approach has allowed the researcher to arrive at definite answers for the possible questions rais
... Show MoreIn this study, a platinum(II) complex ([Pt(H2L)(PPh3)] complex) containing a thiocarbohydrazone as the ligand was tested as an anti-proliferative agent against ovarian adenocarcinoma (Caov-3) and human colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29) through MTT assays. Apoptotic markers were tested by the AO/PI double staining assay and DNA fragmentation test. Flow cytometry was conducted to measure cell cycle distribution, while the p53 and caspase-8 pathways were tested via immunofluorescence assay. Results demonstrated that the cytotoxic effect of the Pt(II)- thiocarbohydrazone complexes against Caov-3 and HT-29 cells was highly significant, and this effect triggered the activation of the p53 and caspase-8 pathways. Besides, apoptosis stimulated by th
... Show MoreObjective(s): To assess parents' attitude toward immunization and its relation with their compliance and to find out the relationship between parents' attitude and their socio-demographic characteristics.
Methodology: A descriptive design is conducted from the period of 19th September 2020 to the 6th of March 2021. A non-probability (convenient) sample of (292) parents was selected from (5) primary health care centers in Karbala city. These centers are distributed throughout (2) primary health care sectors selected randomly as (20%) from each sectors. The questionnaire is developed and composed of three parts: First part: parent's socio-demographic characteristics, Second part: parents' attitude domain, which involves (13 items), and
Back ground: Several devices with different physical bases have been developed for the clinical measurement of corneal thickness, they classified into 4 categories: Scheimpflug photography based, Slit –Scanning topography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) based and ultrasound (US) based.Objective:To evaluatethe precision of the new Scheimpflug –Placido disc corneal topography in measurement of corneal thickness and to compare the measured values with that obtained by US pachymetry.Methods: Setting of this study is Lasik center in Eye Specialty Private Hospital. Baghdad. Iraq.Eyes of healthy subjects were examined with the Sirius topography.3 consecutive measurements of central (CCT)and thinnest (TCT) corneal thicknesses were obtain
... Show MoreThe alterations in glyoxylate reductase and hydroxy-pyruvate reductase concentrations in the sera and the genetic alterations associated with calcium oxalate kidney stones in Iraqi patients were not studied previously so this study aimed to focus on these points. This study included 80 subjects; they were 50 patients with calcium oxalate stones compared to 30 apparently healthy controls. Biochemical investigations for kidney functions (creatinine, urea, and uric acid), were performed on the sera of both groups. Also, complete blood count, random blood sugar, and blood group tests. Furthermore, urine had been collected for General Urine Examination to visualize oxalate crystals in the urine of the patient. Also, the GRHPR
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