Background: Suppression of quorum sensing (QS) that regulates many virulence factors, including antimicrobial resistance, in bacteria may subject the pathogenic microbes to the harmful consequences of the antibiotics, increasing their susceptibility to such drugs. Aim: The current study aimed to make an aqueous crude extract from the soil Proteus mirabilis isolate with the use of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique for its analysis, and then, study the impact of the extract on clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methods: Preparation of crude extracts from P. mirabilis (both organic and aqueous), which were then analyzed by GC-MS to detect the bioactive ingredients. Furthermore, the extract’s capability to interfere with both the expression of the QS of P. aeruginosa and its antibacterial resistance was examined. Results: The highest GC-MS peak (37.11%.) appeared for 1,3-benzodioxole, 4-methoxy-6-(2-propenyl), along with the presence of other components of antibacterial activities. When the aqueous extract was added to the culture of two multi-drug resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa, a significant reduction in the expression of the QS regulatory gene LasI occurred, indicating its interference with QS. Moreover, upon adding the extract to the culture of P. aeruginosa (MDR) and then subjecting it to Amikacin and Colistin, already not effective on the bacteria, the isolates became more susceptible to these antibiotics showing zones of inhibition of 25 and 17 mm, respectively. Conclusion: The crude aqueous extract of the soil P. mirabilis isolate might be a potential producer of QS inhibitors with antibacterial activities that render the MDR P. aeruginosa more susceptible to antibiotics to whom they already exerted resistance.
Sorghum seeds suffer from a low germination ratio, so a factorial experiment was carried out in the Seed Technology Laboratory, Department of Field Crops, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad during 2022 according to a Completely Randomized Design with four replications to study the effect of stimulating seeds with aqueous extract of banana peels with a concentration of (0, 15, 25 and 35%) and citric acid at concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 200 mg L-1) on viability and vigour of seed properties. Seeds that soaked with banana peel extract at a concentration of 25% outperformed in first count (79.8%), final count (85.0%), radicle length (13.2 cm), plumule length (11.6 cm), and seedling vigour index (2109), noting
... Show MoreSeveral correlations have been proposed for bubble point pressure, however, the correlations could not predict bubble point pressure accurately over the wide range of operating conditions. This study presents Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model for predicting the bubble point pressure especially for oil fields in Iraq. The most affecting parameters were used as the input layer to the network. Those were reservoir temperature, oil gravity, solution gas-oil ratio and gas relative density. The model was developed using 104 real data points collected from Iraqi reservoirs. The data was divided into two groups: the first was used to train the ANN model, and the second was used to test the model to evaluate their accuracy and trend stability
... Show MoreThis research dealt with desalting of East Baghdad crude oil using pellets of either anionic, PVC, quartz, PE, PP or
nonionic at different temperature ranging from 30 to 80 °C, pH from 6 to 8, time from 2 to 20 minutes, volume percent
washing water from 5 to 25% and fluid velocity from 0.5 to 0.8 m/s under voltage from 2 to 6 kV and / or using additives
such as alkyl benzene sulphonate or sodium stearate. The optimum conditions and materials were reported to remove
most of water from East Baghdad wet crude oil.
In this study, the upgrading of Iraqi heavy crude oil was achieved utilizing the solvent deasphalting approach (SDA) and enhanced solvent deasphalting (e-SDA) by adding Nanosilica (NS). The NS was synthesized from local sand. The XRD result, referred to as the amorphous phase, has a wide peak at 2Θ= (22 - 23º) The inclusion of hydrogen-bonded silanol groups (Si–O–H) and siloxane groups (Si–O–Si) in the FTIR spectra. The SDA process was handled using n-pentane solvent at various solvent to oil ratios (SOR) (4-16/1ml/g), room and reflux temperature, and 0.5 h mixing time. In the e-SDA process, various fractions of the NS (1–7 wt.%) have been utilized with 61 nm particle size and 560.86 m²/g surface area in the presence of 12 m
... Show MoreIn the current study, remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems were used to detect changes in land use / land cover (LULC) in the city of Al Hillah, central Iraq for the period from 1990 - 2022. Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI visualizations, correction and georeferencing of satellite visuals were used. And then make the necessary classifications to show the changes in LULC in the city of Al Hillah. Through the study, the results showed that there is a clear expansion in the urban area from 20.5 km2 in 1990 to about 57 km2 in 2022. On the other hand, the results showed that there is a slight increase in agricultural areas and water. While the arid (empty) area decreased from 168.7 km 2 to 122 km 2 in 2022. Long-term ur
... Show MoreSalivary peroxidases have biological functions of particular importance to oral health. The aim of this paper is to shed the light on saliva and serum total peroxidases activity as well as the activity of each of salivary peroxidase (SPO) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in patients with oral tumors. The studied participants were divided into two groups: the first group included 18 oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and 20 age and gender-matched healthy controls while the second group consisted of 20 oral ossifying fibroma patients and 23 age and gender-matched healthy controls. Total peroxidases activity was determined, and its specific activity was calculated in serum and whole mixed saliva as well as in the supernatant and pellet fractions
... Show MoreThis research was carried out in quail in the laboratory of histopathology diseases during four months. The objectives of this study was to detecting the effects of the addition of the alcohol extract of ginger to ovary tissue of quail. The two groups of birds were in almost similar weights and were placed in cages. Each group consisted of 8 quails. The first group (control group) fed on regular feeding without adding alcoholic extract of ginger. The second group (treated group) fed on the same normal food after adding the alcohol extract of ginger at a concentration of 300 mg / kg. The results indicated that ginger have positive effects on folliculogenesis.