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Articles
by
Nagi A. AL-Haj |
Total Records (
10 ) for
Nagi A. AL-Haj |
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Nagi A. AL-Haj
,
Nurmas I. Mashan
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Habsah Mohamad
,
Charles S. Vairappan
and
Zamberi Sekawi
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Problem statement: Antimicrobial resistance is the major problem of global dimensions with a significant impact on morbidity, mortality and healthcare-associated costs. The problem has recently been worsened by the steady increase in multiresistant strains and by the restriction of antibiotic discovery and development programs. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pseudomonads and Escherichia coli are a major nosocomial and community-acquired pathogens for which few existing antibiotics are efficacious. The current study was conducted to investigate antibacterial activity of natural seaweed sources. Approach: Gracilaria changii Euchema denticulatum and sea cucumbers extracts against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Results: The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values and Minimal Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) values of methanol extract were used against all assayed bacteria. Results indicated that G. changii, E. denticulatum and sea cucumbers extracts must possess major antibacterial components against infectious microorganisms. Conclusion: The results obtained indicate that Gracilaria changii and Euchema denticulatum could be a source of natural products with antibiotic modifying activity to be used against multidrug resistant bacteria. |
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Lai L. Suang
,
Zamberi Sekawi
,
Nagi A. Al-Haj
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Rasedee Abdullah
and
Rahmah Mohamed
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Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, a serious disease of man and animals. The high mortality of B. pseudomallei infections may cause by lipopolysaccharides, an endotoxin. The biosynthesis of LPS is complex comprising three components, lipid A, core oligosaccharide and O-specific antigen. In the current study, by using the available B. pseudomallei genome database provided by Wellcome. The study demonstrated that the bioinformatics comparative technique was able to annotate LPS genes in Burkholderia pseudomallei. By developing a simple and easy flow chart including the using of Artemis software, total of 44 putative ORFs involved in biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide for B. pseudomallei and the genetic mapping for the ORFs have been successfully determined using bioinformatics and laboratory approach. It is about 95.7% of success for annotation based on the 46 genes that act as references. In near future, a suitable vaccine or antimicrobial may be developed by targeting the genes encoding the various components essential in LPS biosynthesis and survival of the pathogen. |
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Lai L. Suang
,
Zamberi Sekawi
,
Nagi A. Al-Haj
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Rasedee Abdullah
and
Rahmah Mohamed
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Recently several cases of melioidosis have been reported in the tropical climates, especially in Southeast Asia where, it is endemic, it also occurs sporadically throughout the world. The diagnosis of the acute or chronic infection remains challenging. The present study highlight on the optimized and reliable technique based DNA preparation for use in Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay. PCR amplification with specific pair of primer for each putative gene was proving specific for amplification of genes in Burkholderia pseudomallei strain D286. The PCR mixture with addition of DMSO, formamide and glycerol could ease the PCR optimization where different pairs of primers were involved. The findings of this study have contributed to some information on the molecular bases of the LPS biosynthesis genes in B. seudomallei specifically for strain D286. The specific primer pairs with the PCR mixture could be used in developing a PCR diagnosis of melioidosis. |
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Nurmas I. Mashan
,
Nagi A. Al-Haj
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Habsah Mohamad
,
Charles S. Vairappan
and
Zamberi Sekawi
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Polymerase Chain reaction amplification of DNA was performed to used to study the presence and effect of treated and untreated Stapylococcus aureus genes sav1017 and adaB with marine seaweeds Gracilaria changii and Euchema denticulatum. From the sequencing analysis, the changes were detected in the gene sequence of adaB and sav1017, genes after treated with either G. changii or E. denticulatum extract, which involved the substitution of the nucleotide base pair and insertion or deletion of the purine or pyrimidine base. The novel of this study is the extract of G. changii and E. denticulatum interrupting the important function in MRSA and non-MRSA isolates so that this pathogen cannot survive longer than usual. This significant finding can be applied to a medical treatment whereby both of these extracts can be used as an alternative treatment for the infection of S. aureus especially to overcome drug resistance treatment problems in MRSA strains. |
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Nagi A. Al-Haj
,
Lai L. Suang
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Rasedee Abdullah
,
Rahmah Mohamed
and
Zamberi Sekawi
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Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, a serious disease of man and animals. The high mortality of B. pseudomallei infections may cause by Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), an endotoxin. The biosynthesis of LPS is complex comprising three components, lipid A, core oligosaccharide and O-specific antigen. In the current study was designed to further elucidate genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of LPS in melioidosis agent followed with selected gene product expression with essential function for survival and virulence melioidosis agent. Expression of Bplps0013/lpxA and Bplps0007/rfaF successful expressed the entire proteins in 2 h with sizes of approximately 29 kDa and 43.7 kDa, respectively. The baseline information provided through the present research can be a preliminary approach towards the development of effective therapeutics against melioidosis. |
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Nagi A. AL-Haj
,
E. Amghalia
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Rasedee Abdullah
,
Rahmah Mohamed
and
Zamberi Sekawi
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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains have appeared in countries worldwide and continue to be one of the most common hospital pathogens and it has become increasingly prevalent in community-acquired infections and provided strong evidence for the independent origins of health care-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and community-acquired. It has been shown that methicillin-susceptible S. aureus strains become MRSA strains by the acquisition of a staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element carrying the mecA gene, which is responsible for methicillin resistance and has become essential for the characterization of Staphylococcus aureus clones in epidemiological studies. The objective of this study to identify the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec types of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from different Malaysian Hospitals. PCR amplification and sequencing analysis were performed to determine the SCCmec type of MRSA. The present research successfully established molecular characteristics of local MRSA contribute as initial database of these isolates in order to fully understand the epidemiology, microbiology and pathophysiology of these infections. |
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Nagi A. AL-Haj
,
Nurmas I. Masha
,
Mariana N. Shamsudin
,
Habsah Mohamad
,
Charles S. Vairappan
and
Zamberi Sekawi
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Methacillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) organisms and Multiple Drug Resistant Organism (MDRO). Therefore, this study was designed to explore an alternative antibacterial product derived from seaweed extracts, Gracilaria changii and Euchema denticulatum, through the study of DNA and RNA encoding genes of interest in MRSA and non-MRSA. The target of this study is to amplification of several untreated and treated S. aureus and E. coli genes that are potentially involved in the antibacterial activities through RT-PCR assay. G. changii and E. denticulatum extracts showed inhibitory activity against S. aureus, several genes in this pathogen were chosen to study the effect of both seaweed extracts on the genes through PCR and RT-PCR analysis. However, the predicted inhibitory mechanism of both seaweeds extracts on mecA gene was not fully elucidated in the study. The investigation could scientifically proof the natural products to be potentially potent antibacterial agents. |
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Nagi A. AL-Haj
,
Mariana Nor Shamsudin
,
Raha Abdul Rahim
,
H. Halimaton
,
Lai L. Suang
,
M. Nurmas I. Mashan
and
Zamberi Sekawi
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Vibrio cholerae has caused severe outbreaks of cholera
worldwide with thousands of recorded deaths annually while the Staphylococcus
aureus is one of the most significant pathogens causing nosocomial and community-acquired
infections. Conventional detection methods for diagnosis of clinical samples,
water and food based on culture, microscopy and biochemical testing are limited
by the speed of detection, sensitivity and specificity, so it is necessary to
develop innovative molecular methods for the rapid detect the presence genes,
expression levels of the toxigenic and drug target genes in S. aureus
and V. cholerae using PCR, sequencing and membrane array. The genes studied
are SEA-SEJ (genes encoding S. aureus enterotoxins) ace, zot,
ctxA, ctxB, toxR (toxigenic genes of V. cholerae)
Sav1017 and AdaB (protein synthesis and DNA synthesis genes in
S. aureus. These techniques were carried out step by step with primers
designing, PCR amplification, sequencing and detection of expression by membrane
array. These assays are extremely robust, sensitive, specific and economical
and can be adapted to different throughputs. Thus, a rapid, sensitive and reliable
technique for detecting toxigenic genes of S. aureus and V. cholerae
was suc-cessfully developed. |
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Nagi A. Al-Haj
,
Khadija Zedan Hassan
,
Alabed Ali A. Alabed
,
Abdullah Y. Al Mahdi
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Rasheed Abdsalam
and
Sami Mohammed Albawani
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Medicinal plants and herbal preparations are gaining renowned interest in scientific communities
nowadays due to their reliable pharmacological actions and affordability to common people which makes them
effective in control of various diseases. The present study was aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activities of
aqueous, methanol and ethanol extracts against gram positive ad gram negative microorganism. The
combination effects of Polygonum minus methanol extracts with streptomycin sulfate against gram positive
Bacillus subtilis which showed 16.7% were synergy (2 out of 12 combinations), 16.7% were additive and (2 out
of 12 combinations), 66.7% were indifferent (8 out of 12 combinations). While, combination effects
between P. minus ethanol extract with streptomycin sulfate against Bacillus subtilis indicated that about 50%
(6 out of 12 combinations) were antagonistic, 16.67% (2 out of 12 combinations) were indifferent and 33.33%
(4 out of 12 combinations) were additive. The finding of this study concluded that gram-positive bacteria were
more susceptible than the gram-negative and the combination effects between P. minus ethanol extract with
streptomycin sulfate may lead to the development of a new and vital antimicrobial drugs against simultaneous
infections of gram positive and gram negative microorganism. |
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Nagi A. Al-Haj
,
Muna A. Ghoshim
,
Nagham Farouq
and
Yaser Abdulmughni
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Adenomyosis, a common non-malignant condition of the uterus is characterized by the presence of
ectopic endometrium with or without hyperplasia of the surrounding myometrium endometrial glands as well
as stromal elements situated at least 2.5 mm below the endomyometrial junction. To study adenomyosis
prevalence among Yemeni women in Sanaa City as the cause of abnormal uterine bleeding in hysterectomy
specimens. Retrospective study was retrieved 73 women consecutive undergoing hysterectomy in a 2 years,
2011-2013 with a histologic diagnosis of adenomyosis with regards to the clinical profile. The prevalence rate
of adenomyosis among Yemeni women was 28.7% while 80% of the patients were seen in the age
group of 31-50 years, menorrhagia 87.5%, dysmenorrhea 81.7%, lower abdominal pain 85.5% beginning later in
reproductive life (mean age 39 years) and 95.4% of the patients were multiparous of the classic presentation.
We concluded the adenomyosis rate of this study was found to be the most common cause of abnormal uterine
bleeding in Yemeni women of perimenopausal age group. |
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