Identification and characterization of novel salivary biomarkers for oral inflammatory disease

PhD ThesisSalivary biomarkers not only reflect the current status of periodontal diseases but may predict their progression and response to treatment. This study aimed to identify and characterize novel salivary biomarkers for periodontal diseases as a biomarker paradigm for an oral inflammatory disease. Proteome profiler arrays were used to study the protein profile of whole saliva from 12 patients with chronic periodontitis and 12 healthy subjects, and to identify novel salivary biomarkers for periodontal diseases. Results revealed that there were differences in the whole saliva protein profile between health and disease status. Salivary urokinase (uPA), urokinase receptor (uPAR), and vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) were among the highly expressed proteins in periodontitis. These proteins were identified as candidate salivary biomarkers for periodontal diseases. ELISA assays were used to quantify the candidate salivary biomarkers in 158 patients with periodontal diseases as compared to 103 healthy controls and were found to be significantly elevated in the patients (p<0.001). Salivary uPA levels but not uPAR and VDBP, were significantly downregulated following treatment of the patients (p<0.01). The uPA enzymatic activity was investigated in saliva of the patients and was found to be significantly elevated as compared to the controls (p<0.001). Salivary uPA, uPAR and VDBP levels and uPA activity were positively correlated with periodontal disease measures such as pocket depth. The in vitro stimulation of human gingival fibroblasts with P.gingivalis lipopolysaccharide induced the cells to produce higher levels of uPA and uPAR along with uPA activity as compared to unstimulated cells (p<0.01). In conclusion, salivary uPA, uPAR and VDBP in addition to uPA activity are suggested as biomarkers that may be useful in the diagnosis of periodontal diseases and can indicate their severity. Salivary uPA is a potential biomarker that can assess the response of periodontitis to treatment and may predict the disease progression.Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED

Tools and techniques for exploring engagement in a flipped classroom

PhD ThesisStudent engagement has been linked to satisfaction, retention, and better student performance. It is considered a factor and a goal for enhancing the students experience in higher education. However, engagement is a complex construct that includes multiple aspects that is influenced by learning environment, teaching staff, and the students’ background and expectations. There are many studies investigating different learning environments and exploring various aspects of engagement like behaviour and emotion. One area that has not been sufficiently researched is the flipped classroom, which is a blended learning model publicized as an approach to improve engagement. Thus, this thesis offers an in-depth exploration of student engagement in Higher Education flipped classroom and identify indicators and measures that can be used to understand as well as improve engagement in this context. In addition, this study investigates the role of technology-enhanced reflection in improving engagement in class and introduces a new tool designed to support reflection in small group activities. The study was conducted in a third-year module on Ubiquitous Computing in the School of Computing Science. The module was a fully flipped course where students prepared before class by going through the provided material on the website. In class, students engaged in small group activities to expand on what they learned online. Data was collected from the website, class observations (forms and video), and interviews with students and the module leader. In addition, a web app called Group Tagging was developed as a tool to support reflection using video tagging was tested to investigate whether this type of reflection can improve student engagement in class. Across the two case studies conducted as a part of this research on a flipped classroom, I identified a range of measures and methods that can be used to increase students’ engagement. The study showed that engagement in the flipped classroom could change depending on the structure of the course, clear communications with the students, the teaching staff’s continued engagement and giving the students an incentive and motivation to keep doing the work required. The findings also showed that video supported-reflection helped the students stay on task and participate more in class. It also worked as an incentive for them to be better prepared before coming to class

Histological Assessment of the Effects of Derma + Flex®, versus Black Silk Suture on Oral Mucosal Primary Wound Healing in Rabbits

Aims: The objective of this study was to compare wound healing potential between black silk suture and bioadhesive glue after induced surgical intraoral mucosal incisions in rabbits and assessed histologically. Materials and methods: The study was conducted on (18) male New Zealand rabbits, randomly divided into two groups (9 animals per group) according to the healing periods (1st,3rd, and 7th) days. Two incisions were made on the buccal mucosa of each rabbit bilaterally. For the first group, the defect was sutured with black silk suture, and adhesive glue Derma + Flex for the second group applied post operatively. Three rabbits were randomly selected from each group at the (1st,3rd, 7th) days, and biopsies were taken. The biopsy specimens were subjected to histological assessment to assess the healing parameters of the primary wound healing process. Results: Inflammatory cell infiltration grading in day 1and day 3 group I was the highest and on day 7 was the lowest in both groups. Granulation tissue formation in day 1 and day 3 was the same but high in group II day 7. Re-epithelization scoring was highest at day 7 for both groups. According to the time period, there were no significant differences in group versus group (within the same day). Conclusions: Use of bioadhesive Derma+Flex® glue for closure of primary wounds gave a satisfied result for better healing and isolation to avoid of infection in appropriate time with less equipment’s in comparison with black silk suture

Does the cytomegalovirus infection cause kidney transplant rejection in Erbil city patients, Kurdistan region of Iraq?

Cytomegalovirus (CMV), the most significant infectious agent, belongs to the family of Herpesviridae. There is a high risk of severe viral reactivation among patients with kidney transplantation, particularly in the first three months after transplantation (where patients are at the peak for immune suppression), The infection has a high morbidity rate. Hence, this study was designed to assess the association of CMV infection with kidney transplantation and recognize the symptoms that are more related to kidney transplantation (KT) in the Erbil city, Kurdistan region of Iraq. The study enrolled 72 patients who received renal allograft from March 2018 to December 2019, and this population has been characterized as Middle Eastern descent and ethnic miscegenation. Data included age and gender of the recipient, type of donor, symptomatic and asymptomatic CMV patients. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) was used to detect and amplify the extracted virus DNA from blood samples. The CMV was found in 43 patients infected with CMV with graft rejection of about 37.21%. While, it was observed in low rate 13.79% in 20 other patients with graft rejection which had free from CMV. The graft rejection rates were significantly higher among the CMV positive group than controls (P= 0.029). In the light of the results of this study, it has been concluded that the CMV infection in patients after kidney transplantation surgery was deemed an important predisposing factor for acute allograft rejection. The study revealed that the screening of CMV among donor could decrease the possibility of kidney graft rejection among recipients

Acute Liver Failure and the Neurological Complications: Theoretical Review

This study aimed at theoretically reviewing the Acute Liver Failure (ALF) and the Neurological Complications by reviewing the related studies in this area. As the problem of this study lies in exploring the neurological complications caused by Acute Liver Failure, and defining the causes of Acute Liver Failure, besides Diagnosing of Acute Liver Failure and the treatment processes of Acute Liver Failure. And the study concluded that the management of acute liver failure addresses the individual pathophysiological processes that occur in this condition. It improves chances of survival in patients awaiting liver transplantation and dramatically reduces the risk of death from neurological complications

Responses of haptoglobin and serum amyloid A in goats inoculated intradermally with C. pseudotuberculosis and mycolic acid extract immunogen

Haptoglobin (Hp) and Serum Amyloid A (SAA) are a group of blood proteins whose concentrations in animals can be influenced by infection, inflammation, surgical trauma or stress. Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the causative agent of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), and Mycolic acid is a virulent factor extracted from C. pseudotuberculosis. There is a dearth of sufficient evidence on the clinical implication of MAs on the responses of Hp and SAA in goats. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the potential effects of Mycolic acid (MAs) and C. pseudotuberculosis on the responses of Hp and SAA in female goats. A total of 12 healthy female goats was divided into three groups; A, B and C each comprising of 4 goats and managed for a period of three months. Group (A) was inoculated with 2 mL of sterile phosphate buffered saline (as a negative control group) intradermally, while group (B) and (C) were inoculated intradermally with 2 ml each of mycolic acid and 1‏ × 109 cfu of active C. pseudotuberculosis respectively. The result of the study showed that the Hp concentration in goats inoculated with C. pseudotuberculosis was significantly increased up to 7-fold (1.17 ± 0.17 ng/L) while MAs showed a 3-fold increased (0.83 ± 0.01 ng/L) compared with the control. Whereas SAA concentration in C. pseudotuberculosis and MAs groups showed a significant 3-fold (17.85 ± 0.91 pg/mL) and 2-fold (10.97 ± 0.71 pg/mL) increased compared with the control. This study concludes that inoculation of C. pseudotuberculosis and MAs have significant effects on Hp and SAA levels, which indicates that MAs could have a role in the pathogenesis of caseous lymphadenitis

COVID-19 Vaccination Among Diverse Population Groups in the Northern Governorates of Iraq

Objectives: The present study was carried out to investigate COVID-19 vaccination coverage among populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, and host communities in northern Iraq and the related underlying factors.Methods: Through a cross-sectional study conducted in five governorates in April–May 2022, 4,564 individuals were surveyed. Data were collected through an adapted questionnaire designed to gather data on participants.Results: 4,564 subjects were included (59.55% were 19–45 years old; 54.51% male). 50.48% of the participants (51.49% of host communities, 48.83% of IDPs, and 45.87% of refugees) had been vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. 40.84% of participants (42.28% of host communities, 35.75% of IDPs, and 36.14% of refugees) had been vaccinated by two doses, and 1.56% (1.65% of host communities, 0.93% of IDPs, and 1.46% of refugees) were vaccinated with three doses.Conclusion: Sociodemographic factors including age, gender, education, occupation, and nationality could affect vaccination coverage. Moreover, higher acceptance rate of vaccination is associated with belief in vaccine safety and effectiveness and trust in the ability of the vaccine to prevent complications

Optimization and improvement of hodgkin-huxley model under the influence of ion channel noise in neurons

In recent years, it has been argued and shown experimentally that ion channel noise in neurons can cause fundamental effects on the neuron’s dynamical behavior. Most profoundly, ion channel noise was seen to be able to cause spontaneous firing and stochastic resonance. However, Hodgkin-Huxley model affected when inserting some colored noise terms inside the conductance’s, where those effects captured by colored noise due to the gate multiplicity. Regarding the position of the trans-membrane voltage fluctuations, and the element of open-channel fluctuations is attributed to gate multiplicity. Furthermore, the phenomenon was found to significantly enhance the spike coherence. In this thesis, the proposed model directly determines a set of maximal functions of voltage parameters to fit the model neuron from the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. The statistic will be obtained using different membrane size and different input current values. Firstly, introduced the effect of (without, with) colored noise on the proposed model and the comparison of ion channel based on HH, Fox- Lu, and Linaro models. Additionally, in order to overcome the limitations of other parameter estimation methods, the proposed method fully constraints their models and obtains all models capabilities of reproducing the data. The colored stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley equations were studied when the input current to the neuron is (noise-free input currents and noisy currents). The spiking rates and the spike coherence were examined, and the coefficient of variation to be extracted from the colored noise model will be explained through a sequence of experiments by comparing the proposed model with the microscopic simulations. In particular, the role played by the presence of the colored noise terms in the conductances was focused on in the examination. Finally, statistics of spike generation, spike coherence, firing efficiency, latency, and jitter from the articulated set of equations are found to be highly accurate in comparison with the corresponding statistics from the exact microscopic Markov simulations. The simulation results revealed that above a critical value of the input frequency and also below a certain amplitude value, the colored terms play a very prominent role in the firing statistics. In addition, the spiking rate generated from the proposed model is very close to microscopic simulations and does not affect the membrane size. On the other hand, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) methods are commonly used to optimize compartment model parameters, by using an objective function that includes both voltage (V) and current (I) with ion channel gate variables dynamics (n for potassium channel and m h for sodium channel) based on Hodgkin–Huxley formalism in the squid giant axon, for a point-neuron model. Meanwhile, the development of regression equations was used for the estimation gating variables in the membrane current. The simulation results revealed that the larger action potentials, whose size is controlled by the difference between the voltage and current with choosing optimal gating variables for activation and inactivation membrane channels can be affected more rapidly, travel at a faster speed than smaller ones

A New Neuron Ion Channel Model with Noisy Input Current

The data processing fundamental problem affects all aspects of nervous-system function by the noise of ion channels. The conducting and non conducting of ion channels depends on random transitions of channel noise, which affect the states of several numbers of gates in every single individual ion channel. This paper, introduce a new ion channel model in the neuron with noisy input current as approximations of the HH model. It briefly introduces the ion channel based on stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley model. The method is able to fully constrain the HH model and obtain all models capable of reproducing the data. Therefore, this method overcomes the limitations of other parameter estimation methods. The stochastic Markov process method is simply applied to simulate each gate individually to determine the relationship between channel noise and the spike frequency

Validation the Best, Most Accurate and Reliable Assay…. Validation the Best, Most Accurate and Reliable Assay for Detection of Typhoid

Abstract yphoid fever is becoming an ever increasing threat in the developing countries. Cultivation of bacteria and serology (especially Widal test) give unacceptable levels of false-negative and false-positive results, respectively. The aims of present work is development of a PCR assay that can target specific multiple genes for rapid detection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. typhi) .(which has 100% specificity for Salmonella typhi) was compared with Widal test and Salmonella typhi IgG\IgM rapid test as well as Salmonella typhi IgG and IgM ELISA test during the first week of illness of 50 suspected cases of typhoid. PCR primers for invasion, O, H and Vi antigen genes, invA, prt, and viaB were designed and used for the rapid detection of S. typhi by multiplex PCR. The respective figures of positivity for PCR, Blood culture, Widal test and S. typhi IgG\IgM rapid test and Salmonella typhi IgG /IgM ELISA were 66%, 52%, 46%, 42% and 48% respectively. A control group of 20 healthy persons gave figures of 0%, 0%, 40%, 0% and 0% respectively. The present study conclude that this PCR-based technique is not only absolutely specific, but also very sensitive and, therefore, much superior to Widal test, Blood culture S. typhi IgG\IgM rapid test and Salmonella typhi IgG/IgM ELISA tests for the early diagnosis of typhoid