The aim of this study is to investigate the role of prodigiosin on P. aeruginosa' s biofilm genes involved in the pathogenicity and persistency of the bacteria; Materials and methods: Gram negative bacterial isolates were taken from burn and wounds specimen obtained from some of Baghdad hospitals. Forty six isolates were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and four isolates as Serratia marcescens by using biochemical tests and VITEK 2 compact system. Susceptibility test was performed for all P. aeruginosa isolates, the results showed that 100% were resistant to Amikacin and 98% were sensitive to Meropenem. Resistant isolates were tested for biofilm formation; the strong and moderate isolates (17) were detected by PCR for AlgD gene presence. From 17 isolates only two had AlgD gene. All serratia isolates were screened for prodigiosin production, which were extracted from the best producer isolate. Minimal inhibitory concentration was assessed for prodigiosin and ciprofloxacin and synergism between them against the two isolates of P. aeruginosa. Results and conclusions: The results showed that the synergistic effect decreased MIC of both prodigiosin and ciprofloxacin by combination, and reduction of biofilm formation was detected. RNA was extracted from the two selected isolates as control in addition to three treatments. The result of quantitative real time PCR showed down regulation in the AlgD gene expression level under some treatments, while there was no gene expression in most treatments with both sub-MICs treatment
Some new norms need to be adapted due to COVID-19 pandemic period where people need to wear masks, wash their hands frequently, maintain social distancing, and avoid going out unless necessary. Therefore, educational institutions were closed to minimize the spread of COVID-19. As a result of this, online education was adapted to substitute face-to-face learning. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the Malaysian university students’ adaptation to the new norms, knowledge and practices toward COVID-19, besides, their attitudes toward online learning. A convenient sampling technique was used to recruit 500 Malaysian university students from January to February 2021 through social media. For data collection, all students
... Show MoreThe effects of nutrients and physical conditions on phytase production were investigated with a recently isolated strain of Aspergillus tubingensis SKA under solid state fermentation on wheat bran. The nutrient factors investigated included carbon source, nitrogen source, phosphate source and concentration, metal ions (salts) and the physical parameters investigated included inoculum size, pH, temperature and fermentation duration. Our investigations revealed that optimal productivity of phytase was achieved using wheat bran supplemented with: 1.5% glucose. 0.5% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% sodium phytate. Additionally, optimal physical conditions were 1 × 105 spore/g substrate, initial pH of 5.0, temperature of fermentation 30˚C and fermentation dura
... Show MoreSteel-concrete-steel (SCS) structural element solutions are rising due to their advantages over conventional reinforced concrete in terms of cost and strength. The impact of SCS sections with various core materials on the structural performance of composites has not yet been fully explored experimentally, and in this work, both slag and polypropylene fibers were incorporated in producing eco-friendly steel-concrete-steel composite sections. This study examined the ductility, ultimate strength, failure modes, and energy absorption capacities of steel-concrete-steel filled with eco-friendly concrete, enhanced by polypropylene fiber (PPF) to understand its impact on modern structural projects. Eco-friendly concrete was produced by the partial
... Show MorePurpose Heavy metals are toxic pollutants released into the environment as a result of different industrial activities. Biosorption of heavy metals from aqueous solutions is a new technology for the treatment of industrial wastewater. The aim of the present research is to highlight the basic biosorption theory to heavy metal removal. Materials and methods Heterogeneous cultures mostly dried anaerobic bacteria, yeast (fungi), and protozoa were used as low-cost material to remove metallic cations Pb(II), Cr(III), and Cd(II) from synthetic wastewater. Competitive biosorption of these metals was studied. Results The main biosorption mechanisms were complexation and physical adsorption onto natural active functional groups. It is observed that
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus is a chronic illness that commonly leads to progressive and incapacitating of patients’ condition over the past 20 years.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of the coughing technique, ShotBlockerTo evaluate the effects of the coughing technique, ShotBlocker and vibration device on pain intensity and patient satisfaction during subcutaneous (SC) insulin injections in hospitalised adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
In the present study, magnet silica-coated Ag2WO4/Ag2S nanocomposites (FOSOAWAS) were fabricated via a multistep method to address the drawbacks related to single photocatalysts (pure Ag2WO4 and pure Ag2S) and to clarify the significant influence of semiconductor heterojunction on the enhancement of visible-light-driven organic degradation. Different techniques were performed to investigate the elemental composition, morphology, magnetic and photoelectrochemical properties of the fabricated FOSOAWAS photocatalyst. The FOSOAWAS photocatalyst (1 g/L) exhibited excellent photodegradation efficiency (99.5%) against Congo red dye (CR = 20 ppm) after 140 min of visible-light illumination. This result confirmed the ability of the heterojunction be
... Show MoreA specific, sensitive and new simple method was used for the determination of methyldopa in pure and pharmaceutical formulations by using continuous flow injection analysis. This method is based on formation of ion pair compound between methyldopa and potassium hexacyanoferrate in acidic medium to obtain a yellow precipitate complex using long distance chasing photometer (NAG-ADF-300-2). The linear range for calibration graph was 0.05-35 mmol/L for cell A and 0.05-25 mmol/L for cell B, and LOD 1.4292 µg /200 µL for both cells with correlation coefficient (r) 0.9981 for cell A and 0.9994 for cell B, RSD% was lower than 0.5 % for n=8 for. The results were compared with classical method UV-Spectrophotometric at λ max=280 nm and turbi
... Show MoreCombining different treatment strategies successively or simultaneously has become recommended to achieve high purification standards for the treated discharged water. The current work focused on combining electrocoagulation, ion-exchange, and ultrasonication treatment approaches for the simultaneous removal of copper, nickel, and zinc ions from water. The removal of the three studied ions was significantly enhanced by increasing the power density (4–10 mA/cm2) and NaCl salt concentration (0.5–1.5 g/L) at a natural solution pH. The simultaneous removal of these metal ions at 4 mA/cm2 and 1 g NaCl/L was highly improved by introducing 1 g/L of mordenite zeolite as an ion-exchanger. A remarkable removal of heavy metals was reported
... Show MoreCombining different treatment strategies successively or simultaneously has become recommended to achieve high purification standards for the treated discharged water. The current work focused on combining electrocoagulation, ion-exchange, and ultrasonication treatment approaches for the simultaneous removal of copper, nickel, and zinc ions from water. The removal of the three studied ions was significantly enhanced by increasing the power density (4–10 mA/cm2) and NaCl salt concentration (0.5–1.5 g/L) at a natural solution pH. The simultaneous removal of these metal ions at 4 mA/cm2 and 1 g NaCl/L was highly improved by introducing 1 g/L of mordenite zeolite as an ion-exchanger. A remarkable removal of heavy metals was reported
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