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.
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Background: Large amounts of oily wastewater and its derivatives are discharged annually from several industries to the environment. Objective: The present study aims to investigate the ability to remove oil content and turbidity from real oily wastewater discharged from the wet oil's unit (West Qurna 1-Crude Oil Location/ Basra-Iraq) by using an innovated electrocoagulation reactor containing concentric aluminum tubes in a monopolar mode. Methods: The influences of the operational variables (current density (1.77-7.07 mA/cm2) and electrolysis time (10-40 min)) were studied using response surface methodology (RSM) and Minitab-17 statistical program. The agitation speed was taken as 200 rpm. Energy and electrodes consumption had been studi
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This paper analyzes the effect of scaling-up model and acceleration history on seismic response of closed-ended pipe pile using a finite element modeling approach and the findings of 1 g shaking table tests of a pile embedded in dry and saturated soils. A number of scaling laws were used to create the numerical modeling according to the data obtained from 1 g shake table tests performed in the laboratory. The current study found that the behaviors of the scaled models, in general have similar trends. From numerical modeling on both the dry and saturated sands, the normalized lateral displacement, bending moment, and vertical displacement of piles with scale factors of 2 and 35 are less than those of the pile with a scale factor of 1 and the
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The plant Zizyphus spina-christa grows wildly in the middle and southern of Iraq locally named Nabag. In this study the antibacterial activity of several different plant extract (alcoholic hot and cold extract 80%, aqueous hot and cold extract) was tested against some gram negative bacteria that related to Enterobacteriacea as follow; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherchia coli Proteus mirabilis, Serratia mercesence,. Aeromonas sp, Klebsiella pneumoniae ,Shigella sp, Salmonella enteritidis (134), S. typhi(97), S. typhimurium (300) , S. typhi, . The results showed that efficient method of extract was alcoholic hot extract from other extract methods that are used in this study. The detection of active compound in crude extracts of the leaves show
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A case–control study (80 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection and 96 controls) was performed to evaluate the association of an IL12A gene variant (rs582537 A/C/G) with HBV infection. Allele G showed a signifcantly lower frequency in patients compared to controls (31.2 vs. 46.9%; probability [p]=0.009; corrected p [pc]=0.027) and was associated with a lower risk of HBV infection (odds ratio [OR]=0.49; 95% confdence interval [CI]=0.29–0.83). A similar lower risk was associated with genotypes CG (17.5 vs. 29.2; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.08–0.81; p=0.02) and GG (10.0 vs. 16.7; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.07–0.91; p=0.036), but the pc value was not signifcant (0.12 and 0.126, respec‑ tively). Serum IL35 levels showed signifcant difere
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In this work, seven soil samples were brought brought to study and analyses the element concentrations from different southern regions of Iraq using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. It has been documented as an atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) technique. Laser-induced plasma utilized to analyze elements in materials (gases, liquids, and solids). In order to analyze elements in materials (gases, liquids, and solid). The Nd: YAG laser excitation source at 1064 nm with pulse width 9 ns is used to generate power density of 5.5 x 1012 MW/mm2, with optical spectrum in the range 320-740 nm. From this investigation, the soil sample analysis of the southern cities of Iraqi, it is concluded that the rich soil element of P, Si,
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In this paper Zener diode was manufactured using ZnO-CuO-ZnO/Si heterojunction structure that used laser induced plasma technique to prepare the nanofilms. Six samples were prepared with a different number of laser pulses, started with 200 to 600 pulses on ZnO tablet with fixed the number of laser pulses on CuO tablet at 300 pulses. The pulse energy of laser deposited was 900mJ using ZnO tablet and 600mJ using CuO tablet. All prepared films shown good behavior as Zener diode when using porous silicon as substrate.
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