Background: The most crucial mechanism of genetic variation in N. meningitidis is the slipped strand mispairing, this mechanism generates Phase variation using simple sequence repeat (SSR) and is commonly used by the N. meningitidis to escape the immune system despite its function in eradicating the pathogenic and commensal bacteria. Some of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) that located within the genome works as phase variation while other SSRs have no role in generating phase variation mechanisms. Therefore, Aim: the main goal of the current in silico study was to detect the probability of SSR to enroll with phase variation for the entire N. meningitidis genome. Methods: Different criteria were used to judge SSR as it works in phase variation and these criteria were taken from the current literature. These criteria involve the Z score value of the synonymous shuffling model and Markov model of SSR, the position of SSR in the gene or the promoter, instability and polymorphism of SSR in genomes of different strains, and the length of SSR. Results: The positive Z score value of SSR, SSR being variable in length among genomes of different strains and SSR location in 3 prime end of a gene or in the promoter indicates that the SSR generates phase variation in a particular gene. Conclusion: 67 out of 327 putative phase variable genes located on the N. meningitidis genome were determined to fit these criteria. We assume, therefore, that SSR in these genes may be connected with phase variation mechanism. We recommend that experimental evidence should be generated to confirm these findings.
Many of the dynamic processes in different sciences are described by models of differential equations. These models explain the change in the behavior of the studied process over time by linking the behavior of the process under study with its derivatives. These models often contain constant and time-varying parameters that vary according to the nature of the process under study in this We will estimate the constant and time-varying parameters in a sequential method in several stages. In the first stage, the state variables and their derivatives are estimated in the method of penalized splines(p- splines) . In the second stage we use pseudo lest square to estimate constant parameters, For the third stage, the rem
... Show MorePolycrystalline Cadmium Oxide (CdO) thin films were prepared using pulsed laser deposition onto glass substrates at room temperature with different thicknesses of (300, 350 and 400)nm, these films were irradiated with cesium-137(Cs-137) radiation. The thickness and irradiation effects on structural and optical properties were studied. It is observed by XRD results that films are polycrystalline before and after irradiation, with cubic structure and show preferential growth along (111) and (200) directions. The crystallite sizes increases with increasing of thickness, and decreases with gamma radiation, which are found to be within the range (23.84-4.52) nm and (41.44-4.974)nm before and after irradiation for thickness 350nm and 4
... Show MoreMyriophyllum spicatum distribution in Al-Burgga marsh, Hor Al-Hammar was described in relation to some of the physical-chemical properties for its habitat (water depth, light penetration, water temperature, water salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, Ca+2, Mg+2, reactive NO2=, reactive NO3-1, and reactive PO4-3) during 2011, seasonally. CANOCO ordination program (CCA) was used to analyse the data. Its vegetation cover percentage was with its peak at summer, its value was 90 %, while the lowest value was 20 % in winter. Statistically, Positive relationships for WT, sal., Ca+2, Mg+2, reactive NO2=, reactive NO3-1, and reactive PO4-3 with the vegetation cover percentage were observed. While, negative relationships for WD, pH, and DO with the ve
... Show MoreA simple and rapid high performance liquid chromatographic with fluorescence detection method for the determination of the aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2 in peanuts, rice and chilli was developed. The sample was extracted using acetonitrile:water (90:10, v/v%) and then purified by using ISOLUTE multimode solid phase extraction. After the pre-column derivatisation, the analytes were separated within 3.7 min using Chromolith performance RP-18e (100–4.6 mm) monolithic column. To assess the possible effects of endogenous components in the food items, matrix-matched calibration was used for the quantification and validation. The recoveries of aflatoxins that were spiked into food samples were 86.38–104.5% and RSDs were <4.4%. The method was
... Show MoreThis study aims to establish an empirical correlation between biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the sewage flowing in Al-Diwaniyah wastewater treatment plant. The strength of the wastewater entering the plant varied from medium to high. High concentrations of BOD5 and COD in the effluent were obtained due to the poor performance of the plant. This was observed from the BOD5 /COD ratios that did not confirm with the typical ratios for the treated sewage. To improve the performance of this plant, regression equations for BOD5 and COD removal percentages were suggested which can be used to facilitate rapid effluent assessment or optimal process control. The equations relating the percentage removal of
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted to investigate effect of prey type on the relationship between age of females of Macrocyclops albidus and reproductive performance, which included each of mean number of nauplii, age at first brood, and age at first clutch. Results revealed that the correlation coefficient between the age at first brood and clutch and age of females fed on Artemia was significant P <0.05, being 0.65 and 0.81 respectively, while the correlations were not significant P>0.05 in females fed on mosquito larvae (Culex quinquefasciatus) and Paramecium nauplii. It was also found that the correlation coefficients between mean number of the nauplii and longevity in M. albidus were significant P<0.05 whereas, the correlations were not s
... Show MoreBackground: Cholera has been recognized as a killer disease since earliest time. The disease is caused by infection of the small intestine by Vibrio cholerae O1 and O1391 which is characterized by severe dehydrating diarrheal condition and is one disease in modern times that is epidemic, endemic and pandemic in nature. Objective: This study was carried out to detect and isolate V. cholerae from patients suffered from watery diarrhea, which may cause severe complications such as dehydration, shock followed by death. Materials and methods: stool specimens were collected from 308 patients with watery diarrhea. These samples were tested with many criteria such as TCBS agar, gram stain, biochemical tests and VITEK-2 system to improve the isolati
... Show MorePhenol is one of the worst-damaging organic pollutants, and it produces a variety of very poisonous organic intermediates, thus it is important to find efficient ways to eliminate it. One of the promising techniques is sonoelectrochemical processing. However, the type of electrodes, removal efficiency, and process cost are the biggest challenges. The main goal of the present study is to investigate the removal of phenol by a sonoelectrochemical process with different anodes, such as graphite, stainless steel, and titanium. The best anode performance was optimized by using the Taguchi approach with an L16 orthogonal array. the degradation of phenol sonoelectrochemically was investigated with three process parameters: current de
... Show MoreMetal complexes chrome(III), manganese(II), iron(III), cobalt(II), nickel(II), cupper(II) and zinc(II) with diazonium of 3-amino-2-chloropyridine of general formula [2-Cl-C5H3N≡N]n[MXm], where n=2 or 3 for divalent and trivalent metal, m= 4 or 6 were synthesized. The complexes have been characterized by flame atomic absorption, (C.H.N), molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility UV-vis spectra, infrared spectra,1H-NMR spectroscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA and DTA). The measurements showed that the divalent metal ion complexes (M2+) have (1:2) M:L ratio with tetrahedral geometry around metal ions while the trivalent metal ions (M3+) formed (1:3) m
... Show MoreFreshwater mussels are a guild of stationary, suspended-feeding species; they perform significant ecological functions like nitrogen cycling, bioturbation that gives oxygen and habitat that other creatures need to survive, and increasing water clearance by filtration. Knowledge of the freshwater mussel Unio tigridis Bourguignat, 1852, distribution, and molecular study in Iraq was inadequate. In the current study, this species of freshwater Mussels belonging to the family Unionidae was collected from different locations in the Greater Zab River, from April 2022 to November 2022. The average water temperature of the site was arranged between (17.8 to 36.1 C°). All previous studies in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq were based on morphologic
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