Tuberculosis (TB) still remains an important medical problem due to high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A series of innate immune mechanisms that create a cytokine network control the pathogenesis of tuberculosis and this response has the capacity to modify the host genomic DNA structure through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation which could constantly alter the local gene expression pattern that can modulate the metabolism of the tissues and the immune-response. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine regulator of the innate immune response to TB. This study aims to determine DNA methylation patterns of INF-γ gene promoter and measure serum IFN- γ level in newly diagnosed TB patients, relapse TB patients, and healthy control, in order to study the possibility of using these as a biomarker for the prognosis of TB stages in patients. The current case-control study included 66 patients with TB and 33 healthy control subjects. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood(PB) of included subjects and modified using sodium bisulfate specific kit. DNA methylation patterns of IFN-γ gene promoter was determine by using methylation specific polymerase chain reaction(MS-PCR).Serum IFN-γ level was determined using enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay(ELISA). Results showed that percentages of DNA methylation patterns in normal controls, newly diagnostic TB patients and relapse TB patients were (63.3%, 18.2% and 21.2% respectively). Also, higher significant differences (P≤0.0001) of un-methylated IFN-γ gene promoter patterns in newly diagnostic TB patients than relapse TB patients comparison with healthy controls. The percentage of un-methylated DNA patterns in healthy controls, newly diagnostic TB patients and relapse TB patients were (9.9%, 39.4% and 51.5%, respectively). The mean of serum IFN-γ levels (pg/ml) for normal controls, newly diagnostic TB patients and relapse TB patients were (59.3± 13.8,75.8±24.3 and 69.6±18.7,respectively).In conclusion, there is a relative association between methylation of IFN-γ gene promoter and predisposing to TB progression.
Shear and compressional wave velocities, coupled with other petrophysical data, are vital in determining the dynamic modules magnitude in geomechanical studies and hydrocarbon reservoir characterization. But, due to field practices and high running cost, shear wave velocity may not available in all wells. In this paper, a statistical multivariate regression method is presented to predict the shear wave velocity for Khasib formation - Amara oil fields located in South- East of Iraq using well log compressional wave velocity, neutron porosity and density. The accuracy of the proposed correlation have been compared to other correlations. The results show that, the presented model provides accurate
... Show MoreA faunistic review of the genus Chaitophorus Koch, 1854, including four species in Iraq is given; the distribution data of each species and their hosts have been recorded. In this investigation the poplar leaf aphid Ch. populialbae (Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1841) is recorded here for the first time in Iraq on popular trees Populus euphratica Oliv. during the period from November 2016 to April 2017 in Baghdad province.
A brief description for apterous viviparous female of this species is given; and a key to the species of the genus Chaitophorus is constricted.
Azo dyes like methyl orange (MO) are very toxic components due to their recalcitrant properties which makes their removal from wastewater of textile industries a significant issue. The present study aimed to study their removal by utilizing aluminum and Ni foam (NiF) as anodes besides Fe foam electrodes as cathodes in an electrocoagulation (EC) system. Primary experiments were conducted using two Al anodes, two NiF anodes, or Al-NiF anodes to predict their advantages and drawbacks. It was concluded that the Al-NiF anodes were very effective in removing MO dye without long time of treatment or Ni leaching at in the case of adopting the Al-Al or NiF-NiF anodes, respectively. The structure and surface morphology of the NiF electrode were inves
... Show MoreThe objective of this study is to examine the properties of Bayes estimators of the shape parameter of the Power Function Distribution (PFD-I), by using two different prior distributions for the parameter θ and different loss functions that were compared with the maximum likelihood estimators. In many practical applications, we may have two different prior information about the prior distribution for the shape parameter of the Power Function Distribution, which influences the parameter estimation. So, we used two different kinds of conjugate priors of shape parameter θ of the <
... Show MoreA Stereomicroscopic Evaluation of Four Endodontic Sealers Penetration into Artificial Lateral Canals Using Gutta-Percha Single Cone Obturation Technique, Omar Jihad Banawi*, Raghad
Composite materials are widely used in the engineered assets as aerospace structures, marine and air navigation owing to their high strength/weight ratios. Detection and identification of damage in the composite structures are considered as an important part of monitoring and repairing of structural systems during the service to avoid instantaneous failure. Effective cost and reliability are essential during the process of detecting. The Lamb wave method is an effective and sensitive technique to tiny damage and can be applied for structural health monitoring using low energy sensors; it can provide good information about the condition of the structure during its operation by analyzing the propagation of the wave in the
... Show MoreIn the present study, the effect of new cross-section fin geometries on overall thermal/fluid performance had been investigated. The cross-section included the base original geometry of (triangular, square, circular, and elliptical pin fins) by adding exterior extra fins along the sides of the origin fins. The present extra fins include rectangular extra fin of 2 mm (height) and 4 mm (width) and triangular extra fin of 2 mm (base) 4 mm (height). The use of entropy generation minimization method (EGM) allows the combined effect of thermal resistance and pressure drop to be assessed through the simultaneous interaction with the heat sink. A general dimensionless expression for the entropy generation rate is obtained by con
... Show MoreA novel planar type antenna printed on a high permittivity Rogers’ substrate is proposed for early stage microwave breast cancer detection. The design is based on a p-shaped wide-slot structure with microstrip feeding circuit to eliminate losses of transmission. The design parameters are optimized resulting in a good reflection coefficient at −10 dB from 4.5 to 10.9 GHz. Imaging result using inhomogeneous breast phantom indicates that the proposed antenna is capable of detecting a 5 mm size cancerous tumor embedded inside the fibroglandular region with dielectric contrast between the target and the surrounding materials ranging from 1.7 : 1 to 3.6 : 1.