Methylotrophs bacteria are ubiquitous, and they have the ability to consume single carbon (C1) which makes them biological conversion machines. It is the first study to find facultative methylotrophic bacteria in contaminated soils in Iraq. Conventional PCR was employed to amplify MxaF that encodes methanol dehydrogenase enzyme. DNA templates were extracted from bacteria isolated from five contaminated sites in Basra. The gene specific PCR detected Methylorubrum extorquens as the most dominant species in these environments. The ability of M. extorquens to degrade aliphatic hydrocarbons compound was tested at the laboratory. Within 7 days, gas chromatographic (GC) studies of remaining utilize

In this study, a packed bed was used to remove pathogenic bacteria from synthetic contaminated water. Two types of packing material substrates, sand and zeolite, were used. These substrates were coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which were prepared by decomposition of Ag ions from AgNO3 solution. The prepared coated packings were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The packed column consisted of a PVC cylinder of 2 cm diameter and 20 cm in length. The column was packed with silver nanoparticlecoated substrates (sand or zeolite) at a depth of 10 cm. Four types of bacteria were studied: Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Pseudomonas aerugi

This study was carried out to evaluate the hepato-protective property of (Arachis hypogea L.) peanut skin extracts in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in mice. The antioxidant activity was measured utilizing 2, 2-diphenyl-1-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity. The results showed that the methanolic extract was the highest free radical scavenging activity than the aqueous extract with values (92.34 ± 0.45 and 87.62 ± 0.44) respectively in 12 mg/mL compared to 89.61 ± 0.34 for Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and 93.25 ± 0.06 for vitamin C, which means that the methanolic extract of peanut skin is superior to BHT. Furthermore, the total phenolic content was analyzed by using Folin-Ciocalteu method, the amount of total phenol in a

The insulation system of a machine coil includes several layers made of materials with different characteristics. The effective insulation design of machine coils, especially in the machine end winding, depends upon an accurate model of the stress grading system. This paper proposes a modeling approach to predict the transient overvoltage, electric field, and heat generation in machine coils with a stress grading system, considering the variation of physical properties in the insulation layers. A non-uniform line model is used to divide the coil in different segments based on material properties and lengths: overhang, stress grading and slot. The cascaded connection of chain matrices is used to connect segments for the representation of the

This study is the first investigation in Iraq dealing with genotyping of IL-4 −590 (C>T) gene, especially in Iraqi patients with asthma. We studied forty-eight blood samples collected from patients with asthma and compared with age-matched 25 healthy individuals as controls. The polymorphism results of IL-4 −590 (C>T) gene by using amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS-PCR) showed the presence of C and T alleles and three genotypes (CC, CT, and TT). Interestingly the frequency of C allele and CC genotype was higher in patients with asthma in comparison with the same allele and geno

Human cystic echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus is one of most important and widespreadparasitic zoonoses in the world. The present study was aimed to identify the immunomodulatory activity ofaqueous extract of Cordia myxa fruit since this plant considers one of medically important plants, which is widely used for treatment of numerous diseases, that correlate with the effectiveness of immunized by hydatid cyst fluid antigen HCFAg. Forty Balb/c mice were divided into equal groups, first group was immunized with HCFAg, the second group was treated with aqueous extract of C. muxa fruit, the third group was immunized and treated, the fourth group was as a control. Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), Mitotic index (MI) and histop