Sphingolipids (SLs) are major structural constituents of eukaryotes, including the kinetoplastid parasite Leishmania. SLs are important for cellular trafficking and signaling and participate in different cell functions, such as, differentiation and cell death (apoptosis). In this study we have investigated the viability of Leishmania major wild type (W.T) and L. major knockout LmLCB2, one of two subunits of serine palmitoyl transferase (SPT) after treatment with myriocin (potent inhibitor of SPT) in order to detect the survival and proliferation of the parasites in vitro. This is to focus on the de novo sphingolipids biosynthesis pathway in both Leishmania wild type which can synthesize SPT and knockout Leishmania which genetically ablated for SPT expression. Different concentrations of myriocin have been used starting from 100 μM to 3.125 μM. Results showed that there were no significance differences in proliferation and viability of both W.T and knockout L. major. These results indicate that Leishmania W.T and knockout promastigotes can survive after myriocin treatment and SLs may be nonessential for Leishmania major promastigotes proliferation in vitro.
An optical system including quantum dot cylindrical Fresnel lens (CFL) has been designed by using Zemax optical designing program. Quantum dot cylindrical Fresnel lens has a relatively small thickness compared to conventional lenses and high absorbance. It contains grooves in the form of parallel lines, and each groove represents an individual lens that works to change the path of light falling on it to a single focal line. (CFL) is characterized by its small focal length despite its large area and small thickness, due to the nature of its design that gives this feature, which is applied in many optical systems (imaging and non- imaging system). In this paper, the visual properties of the (CFL) were studied as it is one of the impor
... Show MoreChanging oil-wet surfaces toward higher water wettability is of key importance in subsurface engineering applications. This includes petroleum recovery from fractured limestone reservoirs, which are typically mixed or oil-wet, resulting in poor productivity as conventional waterflooding techniques are inefficient. A wettability change toward more water-wet would significantly improve oil displacement efficiency, and thus productivity. Another area where such a wettability shift would be highly beneficial is carbon geo-sequestration, where compressed CO2 is pumped underground for storage. It has recently been identified that more water-wet formations can store more CO2. We thus examined how silica based nanofluids can induce such a wettabil
... Show MoreKriging, a geostatistical technique, has been used for many years to evaluate groundwater quality. The best estimation data for unsampled points were determined by using this method depending on measured variables for an area. The groundwater contaminants assessment worldwide was found through many kriging methods. The present paper shows a review of the most known methods of kriging that were used in estimating and mapping the groundwater quality. Indicator kriging, simple kriging, cokriging, ordinary kriging, disjunctive kriging and lognormal kriging are the most used techniques. In addition, the concept of the disjunctive kriging method was explained in this work to be easily understood.
Urban land uses of all kinds are the constituent elements of the urban spatial structure. Because of the influence of economic and social factors, cities in general are characterized by the dynamic state of their elements over time. Urban functions occur in a certain way with different spatial patterns. Hence, urban planners and the relevant urban management teams should understand the future spatial pattern of these changes by resorting to quantitative models in spatial planning. This is to ensure that future predictions are made with a high level of accuracy so that appropriate strategies can be used to address the problems arising from such changes. The Markov chain method is one of the quantitative models used in spatial planning to ana
... Show MoreCoumarin derivatives have shown different biological activities, such as antifungal, antibacterial antiinflammatory, and antioxidant activities, besides antibiotic resistance modulating effects, and anti-HIV, hepatoprotective, and antitumor effect. So, new coumarin derivatives (hydrazones and an amide) were synthesized through multisteps reactions. All the synthesized target compounds were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, 1HNMR analysis. The compounds then evaluated for their anti-bacterial activity by means of well-diffusion method against two gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae) and two gram-negative bacteria (E.coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The highest activity was demonstr
... Show MoreIn this work the fabrication and characterization of poly(3-hexylthiophene) P3HT-metallic nanoparticles (Ag, Al). Pulsed Laser Ablation (PLA) technique was used to synthesis the nanoparticles in liquid. The Fourier Transformer Infrared (FTIR) for all samples indicate the chemical interaction between the polymer and the nanoparticles. Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) analysis showed the particle size for P3HT-AgNps samples between 44.50 nanometers as well the spherical structure. While for P3HT-AlNps samples was flakes shape. Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra show the existing of amount of metallic nanoparticles.
Background: Treatment of invasive prolactinoma, which has several characteristics including invasive growth into cavernous sinuses and formation of giant adenomas compressing adjacent neural structures, resulting in neurological dysfunction, has been very challenging. There are relatively few reports available describing long-term treatment outcome.
Aims of the study: In this study we evaluate the results of cabergoline administration as initial treatment during 4 years follow up period.
Methods: We prospectively categorized 36 patients into four groups according to the results of 3 months of cabergoline treatment: group 1, tumor volume reduction (TVR) ˃25% with normaliz
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