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.
To find out a simple and efficient equation to estimate maize ear grain weight on farm (in situ), twenty three maize crosses along with two synthetics were grown in the field. On the experimental farm of the Dept. of Field Crop Sci., College of Agric., Univ. of Baghdad, seeds of twenty five maize genotypes were grown in the fall season of 2013 with three replicates. At dough stage of the kernels, five naked ears of each experimental units were measured for length and maximum diameter. This will sum up 125 ears of the trial. The volumes of ears were calculated as cylinder (length× r2× 3.1416). Grain weight of all ears were determined after harvesting and drying to 15% grain moisture. A constant was calculated by dividing ear grain weight b
... Show MoreCladosporium sp. plays an important role in human health, it is one of the pathogenic fungi which cause allergy and asthma and most frequently isolated from airborne spores. In this study, a couple of universal PCR primers were designed to identify the pathogenic fungi Cladosporium sp. according to conserved region 5.8S, 18S and 28S subunit ribosomal RNA gene in Cladosporium species. In silico RFLP-PCR were used to identify twenty-four Cladosporium strains. The results showed that the universal primer has the specificity to amplify the conserved region in 24 species as a band in virtual agarose gel. They also showed that the RFLP method is able to identify three Cladosporium spe
... Show MoreBackground: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most challenging tumors because of their relative inaccessibility and that their spread can occur without significant symptoms with few signs, but Radiotherapy (RT) has a role in treatment of it.
Objectives: To show that RT is still the modality of choice in the treatment of NPC, to study modes of presentations, commonest histopathological types and their percentages, to show differences in the sensitivities of these types to RT and to find out a 5 year survival rate(5YSR) and its relation with lymph node involvement.
Methods: This is a retrospective study of 44 patients with NPC who were treated with routine RT from 1988-2007 at the institute of radiology and nuclear medicin
In this research, a modified artificial hand with direct control has been designed using electrical artificial muscle wires that receive direct sensory impulses through human hand instead of using the mechanical action to open and close this artificial hand. Each finger is designed as a chain and its movements achieved through the conventional arrangement control of the electrical muscles wires. The results indicate that it is possible to design an artificial hand using electrical muscle wire for control it with high accuracy.
In this work Polyynes was synthesized by pulse laser ablation of graphite target in ethanol solution. UV-Visible Spectrophotometer, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study the optical absorption, chemical bonding, particle size and the morphology. UV absorption peaks coincide with the electronic transitions corresponding to linear hydrogen – capped polyyne (Cn+1H2), the absorption peaks intensity increased when the polyynes were produced at different laser energies and the formation rats of polyynes increased with the increasing of laser pulse number. The FTIR absorption peak at 2368.4 cm-1, 1640.0 cm-1 and 1276.
... Show MoreA progression of Polyaniline (PANI) and Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by an in-situ polymerization strategy within the sight of TiO2 NPs. The subsequent nanocomposites were analyzed using Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX) taken for the prepared samples. PANI/TiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by various compound materials (with H2SO4 0.3 M and without it, to compare the outcome of it) by the compound oxidation technique using ammonium persulfate (APS) as oxidant within the sight of ultrafine grade powder of TiO2 cooled in an ice bath.
... Show MoreIn this work; Silicon dioxide (SiO2) were fabricated by pulsed
laser ablation (PLA). The electron temperature was calculated by
reading the data of I-V curve of Langmuir probe which was
employed as a diagnostic technique for measuring plasma properties.
Pulsed Nd:YA Glaser was used for measuring the electron
temperature of SiO2 plasma plume under vacuum environment with
varying both pressure and axial distance from the target surface. The
electron temperature has been measured experimentally and the
effects of each of pressure and Langmuir probe distance from the
target were studied. An inverse relationship between electron
temperature and both pressure and axial distance was observed.