c Toxoplasma gondii is a major food pathogen and neglected parasitic infection that causes eye disease, birth defects, and fetal abortion and plays a role as an opportunistic infection in AIDS. In this study, we investigated pantothenic acid (vitamin B 5 ) biosynthesis in T. gondii. Genes encoding the full repertoire of enzymes for pantothenate synthesis and subsequent metabolism to coenzyme A were identified and are expressed in T. gondii. A panel of inhibitors developed to target Mycobacterium tuberculosis pantothenate synthetase were tested and found to exhibit a range of values for inhibition of T. gondii growth. Two inhibitors exhibited lower effective concentrations than the currently used toxoplasmosis drug pyrimethamine. The inhibition was specific for the pantothenate pathway, as the effect of the pantothenate synthetase inhibitors was abrogated by supplementation with pantothenate. Hence, T. gondii encodes and expresses the enzymes for pantothenate synthesis, and this pathway is essential for parasite growth. These promising findings increase our understanding of growth and metabolism in this important parasite and highlight pantothenate synthetase as a new drug target.

The aim of the study is characterizing of hydatid cysts that have been isolated from sheep and cow liver fertile hydatid cysts using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1(cox1) gene. DNA samples of nineteen sheep and one cow were extracted from protoscoleces and germinal layers of the parasites in Koya city-Erbil, Iraq, using specific extraction procedures. Mitochondrial cox1 gene region was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the expected gene sizes were confirmed by gel electrophoresis. All DNA isolates were then sequenced. Nucleotide sequence alignments were then performed to verify the sequenced isolated according to the database, which showed that all samples were belonging to the (G1) sheep strain. Phylogenetic analysis was also carried out for the sequenced isolated to find out the highest similarities with closest organisms to E. granulosus' conserved gene and to reveal sharing common ancestor, which has been confirmed. Electrocatalytic reduction of DNA where detected through applying cyclic-voltammetry technique, which referred to the environmentally strong protection features of these strains against any effects of external factors, such as heavy metals and has revealed the secret behind the potent preservation of the DNA structure of this parasite from being affect by mutations, or alterations, along the different lineages over a long period of time.

HIGHLIGHTS  The average prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium was 6.5% in vegetables of Koya, Iraq.  Contamination rates were not related to vegetable types and also sampling seasons.  Serious control measures and training must be carried out in the studied area.

Giardiasis is one of the most common intestinal protozoan infections worldwide. The study aimed to determine the levels of a number of biochemical parameters in the sera of children with giardiasis without receiving any medication for the treatment of giardiasis or intestinal helminthic infections in the previous 7 days. The study conducted 34 (19 females and 15 males) children and 34 (18 females and 16 males) healthy children as a control group. The mean ages of infected children and control groups were 8 ± 2 and 7 ± 2 years, respectively. Serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine, urea, sodium, potassium, uric acid, and albumin were determined. AST level in males was significantly higher than healthy children control (14.20 ± 1.896 and 10.06 ± 0.699), respectively (P < 0.05), and no significant difference in females was noticed whereas the significant increases in ALT level were found when compared to control (12.43 ± 0.806 and 8.666 ± 0.449), for female, respectively, whereas no significant change in males was observed. Creatinine levels showed significant decrease in females when compared to control (57.72 ± 1.170 and 73.37 ± 1.635) (P ≤ 0.001), respectively.

Immunoinfertility caused by anti-sperm antibodies (ASAs) represents about 10–20% of infertility among couples, which interfere with sperm motility and ability to penetrate cervical mucus, sperm-oocyte binding, fertilization, and embryo development. In addition, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damages are increasingly found with infertile cases affecting male reproduction potency and progeny. This study aims to assess the semen, presence of ASAs, and DNA fragmentation index in normozoospermic patients. A total number of 116 cases with an average age of 20–51 years old, and duration of infertility at 4.70 ± 2.77 are classified into 77 and 39 primary and secondary types of infertility, respectively. Mixed agglutination reaction test was used to estimate the ASAs in semen (direct method) and in seminal plasma and blood serum (indirect method), for both immunoglobulins IgG and IgA. Acridine orange test was used to detect DNA fragmentation index. The results showed a significant difference (P > 0.05) for those with a secondary type of infertility at means 24.37 and 31.48 for IgG, and 14.46 ± 1.76 and 6.86 ± 0.39 for IgA by both direct and indirect methods, respectively. The direct method showed a significant difference only for the sperm tail, while that for indirect method was in sperm mid-piece. The mean of DFI for all cases was 38.25 ± 2.08, at 41.61 ± 2.19 and 31.63 ± 4.29, for both primary and secondary cases, respectively. The percentage of ASAs revealed no significant difference with DFI, except in some parts of sperm.