The stabilisation of clayey soil by using sawdust and sawdust ash.

Soil stabilisation by waste materials has been recently employed to enhance soil engineering properties. The purpose of this study is to compare the impact of utilising sawdust in its raw form versus sawdust ash as a soil stabiliser. This is to determine if sawdust (SD) can be considered as a substitute for sawdust ash (SDA) in order to reduce incineration and air pollution.

Whole-genome sequencing of the clinical isolate of ALAW1 from the West Bank allows high-resolution typing and determination of pathogenicity mechanisms.

Background: is water-based bacterium causing Legionnaires' disease (LD). We describe the first documented case of nosocomial LD caused by sequence type (ST) 461 and serogroup 6. The etiology of LD was confirmed by culturing the bronchoalveolar lavage sample retrieving strain ALAW1.

Cytotoxicity, Intracellular Replication, and Contact-Dependent Pore Formation of Genotyped Environmental Isolates from Hospital Water Systems in the West Bank, Palestine.

is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease. Due to the hot climate and intermittent water supply, the West Bank, Palestine, can be considered a high-risk area for this often fatal atypical pneumonia. occurs in biofilms of natural and man-made freshwater environments, where it infects and replicates intracellularly within protozoa.

MiR-16-1-3p and miR-16-2-3p possess strong tumor suppressive and antimetastatic properties in osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive malignancy affecting mostly children and adolescents. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in OS development and progression. Here we found that miR-16-1-3p and miR-16-2-3p "passenger" strands, as well as the "lead" miR-16-5p strand, are frequently downregulated and possess strong tumor suppressive functions in human OS.

Comparison of in situ sequence type analysis of Legionella pneumophila in respiratory tract secretions and environmental samples of a hospital in East Jerusalem.

Legionella pneumophila genotyping is important for epidemiological investigation of nosocomial and community-acquired outbreaks of legionellosis. The prevalence of legionellosis in pneumonia patients in the West Bank was monitored for the first time, and the sequence types (STs) from respiratory samples were compared with STs of environmental samples from different wards of the hospital. Sputum (n = 121) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) (n = 74) specimens were cultured for L.

Oseltamivir activity against avian influenza H9N2 strain with different point mutations in their neuraminidase.

The present study has two aims: to optimize the antiviral activity of oseltamivir in chicken embryos against an avian influenza-H9N2 strain (P0) and to apply the optimized protocol for studying the drug susceptibility of 4 H9N2 mutants (M1, M2, M3, and M4). As for the first aim, oseltamivir antiviral activity was monitored upon its delivery into 9-day-old chicken embryo at a concentration of 0.27 mg/100 μl, against 7 doses of the P0 strain, ranging between 1.

Optimization of Saanen sperm genes amplification: evaluation of standardized protocols in genetically uncharacterized rural goats reared under a subtropical environment.

The purpose of this research is to optimize quantitatively the amplification of specific sperm genes in reference genomically characterized Saanen goat and to evaluate the standardized protocols applicability on sperms of uncharacterized genome of rural goats reared under subtropical environment for inclusion in future selection programs. The optimization of the protocols in Saanen sperms included three production genes (growth hormone (GH) exons 2, 3, and 4, αS1-casein (CSN1S1), and α-lactalbumin) and two health genes (MHC class II DRB and prion (PrP)). The optimization was based on varying the primers concentrations and the inclusion of a PCR cosolvent (Triton X).

Impact of competitive non-protective antigens in a booster killed vaccine on seroconversions to protective antigens of Newcastle disease virus in chickens.

This study was designed to examine the impact of competitive non-protective antigens in a bivalent killed vaccine of Newcastle disease virus and infectious bronchitis (IB) virus on seroconversions against protective fusion protein of Newcastle disease (ND) virus (NDV), in free-range layers primed by live ND-clone 30 and IB-H120 vaccines. The experimental design included two free-range layer farms in which sera of randomly chosen layers were collected on two occasions from each of the two farms namely: at the time of administration of the killed booster vaccine (23 weeks of age) and three weeks later. The Western immunoblotting technique was used to react the individual pooled sera collected at different times from each farm with antigens used in priming, namely those of the ND-clone 30 virus and the IB-H120 virus.

Comparison of the level of organic contaminants in bile and muscle of Mugil spp. following a major oil spill in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The total polyaromatic hydrocarbons (TPAH) and the total polychlorinated biphenyls (TPCB) that originate from oil spills in sea and ocean waters are toxic to fish and their offspring. The authors compare the levels of organic contaminants (TPAH and TPCB) recovered from the bile versus the dorsal muscles of 120 individual Mugil spp. that were harvested from six sites in the eastern Mediterranean following a significant heavy oil spill.

Standardisation of a new model of H9N2/Escherichia coli challenge in broilers in the Lebanon.

Primary infection by low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) predisposes for secondary infection by Escherichia coli in poultry, leading to significant economic losses. Future research in control of this ailment requires the establishment of a successful controlled challenge by avian influenza virus (AIV)/E. coli.

Impact of synergism of calcium phosphomycin/tylosin tartarate supplements on the performance of broilers in the Lebanon.

The authors evaluate the impact of a synergistic preparation (SP) of supplements (a combination of calcium phosphomycin and tylosine tartarate) on the performance of broilers with a history of carcass condemnation at slaughter. The experiment included 120-day old broilers (Ross 308), divided equally into two treatment groups, with three replicates per treatment and 20 birds per replicate. The two groups included controls that did not receive SP and those that were treated with SP.