Immunological genes, including TLR3 and RIG-I, have recently been established to have linked to predisposition to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its severity. The purpose of this case-control study (100 recovered COVID 19 cases and 100 healthy individuals) was to determine the role of gender, age, TLR3 and RIG-I genes in COVID-19 aggressiveness. TLR3 and RIG-I gene expression was detected using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). COVID-19 infection intensity increased with age and no statistical difference between males and females (p>0.05) was found. TLR3 and RIG-I gene expression levels were higher in patients compared to hea

The current study was carried out to investigate the correlation of gene expressions of ADA1 and ADA2 genes with the development of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) in a sample of Iraqi females. One hundred patients with AITD and 80 controls were included. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT–PCR) was utilized for investigation of ADA1 and ADA2 gene expression among patients and controls. The correlation of age and body mass index (BMI) with AITD occurrence comparing with controls was studied. Based on the results of this study, there is high expression level of ADA1 and ADA2 genes in patients compared with healthy controls; also, the gene expression fold (2-ΔΔCT) of ADA1 and ADA2 among AITD patients was recorded and a

The present investigation aims to determine the effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on biotransformation and antioxidant genes and the protective effects of curcumin, present in turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder (TMP). Specifically, the study included four groups of albino mice were fed for 30 days on diet Group I: Control, Group II: animals fed on the conventional basal diet supplemented with 0.5% food grade TMP that supplied 74 mg/kg total curcuminoids. Group III contained animals reared on conventional basal diet supplemented with 1.0 ppm AFB1 supplied by ground aflatoxin culture material (760 ppm AFB1). Finally, Group IV comprised of albino mice fed with basal diet supplemented with 1.0 ppm AFB1 and 0.5% TMP that supplied 74 mg/kg of the

An experiment was carried out in pots under open field conditions in the fall seasons of 2017 and 2018 at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, for improving field emergence and drought stress tolerance in sorghum. Three factors were studied. 1st factor was three cultivars (Inqath, Rabeh and Buhoth70). 2nd factor was primed and unprimed seed. 3rd factor was represented by the irrigation intervals every 2, 4 and 6 days. Randomized complete block design with four replicates was used. The results showed that Buhoth 70 cultivar had a significant superiority compared to others in traits of the first and final count of emergence, emergence energy and emergence rate index (54.2%, 26.7%, 1.747 and 70.7 % d

Drought is a natural phenomenon in many arid, semi-arid, or wet regions. This showed that no region worldwide is excluded from the occurrence of drought. Extreme droughts were caused by global weather warming and climate change. Therefore, it is essential to review the studies conducted on drought to use the recommendations made by the researchers on drought.  The drought was classified into meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and economic-social. In addition, researchers described the severity of the drought by using various indices which required different input data.  The indices used by various researchers were the Joint Deficit Index (JDI), Effective Drought Index (EDI), Streamflow Drought Index (SDI), Sta

In fish, a complex set of mechanisms deal with environmental stresses including hypoxia. In order to probe the hypothesis that hypoxia-induced stress could be manifested in varieties of pathways, a model species, mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio), were chronically exposed to hypoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 1.80±0.6mg/l) for 21 days and subsequently allowed to recover under normoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 8.2±0.5mg/l) for 7 days. At the end of these exposure periods, an integrated approach was applied to evaluate several endpoints at different levels of biological organisation. These included determination of (i) oxidative damage to DNA in erythrocytes (using modified comet assay), (ii) lipid peroxidation in liver sample

Eight isolates of methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) (SA40,SA32,SA30,SA13,SA10,SA36,SA3 and SA7) with different resistance phenotypes  to macrolides , lincosamides and streptogramins Were used to detect theexpression of msrA, msrB, and linA/linA’genesby using  real time polymerase chain reaction before and after treatment with antibiotics (erythromycin , clarithromycin , clindamycin and lincomycin) calibrated with triosphosphateisomerase.There highst expression of these genes was after 18 hours. It was  an induction in the expression of msrA gene in isolates (SA40,SA32,SA30 and SA13) in presence of erythromycin,however,the  isolates showed reduction in expression l

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 n