MRSA is one of the major pathogens in hospitals and the community, which have the ability to produce biofilm as a virulence factor, the impact of chalcone on biofilm formation, the synergism effect of chalcone and antibiotic in both in vitro and in vivo experiments, the gene expression of virulence genes (srtA, fnbA, fnbB) before and after treatment of it on MRSA biofilm cells in vitro, all these were the prime aims of this study. Chalcone at MBIC (20 μg/ml), significantly reduced the biofilm formation to 21.45% and at sub MBIC (15 μg/ml) to 36.58 %. While, Chalcone at MIC(5 μg/ml) reduced MRSA planktonic cells to 49.61%. Susceptibility of MRSA isolates against eight antibiotics showed that all isolates were sensitive to vancomycin and none of the isolates developed susceptibility to erythromycin. The combinatorial effect of chalcone at 5 μg/ml and vancomycin at MIC of (1 μg/ml) on MRSA planktonic cells was reduced it from 70 to 23.3% , and in combination with erythromycin at 32 μg/ml, was decreased from 53.1% to 22% and the effect of chalcone at sub MBIC (15 μg/ml) when combined with vancomycin was reducing the biofilm formation from 87% to 27.6 and with erythromycin from 55.1% to 23.8%. Combinatorial phenotypic effect of the antibiotics and chalcone (at sub MBIC), in vitro came in line with the result of in vivo experiment and the results showed decrease in the expression of fnbA, fnbB and srtA genes in tested isolates in the presence of chalcone at sub MBIC. In our study, we demonstrated that chalcone exhibited significant effect in biofilm formation of MRSA strains, which can be considered as promising antimicrobial agents that can be used for prevention of MRSA adherence or as adjunct to antibiotics in conventional therapy.
In this research the electrical conductivity measurements were made on the amorphous InAs films prepared by thermal evaporation method in thickness 450 nm and annealed in different temperatures in the range (303- 573) K. The electrical conductivity (σ) showed a decreasing trend with the increasing annealing temperature, while the activation energies (Ea1, Ea2) showed an opposite trend, where the activation energies are increased with the annealing temperature.
The aim of this study was to evaluate tensile properties of low and medium carbon ferrite -martensite dual phase steel, and the effect cryogenic treatment at liquid nitrogen temperature (-196 ºC) on its properties. Low carbon steel (C12D) and medium carbon steels (C32D & C42D) were used in this work. For each steel grade, five groups of specimens were prepared according to the type of heat treatment. The first group was normalized, the second group was normalized and subsequently subjected to cryogenic treatment then tempered at (200 ºC) for one hour, the third group was quenched from intercritical annealing temperature of (760 ºC) to obtain dual phase (DP) steel, the fourth and fifth groups were both quenched from (760 ºC), but
... Show MoreIn this work, results of a mathematical analysis of the role of workpiece preheating in laser keyhole welding were presented. This analysis considered the steady-state welding as well as certain range of boundary conditions over which preheating effect would be indicated. This work is an attempt to interpret the role of preheating to increase welding depth and perform keyhole welding with high quality using physical and thermal properties of steel alloys.
This study aims to suggest a technique for soil properties improvement of AL- Kadhimin shrine Minaret and to support the foundation, which has a tilt of roughly 80 cm from the vertical axis. The shrine of the AL- Kadhimin is made up of four minarets with two domes set in a large courtyard. The four minarets have skewed to varying degrees due to uncontrolled dewatering inside the shrine in recent years. However, the northeast minaret was the most inclined due to its proximity to the well placed inside shrine courtyard. When the well near the minaret is operated, the water level drops, increasing the effective stresses of the soil and causing differential settling of the minaret foundation. To maintain the minaret's foundation from potenti
... Show MoreRoller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) is a zero-slump concrete, with no forms, no reinforcing steel, no finishing and is wet enough to support compaction by vibratory rollers. Because the effectiveness of curing on properties and durability, the primary scope of this research is to study the effect of various curing methods (air curing, emulsified asphalt(flan coat) curing, 7 days water curing and permanent water curing) and different porcelanite (local material used as an Internal Curing agent) replacement percentages (volumetric replacement) of fine aggregate on some properties of RCC and to explore the possibility of introducing more practical RCC for road pavement with minimum requirement of curing. Cubes specimens were sawed from the slab
... Show MoreNisoldipine (NSD) is a dihydropyridine class of calcium channel blockers used for hypertension treatment, it belongs to class II BCS (low solubility with high permeability), its absolute bioavailability is only 5% due to presystemic metabolism in the gut wall. It is also a substrate for a CYP3A and P-gp. Bilosomes are lipid bilayer vesicles incorporating bile salts in their walls to prevent degredation by GIT bile salts. The aim of this study is to prepare nisoldipine bilosomes as vesicular carrier and assess the effect of different formulation variables such as type of surfactant, amount of cholesterol, surfactant and sonication time on particle size, entrapment efficiency and poly dispersity index of the prepared bilos
... Show MoreIn this study, the effect of the thermal conductivity of phase change material (PCM) on the performance of thermal energy storage has been analyzed numerically. A horizontal concentric shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTESS) has been performed during the solidification process. Two types of paraffin wax with different melting temperatures and thermal conductivity were used as a PCM on the shell side, case1=0.265W/m.K and case2=0.311 W/m.K. Water has been used as heat transfer fluid (HTF) flow through in tube side. Ansys fluent has been used to analyze the model by taking into account phase change by the enthalpy method used to deal with phase transition. The numerical simulatio
... Show MoreIntroduction: The stringent response is a bacterial adaptation mechanism triggered by stress conditions, including nutrient limitation. This response helps bacteria survive under harsh conditions, such as those encountered during infection. A key feature of the stringent response is the synthesis of the alarmone (p)ppGpp, which influences various bacterial phenotypes. In several bacterial species, stringent response activation significantly affects biofilm formation and maintenance. Methods: Clinical specimens were collected from multiple hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq. Staphylococcus aureus was identified using conventional biochemical tests. The PCR technique was applied to detect mecA, icaA, and icaD genes, while the Vitek 2 compac
... Show MoreHigh intraocular pressure (IOP) is a recognized risk factor for glaucoma and optic nerve injury, and it is one of the primary causes of vision loss globally. Anabasis articulata (AA) is a desert plant found in Iraq. The extract of AA is used to cure diabetes, fever, eczema, and kidney infections. The aim of the study is to evaluate the antioxidant effect of methanol extract of AA on intraocular pressure in the glaucoma rat model. Forty-two rats were allocated into seven groups, each with six animals:: group 1 (normal), group 2 (control), in which animals were induced to have elevated IOP by betamethasone suspension injection, groups 3,4 and 5 for evaluating the effect of 50,100 and 150 mg/kg/day of the tested extract, respective
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