Background and objectives Uropathogenic E.coli (UPEC) are major causative agents of urinary tract infection (UTIs), they often possess strong biofilm-forming abilities, and capable of resisting many antibiotics, making catheter associated UTIs (CAUTIs) difficult to treat. Essential oils such as tea tree oil (TTO) have emerged as natural alternatives to antibiotics. This study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial, adhesion, and biofilm-forming efficacy of TTO against UPEC, while analyzing its effect on the gene expression of csgA gene and determining its cytotoxicity. Methods Four UPEC isolates collected from different UTIs patients from Baghdad Province. The Antibacterial activity of TTO evaluated using agar wells diffusion assay and micro dilution using resazurin. Anti-adhesion and anti-biofilm were assessed using silicon Foley catheters. The csgA encode to curli fibers determined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene expression measured using qPCR. Cytotoxicity of TTO measured against renal carcinoma (A498) and normal fibroblast (HdFn) cell lines via MTT assay. Results TTO inhibited UPEC with inhibition zone diameter of 12–25 mm (p < 0.0001) and MIC value was 0.25%. In Foley catheter model, the concentrated TTO reduced adhesion and biofilm formation (p < 0.0001). csgA harbored within all subjected isolates. Real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) revealed significant (p < 0.0001) upregulation within susceptible isolates (2.2) fold change. Cytotoxicity via MTT assay reveled selective activity of TTO on (A498, IC50= 265.8 µg/mL) over (HdFn, IC50 = 852.5 µg/mL; p < 0.0001). Conclusion TTO demonstrated potential antibacterial, anti-adhesion and anti-biofilm activity against UPEC along with modulations of csgA gene expression and selective cytotoxicity
According to the prevalence of multidrug resistance bacteria, especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in which the essential mechanism of drug resistance is the ability to possess an efflux pump by which extrusion of antimicrobial agents usually occurs, this study aims to detect the presence of mexB multidrug efflux gene in some local isolates of this bacteria that show resistance towards three antibiotics, out of five. Sensitivity test to antibiotics was performed on all isolates by using meropenem (10μg/disc), imipenem (10μg/disc), amikacin (30 μg/disc), ciprofloxacin (5μg/disc) and ceftazidime (30 μg/disc). Conventional PCR results showed the presence of mexB gene (244bp) in four isolates out of ten (40%). In addition,25, 50μg/ml of cur
... Show MoreCongenital adrenal hyperplasia is a group of autosomal recessive disorders. The most frequent one is 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Analyzing
Several studies have claimed that AgNPs’ safety is not completely verified. The current work studied the CNS and renal genetic abnormalities (as manifested by modifications in NF-κB transcription) in mice treated with diverse AgNP concentrations. The findings revealed that as the amount of AgNPs was elevated, NF-κB production increased considerably.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal malignancy and one of the top ten common cancers worldwide with approximately 2 million cases. There are multiple risk factors that could lead to CRC emergence; of which are genetic polymorphisms. Excision repair cross-complementing group 2 (ERCC2) gene encodes for ERCC2 enzyme which plays a crucial role in maintaining genomic integrity by removing DNA adducts. Several studies suggested that there could be a link between genetic polymorphisms of ERCC2 gene and the risk of CRC development. Hence the present study aims to validate the relationship between the following ERCC2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs13181, rs149943175, rs530662943, and rs1799790) and CRC susceptibility. A t
... Show MoreEvolutionary algorithms (EAs), as global search methods, are proved to be more robust than their counterpart local heuristics for detecting protein complexes in protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. Typically, the source of robustness of these EAs comes from their components and parameters. These components are solution representation, selection, crossover, and mutation. Unfortunately, almost all EA based complex detection methods suggested in the literature were designed with only canonical or traditional components. Further, topological structure of the protein network is the main information that is used in the design of almost all such components. The main contribution of this paper is to formulate a more robust E
... Show MoreOne of the most important problems in the oil production process and when its continuous flow, is emulsified oil (w/o emulsion), which in turn causes many problems, from the production line to the extended pipelines that are then transported to the oil refining process. It was observed that the nanomaterial (SiO2) supported the separation process by adding it to the emulsion sample and showed a high separation rate with the demulsifiers (RB6000) and (sebamax) where the percentage of separation was greater than (90 and 80 )% respectively, and less than that when dealing with (Sodium dodecyl sulfate and Diethylene glycol), the percentage of separation was (60% and 50%) respectively.
The high proportion
... Show MoreA series of batch demulsification runs were carried out to evaluate the final emulsified water content of emulsion samples after the exposure to microwave. An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a set of operating variables on the demulsification performance. Several microwave irradiation demulsification runs were carried out at different irradiation powers (700, 800, and 900 watt), using water-in-oil emulsion samples containing different water contents (20-80%, 30-70%, and 50-50%) and salt contents (10000, 20000, and 30000 ppm). It was found that the best separation efficiency was obtained at 900watt, 50% water content and 160 s of irradiation time. Experimental results showed that microwave radiation method can
... Show MoreReservoir fluids properties are very important in reservoir engineering computations such as material balance calculations, well testing analyses, reserve estimates, and numerical reservoir simulations. Isothermal oil compressibility is required in fluid flow problems, extension of fluid properties from values at the bubble point pressure to higher pressures of interest and in material balance calculations (Ramey, Spivey, and McCain). Isothermal oil compressibility is a measure of the fractional change in volume as pressure is changed at constant temperature (McCain). The most accurate method for determining the Isothermal oil compressibility is a laboratory PVT analysis; however, the evaluation of exploratory wells often require an esti
... Show MoreHeavy oil is classified as unconventional oil resource because of its difficulty to recover in its natural state, difficulties in transport and difficulties in marketing it. Upgrading solution to the heavy oil has positive impact technically and economically specially when it will be a competitive with conventional oils from the marketing prospective. Developing Qaiyarah heavy oil field was neglected in the last five decades, the main reason was due to the low quality of the crude oil resulted in the high viscosity and density of the crude oil in the field which was and still a major challenge putting them on the major stream line of production in Iraq. The low quality of the crude properties led to lower oil prices in the global markets
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This research attempt to explain the essential aspects of one important model in management of Bank risks , that is (stress testing) , which increase the concentrate on it resulting the negative affects of Global financial crisis that it accuar in 2008 to study the application possibilities in iraqian banks to enhancing the safety and financial soundness Becuase the classical tools in Risk management don’t give clear image on Banks ability in facing risks, hence the Basel committee on Banking supervision focusing in agreement of Basel 2,3 on stress testing when it doing the internal capital adequacy assessment process (ICAAP) .
To achieving the reseach obje
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