Introduction: 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 compact system confirmed Methicillin sensitivity in mecA-negative isolates. Biofilm intensity of all S. aureus isolates was assessed under normal and starved conditions. Additionally, the gene expression levels of icaA and icaD were measured in five MRSA and five MSSA strains under both conditions. Results: The mecA, icaA, and icaD genes were detected in 94%, 96.3%, and 100% of S. aureus isolates, respectively. Biofilm production analysis showed that 24% of isolates were strong producers, 49% were moderate producers, and 9% were weak producers. Statistical analysis indicated that biofilm intensity significantly decreased under nutrient limitation (p < 0.0001) compared to normal conditions across all isolates. Furthermore, icaA and icaD genes were upregulated under stringent response conditions, regardless of Methicillin resistance status. Conclusion: The stringent response influences S. aureus biofilm formation, with biofilm intensity decreasing under nutrient-limited conditions. However, the upregulation of icaA and icaD genes suggests a regulatory role of the stringent response in biofilm-related gene expression. These findings highlight the potential impact of stress adaptation mechanisms on bacterial persistence and pathogenicity.
Introduction and Aim: Kruppel Like Factor 14 (KLF14) gene plays an important role in metabolic illnesses and is also involved in the regulation of many other biological processes. This study's objective was to determine whether or not the KLF14 single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) known as rs972283 was linked to an increased risk of peptic ulcer disease in the population that was being investigated. Materials and Methods: Participants in this study included 71 people who had been diagnosed with peptic ulcers and 50 people who were considered to be healthy controls. In order to genotype the KLF14 SNP rs972283, an amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) was carried out, and the PCR results were
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Globally, breast cancer is the common malignancy affecting women and understanding its associated molecular events could help in disease prevention and management strategies. The present study was set to investigate an association between total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) polymorphisms with breast cancer. For this purpose, 100 subjects were participated in this work, including 50 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer recruited from Oncology hospital, Baghdad - Iraq and 50 healthy women as a control group. The concentration of antioxidants was measured in the serums collected from blood samples of breast cancer patients and healthy controls. While eNOS SNPs (rs1799983, G894T and rs2070744, T
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The process involved isolating E. faecium from the gut of honeybees, screening the bacterium for bacteriocin-like inhibitory substance (BLIS), evaluating its impact on the expression of the mexA gene in multidrug-resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa, and determining the role of bacteriocin in treating infected wounds in mice through histopathological examination. After evaluating the best circumstances for producing BLIS, it was discovered that glucose was a superior carbon source and yeast extract was the best source of nitrogen. The pH was found to be 5, the ideal incubation time was 72 hours, and ammonium sulfate salt was used for partial purification at 80% saturation. The identification of MDR P. aeruginosa isolates from pus infection
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Background: Recently with improvement of dental implantology science, osseointegrated implants show a considerable durability, however; failures are not completely avoidable. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression is disturbed in many pathological conditions such as peri-implantitis and periodontitis. This study was carried out to investigate the tissue expression of MMP-2 in the extracellular matrix of osseointegrated and diseased implants. Subjects and methods: Gingival biopsies were collected from six patients having osseointegrated or working implants and twenty with diseased or non osseointegrated implants and (6) controls having no implants. In situ hybridization technique was used to analyze the changes in immunoreactivity of
... Show MoreBackground: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer world wide. Despite greater emphasis on multi-modality therapy including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma continues to have poor 5-year survival rates (0-40%) that have not significantly improved in the last (30) years. To improve outcomes for this deadly disease , It is required a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tumor growth, metastasis, and treatment resistance. This study evaluates the Immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin and CD44 adhesion molecules in OSCC and to correlate the expression of either marker with each other, with lymph node
... Show MoreBackground: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase in salivary pleomorphic adenoma, and to correlate the two studied markers with each other and with clinicopathological parameters including: age, sex, tumor site and histopathological presentation. Methods: Sections of twenty five formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks specimens of salivary pleomorphic adenoma were immunostained using monoclonal antibodies (Fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase) to assess their expression in this tumor. Results: The expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase were positive in all pleomorphic adenoma cases (100%). The positive expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 was signi
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Seventy of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates had been collected from some Hospitals in Baghdad city from October to December 2017. The 70 isolates were taken from diverse clinical specimens. All K. pneumoniae isolates were identified based on API 20 E and Vitek2 compact system. Antibiotics sensitivity test was carried out toward 10 antibiotics using discs diffusion method. The level of antibiotics resistance was 81.42% for Ceftriaxone, whereas the low level of antibiotics resistance was 37.14% for Piperacillin. K. pneumoniae isolates were typed genotypically by using two different methods of amplification, multiplex-PCR and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR typing methods. Results showed that out of 70 isolates, there
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Leishmaniasis is one of the important parasitic diseases, affecting mainly low social class people indeveloping countries, and is more prevalent and endemic in the tropical and subtropical regions of old worldand new world. Despite ofbroad distribution in Iraq,little known about the geneticcharacteristics of thecausative agents. So this study was aimed to evaluate the genetic varietyoftwo IraqiLeishmaniatropicaisolatesbased on heat shock protein gene sequence 70 (HSP70) in comparison with universal isolates recordedsequences data. After amplification and sequencing of HSP70 gene,the obtainedresults were alignment alongwith homologous Leishmania sequences retrieved from NCBI by using BLAST. The analysis results showedpresence of particular g
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