Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a ubiquitous environmental organism, is a difficult-to-treat opportunistic pathogen due to its broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance and its ability to form biofilms. In this study, we investigate the link between resistance to a clinically important antibiotic, imipenem, and biofilm formation. First, we observed that the laboratory strain P. aeruginosa PAO1 carrying a mutation in the oprD gene, which confers resistance to imipenem, showed a modest reduction in biofilm formation.We also observed an inverse relationship between imipenem resistance and biofilm formation for imipenem-resistant strains selected in vitro, as well as for clinical isolates.We identified two clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa from the sputum of cystic fibrosis patients that formed robust biofilms, but were sensitive to imipenem (MIC≤2 μg/ml). To test the hypothesis that there is a general link between imipenem resistance and biofilm formation, we performed transposon mutagenesis of these two clinical strains to identify mutants defective in biofilm formation, and then tested these mutants for imipenem resistance. Analysis of the transposon mutants revealed a role for previously described biofilm factors in these clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa, including mutations in the pilY1, pilX, pilW, algC, and pslI genes, but none of the biofilmdeficient mutants became imipenem resistant (MIC≥8 μg/ml), arguing against a general link between biofilm formation and resistance to imipenem. Thus, assessing biofilm formation capabilities of environmental isolates is unlikely to serve as a good predictor of imipenem resistance. We also discuss our findings in light of the limited literature addressing planktonic antibiotic resistance factors that impact biofilm formation.
The effect of α-particle irradiation on the optical absorption in nuclear track detectors (LR115) has been studied. These detectors have been irradiated with different doses. The optical absorption has been measured using the ultraviolet-visible (UV-1100) spectroscopy, that irradiation results in shifting the peaks of the optical absorption. The values of Urbach energy have been calculated from the position of steady-state optical band gap energy, for a standard sample which was unirradiated with indirect influence, has been found 1.9 eV whereas its value after irradiation 1.98 eV. In case of the direct influence, it is found to be, respectively, before irradiation 1.98 eV and after irradiation 2.05 eV. From these results, we can
... Show MoreTwo EM techniques, terrain conductivity and VLF-Radiohm resistivity (using two
different instruments of Geonics EM 34-3 and EMI6R respectively) have been applied to
evaluate their ability in delineation and measuring the depth of shallow subsurface cavities
near Haditha city.
Thirty one survey traverses were achieved to distinguish the subsurface cavities in the
investigated area. Both EM techniques are found to be successfiul tools in study area.
In this work, the fractional damped Burger's equation (FDBE) formula = 0,
Investigation of the adsorption of Chromium (VI) on Fe3O4 is carried out using batch scale experiments according to statistical design using a software program minitab17 (Box-Behnken design). Experiments were carried out as per Box-Behnken design with four input parameters such as pH (2-8), initial concentration (50–150mg/L), adsorbent dosage (0.05–0.3 g) and time of adsorption (10–60min). The better conditions were showed at pH: 2; contact time: 60 min; chromium concentration: 50 mg/L and magnetite dosage: 0.3 g for maximum Chromium (VI) removal of (98.95%) with an error of 1.08%. The three models (Freundlich, Langmuir, and Temkin) were fitted to experimental data, Langmuir isotherm has bette
... Show MoreUnderstanding, promoting, and teaching media literacy is an important societal challenge. STEM educators are increasingly looking to incorporate 21st century skills such as media literacy into core subject education. In this paper we investigate how undergraduate Computer Science (CS) students can learn media literacy as a by-product of collaborative video tutorial production. The paper presents a study of 34 third-year CS undergraduates who, as part of their learning, were each asked to produce three video tutorials on Raspberry Pi programming, using a collaborative video production tool for mobile phones (Bootlegger). We provide results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the production process and resulting video tutorials,
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to identify the effect of enabling the effectiveness of the work of the audit committees in private commercial banks and to identify the extent of awareness of the importance of empowerment in the work of these committees, especially as it is known that these committees, especially the inspection committees that go to private banks and from various sources including committees of the Central Bank of Iraq Committees of the Securities Commission and finally committees of the external audit offices, through an analysis of the determinants of empowerment in the performance of the most important work of the audit committees, namely: supervising the process of preparing reports, supervising the system of intern
... Show MoreIn this paper , concrete micro-piles were used to improve the bearing capacity of the soil which is supporting the shallow foundation by using groups of (4; 6 and 9)bored short micro-piles which have, (D=0.125m and D=0.1m), and length to diameter ratio (L/D) equal to (6; 10 and 12) respectively. To calculate the bearing capacity of the micro-piles,(Tomlinson) and (Lamda) methods were used; also the soil properties were taken from Al-Muthana airport,(Al-Qyssi,2001) [1]. The results show that; increasing the number of piles and/ or the diameters and lengths; and the interaction between the bearing capacity of the shallow foundation with the bearing capacity of the pile group which leads to increasing the strength against the external loads
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