The present study attempts to determine the effect of freezing for different periods on preserved bodies of fish in the laboratory to keep for the research and diagnosis of taxonomic studies and not for consumption. It also endeavors to identify the effect of freezing on some morphometric features of the preserved bodies of fishes. Planiliza abu fish were used to conduct the present study. Fish were frozen by regular freezing in the home refrigerator freezer with temperatures reaching four degrees centigrade below zero. Freezing time is distributed over four months; biometric measurements of frozen fish have been taken in these periods represented by body total length, Standard length, and Head length in centimeters using a ruler vernier caliper in addition to body weight in grams by using a scale. Statistical data analysis for this experiment has been conducted to investigate the resulting facts of freezing periods and the effect of differences in freezing periods on these biometric measurements using Duncan's new multiple range test and Levene's test. Results showed no apparent significant differences related to the size in total length and standard length and weight, While measuring head length showed important characteristics of frozen fish, especially in the first and third month of the experiment. Most of the sources that deal with such research patterns are concerned with the freezing of fish intended for food and human consumption, and few of these studies are concerned with research freezing, such as preserving frozen fish specimens for analysis, even for some time. Attention to the importance of freezing for research studies related to fish because of the susceptibility of its meat to rapid deterioration, and therefore, may give wrong diagnostic results if the survey is between species from the same family or a diagnostic and taxonomic study between many species belonging to different families. Keywords: Body measurements, Coastal fish, External appearance, Ice crystals, Preservation.
Background: Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) is gram-negative bacterium, which causes Legionnaires’ disease as well as Pontiac fever. Objective: To determine the frequency of Legionella pneumophila in pneumonic patients, to determine the clinical utility of diagnosing Legionella pneumonia by urinary antigen testing (LPUAT) in terms of sensitivity and specificity, to compares the results obtained from patients by urinary antigen test with q Real Time PCR (RT PCR) using serum samples and to determine the frequency of serogroup 1 and other serogroups of L. pneumophila. Methods: A total of 100 pneumonic patients (community acquired pneumonia) were enrolled in this study during a period between October 2016 to April 2017; 92 sam
... Show MoreThis study was conducted on species composition, morphology, ecological characteristics, biotope distribution, ecological groups, biodiversity indicators and zoogeography of leeches and gastropods distributed in the lower Ak-Buura River. According to the results, it was found that 7 species of leeches belonging to 4 families and 6 genera and 10 species of fresh-water gastropods belonging to 3 families and 6 genera live in the lower Ak-Buura River. In the river, it was observed that leeches are mainly distributed in muddy biotopes, and gastropods are widespread in muddy, stony and sandy biotopes with a lot of plants. Biodiversity indices of leeches and gastropods in the Ak-Buura River were analyzed using the Shannon index. As a result, it
... Show MoreThis research presents a study of using an additive for the objective of increasing the setting time of a material used in several aspects in the constructional field, this material is “Local-Gypsum” which is locally called “Joss”, and the additive used in this study is “Trees Glue Powder” denoted by “TGP”. Nine mixtures of Local-gypsum (joss) had been experimented in the current study to find their setting time, these mixes were divided into three groups according to their water-joss ratios (W/J) (0.3, 0.4 and 0.5), and each group was sub-divided into three sub-groups according to their TGP contents (0.0%, 0.3% and 0.6%). It was found that, when TGP is added with the
Medicinal plants contain bioactive substances that are highly bioavailable in extracts or pure molecules, making them promising for therapeutic applications and precursors for chemo-pharmaceutical semi-synthesis. Harpagophytum procumbens (Devil’s Claw) is widely recognized as one of the most potent therapeutic herbs. This study aimed to extract seeds from H. procumbens using two types of solvents and to assess both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the extracts. The two extracts were evaluated for antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities using agar well diffusion assays against four bacterial isolates and two yeast isolates. Qualitative analysis identified the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and terpen
... Show MorePvcABCD are cluster of genes found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The research was designed to examine the relationship between the pvc genes expression and cupB gene, which plays a crucial role in the development of biofilm, and rhlR, which regulates the expression of biofilm-related genes, and to investigate whether the pvc genes form one or two operons. The aims were achieved by employing qRT-PCR technique to measure the gene expression of genes of interest. It was found that out of 25 clinical isolates, 21 isolates were qualified as P.aeruginosa. Amongst, 18(85.7%) were evaluated as biofilm producers, 10 (47.6%), 5 (23.8%), and 3 (14.2%) were evaluated as strong, moderate and weak producers respectively, while, 3 (14.2%) were considered
... Show MorePeak ground acceleration (PGA) is one of the critical factors that affect the determination of earthquake intensity. PGA is generally utilized to describe ground motion in a particular zone and is able to efficiently predict the parameters of site ground motion for the design of engineering structures. Therefore, novel models are developed to forecast PGA in the case of the Iraqi database, which utilizes the particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach. A data set of 187 historical ground-motion recordings in Iraq’s tectonic regions was used to build the explicit proposed models. The proposed PGA models relate to different seismic parameters, including the magnitude of the earthquake (Mw), average shear-wave velocity (VS30), focal depth (FD
... Show MoreThe current study involves placing 135 boreholes drilled to a depth of 10 m below the existing ground level. Three standard penetration tests (SPT) are performed at depths of 1.5, 6, and 9.5 m for each borehole. To produce thematic maps with coordinates and depths for the bearing capacity variation of the soil, a numerical analysis was conducted using MATLAB software. Despite several-order interpolation polynomials being used to estimate the bearing capacity of soil, the first-order polynomial was the best among the other trials due to its simplicity and fast calculations. Additionally, the root mean squared error (RMSE) was almost the same for the all of the tried models. The results of the study can be summarized by the production
... Show MoreObjective: Matrix tablet approach is one of the delivery systems intended for poorly water-soluble drugs, like candesartan cilexetil (CC). CC is a class II drug used for the treatment of hypertension. Methods: Matrix tablets from (F1x to F18z) were prepared in the presence of β‑cyclodextrin. Matrix tablet formulation ensures control release of the drug and higher dissolution by β‑cyclodextrin. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to study compatibility. Results: The angle of repose determination showed good flow for most of the formulas, besides having good compressibility. Weight variation test for all formulas showed accepted value. Drug content measurement sho
... Show More