Despite extensive investigations, an effective treatment for sepsis remains elusive and a better understanding of the inflammatory response to infection is required to identify potential new targets for therapy. In this study we have used RNAi technology to show, for the first time, that the inducible lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 2 (LPCAT2) plays a key role in macrophage inflammatory gene expression in response to stimulation with bacterial ligands. Using siRNA- or shRNA-mediated knockdown, we demonstrate that, in contrast to the constitutive LPCAT1, LPCAT2 is required for macrophage cytokine gene expression and release in response to TLR4 and TLR2 ligand stimulation but not for TLR-independent stimuli. In addition, cells transfected to overexpress LPCAT2 exhibited increased expression of inflammatory genes in response to LPS and other bacterial ligands. Furthermore, we have used immunoprecipitation and Western blotting to show that in response to LPS, LPCAT2, but not LPCAT1, rapidly associates with TLR4 and translocates to membrane lipid raft domains. Our data thus suggest a novel mechanism for the regulation of inflammatory gene expression in response to bacterial stimuli and highlight LPCAT2 as a potential therapeutic target for development of anti-inflammatory and anti-sepsis therapies.
Background:Nocturnal Enuresis is a common problem affecting 20% of five years old children and up to 2% of adolescent and young adult. Although it is a self limiting benign condition, it has social and psychological impact on the child and his family. Many pathophysiological theories had been suggested, but none is confirmed. Hypercalciuria has been suggested to be associated with higher incidence of nocturnal enuresis. Objectives:The aim of our study to test the value of Ca/Cr ratio, on random urine sample, in diagnosing hypercalciuria in enuretic children. Type of study: Cross sectional study.Methods:Forty four enuretic children were enrolled in this study and forty five children without nocturnal enuresis were taken as control group.
... Show MoreMethylotrophs bacteria are ubiquitous, and they have the ability to consume single carbon (C1) which makes them biological conversion machines. It is the first study to find facultative methylotrophic bacteria in contaminated soils in Iraq. Conventional PCR was employed to amplify MxaF that encodes methanol dehydrogenase enzyme. DNA templates were extracted from bacteria isolated from five contaminated sites in Basra. The gene specific PCR detected Methylorubrum extorquens as the most dominant species in these environments. The ability of M. extorquens to degrade aliphatic hydrocarbons compound was tested at the laboratory. Within 7 days, gas chromatographic (GC) studies of remaining utilize
... Show MorePromoting the production of industrially important aromatic chloroamines over transition-metal nitrides catalysts has emerged as a prominent theme in catalysis. This contribution provides an insight into the reduction mechanism of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) to p-chloroaniline (p-CAN) over the γ-Mo2N(111) surface by means of density functional theory calculations. The adsorption energies of various molecularly adsorbed modes of p-CNB were computed. Our findings display that, p-CNB prefers to be adsorbed over two distinct adsorption sites, namely, Mo-hollow face-centered cubic (fcc) and N-hollow hexagonal close-packed (hcp) sites with adsorption energies of −32.1 and −38.5 kcal/mol, respectively. We establish that the activation of nit
... Show MoreA shocking third species emerged from a family of coronaviruses (CoV) in late 2019 following viruses causing SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoV) in 2003 and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-CoV) in 2012; it’s a novel coronavirus now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV). First emerging in China, it has spread rapidly across the globe, giving rise to significant social and economic costs and imposing severe strain on healthcare systems. Since many attempts to control viral spread has been futile, the only old practice of containment including city lockdown and social distancing are working to some extent. Unfortunately, specific antiviral drugs and vaccines remain u
... Show MoreBackground: In type 2 diabetes mellitus there is a progressive loss of beta cell function. One new
approach yielding promising results is the use of the orally active dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4)
inhibitors for type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Objective: This study aims at comparing the possible occurrence of macrovascular & microvascular
complications in Iraqis patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using two combinations of drugs
metformin + glibenclamide and metformin + sitagliptin.
Methodology: Sixty eight T2DM patients and 34 normal healthy individuals as control group were
enrolled in this study and categorized in to two treatment groups. The group 1 (34 patients ) received
metformin 500 mg three times daily
This research aims to provide insight into the Spatial Autoregressive Quantile Regression model (SARQR), which is more general than the Spatial Autoregressive model (SAR) and Quantile Regression model (QR) by integrating aspects of both. Since Bayesian approaches may produce reliable estimates of parameter and overcome the problems that standard estimating techniques, hence, in this model (SARQR), they were used to estimate the parameters. Bayesian inference was carried out using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques. Several criteria were used in comparison, such as root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and coefficient of determination (R^2). The application was devoted on dataset of poverty rates acro
... Show MoreIt is believed that Organizations around the world should be prepared for the transition to IPv6 and make sure they have the " know how" to be able to succeed in choosing the right migration to start time. This paper focuses on the transition to IPv6 mechanisms. Also, this paper proposes and tests a deployment of IPv6 prototype within the intranet of the University of Baghdad (BUniv) using virtualization software. Also, it deals with security issues, improvements and extensions of IPv6 network using firewalls, Virtual Private Network ( VPN), Access list ( ACLs). Finally, the performance of the obtainable intrusion detection model is assessed and compared with three approaches.
Sand production in unconsolidated reservoirs has become a cause of concern for production engineers. Issues with sand production include increased wellbore instability and surface subsidence, plugging of production liners, and potential damage to surface facilities. A field case in southeast Iraq was conducted to predict the critical drawdown pressures (CDDP) at which the well can produce without sanding. A stress and sanding onset models were developed for Zubair reservoir. The results show that sanding risk occurs when rock strength is less than 7,250 psi, and the ratio of shear modulus to the bulk compressibility is less than 0.8 1012 psi2. As the rock strength is increased, the sand free drawdown and depletion becomes larger. The CDDP
... Show MoreIn this study, the response and behavior of machine foundations resting on dry and saturated sand was investigated experimentally. In order to investigate the response of soil and footing to steady state dynamic loading, a physical model was manufactured to simulate steady state harmonic load at different operating frequencies. Total of 84 physical models were performed. The footing parameters are related to the size of the rectangular footing and depth of embedment. Two sizes of rectangular steel model footing were tested at the surface and at 50 mm depth below model surface. Meanwhile the investigated parameters of the soil condition include dry and saturated sand for two relative densities 30% and 80%. The response of the footing was ela
... Show MoreThe electrocoagulation process became one of the most important technologies used for water treatment processes in the last few years. It’s the preferred method to remove suspended solids and heavy metals from water for treating drinking water and wastewater from textile, diary, and electroplating factories. This research aims to study the effect of using the electrocoagulation process with aluminum electrodes on the removal efficiency of suspended solids and turbidity presented in raw water and optimizing by the response surface methodology (RSM). The most important variables studied in this research included electrode spacing, the applied voltage, and the operating time of the electrocoagulation process. The samples
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