Alteration of repeat tract length within the SSR of phase variable genes may enhance the persistence of isolates within their host for a long time (a period of months) (Alamro et al.,2014). Alamro et al. (2014) showed there was trend towards selection for OFF state or low expression for five phase variable genes (opc, hmbr, nadA, nalP, hpuAB) in three carriers (V54, V124 and V64) within strains belonging into CC174 and CC167 in first, second and third time points. He concluded that the selection for low or OFF state helped N. meningitidis to persist for a long time (Alamro et al., 2014). The current study aimed to detect the alteration in the repeat tracts of the same five variable genes within the previous three carriers (V54, V124, and V6

This study presents a mathematical model describing the interaction of gut bacteria in the participation of probiotics and antibiotics, assuming that some good bacteria become harmful through mutations due to antibiotic exposure. The qualitative analysis exposes twelve equilibrium points, such as a good-bacteria equilibrium, a bad-bacteria equilibrium, and a coexisting endemic equilibrium in which both bacteria exist while being exposed to antibiotics. The theory of the Sotomayor theorem is applied to study the local bifurcation around all possible equilibrium points. It’s noticed that the transcritical and saddle-node bifurcation could occur near some of the system’s equilibrium points, while pitchfork bifurcation cannot be accrued at

Abstract: Choosing suitable artificial teeth for partially edentulous patients and arranging these teeth in a way to look natural is difficult. An important factor in dentures construction is the mesiodistal width of anterior teeth, because a denture would not appearance natural if artificial teeth are of incorrect size. While for a successful orthodontic treatment, mesiodeistal width of teeth is important for space analysis and for establishing proper occlusion. The aim of this study is to determine the correlation between the average mesiodistal width of anterior and posterior teeth in male and female Iraqi population. 40 Iraqi subjects with normal occlusion participated in this study. Mesiodistal measurement of all teeth was carried out

Shell-and-double concentric tube heat exchanger is one of the new designs that enhance the heat transfer process. Entransy dissipation is a recent development that incorporates thermodynamics in the design and optimization of heat exchangers. In this paper the concept of entransy dissipation is related to the shell-and-double concentric tube heat exchanger for the first time, where the experiments were conducted using hot oil with temperature of 80, 100 and 120°C, flow rate of cold water was 0.667, 1, and 1.334 kg/m³ respectively and the temperature of inlet cold water was 20°C. The entransy dissipation rate due to heat transfer and to fluid friction or pressure drop was studied.

  Foot and ankle movements are essential in various activities like walking, running, and balance, where the mechanics of these movements are affected by the muscles around the ankle joint [1,2]. In this study, the correlations between isometric ankle torque and muscle activity of the tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius (GAS) in the course of dorsiflexion and plantarflexion was investigated. Eight healthy participants were enrolled for the study, where the ankle torque and surface Electromyography (sEMG) of the main flexors were measured and analyzed. The results showed that ankle torque is higher in plantarflexion than dorsiflexion. In addition, the TA has greater muscle activity during dorsiflexion, while the GAS presents higher ac

English allows for consonant sequences at the beginning of words, which poses a challenge for speakers of other languages, especially those whose native languages do not contain such sequences, such as Arabic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate students’ recognition and production of initial consecutive consonants in relation to gender, and the significance of the statistical differences between students in recognition and pronunciation of consecutive consonants. Consequently, a cohort of fifty-two Iraqi college students (18 males and 34 females) were selected as a sample. A multiple-choice test of two phases was used as a research instrument. The results showed that females outperformed males in recognizing and producing c

In this article, Pb2Ba1.7Sr0.3Ca2Cu3O10+δ superconductor material was synthesized using conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated one dominant phase 2223 and some impurities in the product powder. The strongest peaks in the XRD pattern were successfully indexed assuming a pseudo-tetragonal cell with lattice constants of a = 3.732, b = 3.733 and c = 14.75 Å for a Pb-Based compound. The crystallite size and lattice strain between the layers of the studied compound were estimated using several methods, namely the Scherrer, Williamson-Hall (W.H), sizestrain plot (SSP) and Halder Wagner (H.W) approach. The values of crystallite size, calculated by Scherrer, W.H, SSP and H.W methods, were 89.454077