In fish, a complex set of mechanisms deal with environmental stresses including hypoxia. In order to probe the hypothesis that hypoxia-induced stress could be manifested in varieties of pathways, a model species, mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio), were chronically exposed to hypoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 1.80±0.6mg/l) for 21 days and subsequently allowed to recover under normoxic condition (dissolved oxygen level: 8.2±0.5mg/l) for 7 days. At the end of these exposure periods, an integrated approach was applied to evaluate several endpoints at different levels of biological organisation. These included determination of (i) oxidative damage to DNA in erythrocytes (using modified comet assay), (ii) lipid peroxidation in liver samples by measuring the malondialdehyde production using the 2-thiobarbituric acid [i.e. thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay] and (iii) histopathological changes in gills. In addition, transcriptional expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α (HIF-1α) and genes involved in the repair of oxidative damage to DNA (i.e. ogg1) and base excision repair (i.e. xrcc1) using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in liver samples were also determined. The results suggested significantly enhanced expression of these genes in response to hypoxia compared to concurrent normoxic controls. While the expression of HIF-1α reverted to control values within 7 days exposure to normoxic condition (P < 0.05), the transcriptional expression of the two genes involved in DNA repair process remained significantly high under the recovery period, which complemented the induction of oxidative damage to DNA. Hypoxic groups showed significantly increased values for TBARS level (~2-fold) and histopathological changes in gill tissues compared to both normoxic and recovery groups. Overall, oxidative damage to DNA determined by modified comet assay reflected the observed biological responses in other tissues of the fish. Along with other parameters, this integrated experimental design further strengthens the applications of the comet assay as an important technique to assess stress-induced DNA damage in ecotoxicological studies. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society.
Background: periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease causing destruction of the tooth supporting structures, initiated by dental plaque and modified by environmental and genetic risk factors. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme is responsible for the production of prostaglandin E2, an important mediator in the chronic periodontitis (CP) pathogenesis. Polymorphisms in COX-2 gene have linked to CP in different populations. Aim: To study the association between Cyclooxygenase-2 single nucleotide polymorphism rs689466 (-1195A/G SNP) and chronic periodontitis in a sample of Iraqi population. Methods: One hundred Iraqi subjects divided into two groups: case group consisted of 70 CP patient (35 males and 35 females) with age range 30-55 year
... Show MoreBackground: Periodontal pathogens can induce free radicals over-formation and thus may cause collagen and periodontal destruction. Anti-oxidants are used as supplements to counteract the over production of free radicals in periodontal disease, that can reduce of collagen destruction. Coenzyme Q10 serves as an endogenous antioxidant, regenerates other antioxidants, stimulates cell growth, and inhibits cell death. Because it is an antioxidant, coenzyme Q10 has received much research attention associated with periodontal diseases. Perio Q gel may possibly be effective as a topical agent and as an adjunct to scaling& root planing in treatment of gingivitis and chronic periodontitis. Aim of study:Determine the periodontal health status in a foll
... Show MoreStenography is the art of hiding the very presence of communication by embedding secret message into innocuous looking cover document, such as digital image, videos, sound files, and other computer files that contain perceptually irrelevant or redundant information as covers or carriers to hide secret messages.
In this paper, a new Least Significant Bit (LSB) nonsequential embedding technique in wave audio files is introduced. To support the immunity of proposed hiding system, and in order to recover some weak aspect inherent with the pure implementation of stego-systems, some auxiliary processes were suggested and investigated including the use of hidden text jumping process and stream ciphering algorithm. Besides, the suggested
... Show MoreThe biometric-based keys generation represents the utilization of the extracted features from the human anatomical (physiological) traits like a fingerprint, retina, etc. or behavioral traits like a signature. The retina biometric has inherent robustness, therefore, it is capable of generating random keys with a higher security level compared to the other biometric traits. In this paper, an effective system to generate secure, robust and unique random keys based on retina features has been proposed for cryptographic applications. The retina features are extracted by using the algorithm of glowworm swarm optimization (GSO) that provides promising results through the experiments using the standard retina databases. Additionally, in order t
... Show MoreThe purpose of the study is the city of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, was chosen to study the spectral reflection of the land cover and to determine the changes taking place in the areas of the main features of the city using the temporal resolution of multispectral bands of the satellite Landsat 5 and 8 for MSS and OLI sensors respectively belonging to NASA and for the period 1999-2021, and calculating the increase and decrease in the basic features of Baghdad. The main conclusions of the study were, This study from 1999 to 2021 and in two different seasons: the Spring of the growing season and Summer the dry season. When using the supervised classification method to determine the differences, the results showed remarkable changes. Where h
... Show MoreBunium is one of the interested genus that grow in different region of Iraq, it is within the family Umbelliferae (Apiaceae), and the species within this family have a considerable fruit characteristics. The species that were chosen in this study are: B. brachyactis (Post) H. Wolff, B. caroides (Boiss.) Hausskn. Ex Bornm., B. chaerophylloides (Regel& Schmalh.) Drude, B. rectangulum Boiss. & Hausskn., B. verruculosum C.C.Towns. and B. avromanum (Boiss.& Hausskn) Drude., the study found that the fruits of these species have 5 protrusions different in size but all have the same number of vittae, but some are semiler in size and some are not, the number of vascular element are varied between these species, anatomical charact
... Show MoreThe current investigation conducted to examine the anatomical aspects of the Arum colocasia L. cultured in Iraq. The study included the anatomical characteristics of the different plant parts, including the root, stem and leaf, the results of the study on the vegetative parts were shown the important anatomical characteristics in terms of the form of the sections reviewed and vertical in them, and the study of their tissues, as well as the stomata complexities and the thickness of the epidermis, vascular bundles, pith, additionally the dimensions of mesophyll and in blade of the leaf. The research was conducted as it is one of the monocotyledon plants and because of the lack of anatomical studies on it, therefore it was studied to know the
... Show MoreThis research delts with study seven species of seeds and wild varieties wild belonging to the genus Medicago L., these species are: M. constricta Dur., M. coronata (L.) Bartal., M. intertexta (L.) Mill., M. intertexta.var. ciliaris (L.) Hyen., M. laciniata (L.) Mill., M. lupulina L., M. minima (L.) Bartal. and M. sativa L., the research involved characteristics of shapes, dimensions, colors and the nature of the surface ornamentation of seeds and also the hilum site. the seeds forms ranged between crescent, reniform and ovate, in addition there was a clear difference in seeds dimensions in height and width, while, the color has been vary between light brown to brown and dark brown. The nature of the surface ornamentation was smooth, retic
... Show MoreThe current investigation conducted to examine the anatomical aspects of the Arum colocasia L. cultured in Iraq. The study included the anatomical characteristics of the different plant parts, including the root, stem and leaf, the results of the study on the vegetative parts were shown the important anatomical characteristics in terms of the form of the sections reviewed and vertical in them, and the study of their tissues, as well as the stomata complexities and the thickness of the epidermis, vascular bundles, pith, additionally the dimensions of mesophyll and in blade of the leaf. The research was conducted as it is one of the monocotyledon plants and because of the lack of anatomical studies on it, therefore it was studied to know the
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