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.
Urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection that often affects the bladder and thus the urinary system. E. coli is one of the leading uropathogenic bacteria that cause urinary tract infections. Uropathogenic E. coli is highly effective and successful in causing urinary tract infections through biofilm formation and urothelial cell invasion mechanisms. Other organisms that cause urinary tract infections include members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, streptococci and staphylococci species and perch. In addition, K.penumoniae is another important gram-negative bacterium that causes urinary tract infections. With the PCR technique, unseen bacterial species can be detected using standard clinical microbiology methods. In this study, the
... Show MoreInterleukins (IL-2 and IL-4) are increased in asthmatics and were reported to induce resistance to steroid therapy in some patients who fail to get benefit from glucocorticoids when used in full dose and for long period of time. In this context, the present study was conducted on Iraqi patients to provide additional laboratory mean, beside the clinical diagnosis, for the decision whether the asthma is steroid sensitive or resistant by monitoring the level of immunoglobulins, complement proteins and interleukins among asthmatic patients (steroid sensitive or resistant) and the possible contribution of other factors like age, sex and environments in the development of steroid resistance. A total number of 55 asthmatics and 28 normal subjec
... Show MoreGlassy polymers like Poly Mathyel Metha Acrylate are usually classified as non-porous materials; they are almost considered as fully transparent. Thin samples of these materials reflect color changing followed by porous formation and consequently cracking when exposed to certain level of ?-irradiation. The more the dose is the higher the effect have been observed. The optical microscope and UV-VIS spectroscopy have clearly approved these consequences especially for doped polymers.
Resource estimation is an essential part of reservoir evaluation and development planning which highly affects the decision-making process. The available conventional logs for 30 wells in Nasiriyah oilfield were used in this study to model the petrophysical properties of the reservoir and produce a 3D static geological reservoir model that mimics petrophysical properties distribution to estimate the stock tank oil originally in place (STOOIP) for Mishrif reservoir by volumetric method. Computer processed porosity and water saturation and a structural 2D map were utilized to construct the model which was discretized by 537840 grid blocks. These properties were distributed in 3D Space using sequential Gaussian simulation and the variation in
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fungi Gigaspora margarita and Glomus desriticola in stimulating the resistance of the capsicum annuum L. towards the chromium and lead after 60 days, planting and using the pots in the glass house. The highest concentration of chromium and lead in the root was found in the presence of the mycorrhizal mixture (194.93, 150.40) μg / g, respectively, compared to the lowest concentration (90.69, 79.37) μg / g respectively, while the highest concentration of chromium and lead in the shoot was found in the presence of the mycorrhizal mixture (94.63, 79.33) μg / g respectively, compared with the lowest concentration in the control treatment (72.58, 60.70) μg / g respectively. The results
... Show MoreSlurry infiltrated fibrous concrete (SIFCON) is a modern type of fibre reinforced concrete (FRC). It has unique properties; SIFCON is superior in compressive strength, flexural strength, tensile strength, impact resistance, energy absorption and ductility. Because of this superiority in these characteristics, SIFCON was qualified for applications of special structures, which require resisting sudden dynamic loads such as explosions and earthquakes. The main aim of this investigation is to determine the effect of fibre type on the apparent density of SIFCON and on performance under impact load. In this investigation, hook-end steel fibre and polyolefin fibre were used. Purely once and
Finding a path solution in a dynamic environment represents a challenge for the robotics researchers, furthermore, it is the main issue for autonomous robots and manipulators since nowadays the world is looking forward to this challenge. The collision free path for robot in an environment with moving obstacles such as different objects, humans, animals or other robots is considered as an actual problem that needs to be solved. In addition, the local minima and sharp edges are the most common problems in all path planning algorithms. The main objective of this work is to overcome these problems by demonstrating the robot path planning and obstacle avoidance using D star (D*) algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)
... Show MoreMunicipal wastewater sources are becoming increasingly important for reuse, for irrigation purposes, so they must be treated to meet environmentally friendly local or global standards. The aim of this study is to establish, calibrate, and validate a model for predicting chemical oxygen demand for the pilot plant of mobile biofilm reactors operating from municipal wastewater in Maaymyrh located in Hilla city Using the approach of dimensional analysis. The approach of Buckingham's theorem was used to derive a model of dimensional analysis design for the forecast of (COD) in the pilot plant. The effluent concentration (COD) It has been derived as a result of the influential concentration of (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), volume of pilot plant
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