Background: Entamoeba histolytica is the causative agent of amoebic dysentery and hepatic abscesses. Despite the efficacy of metronidazole in alleviating infectious diseases, the global dissemination of drug-resistant parasites raises the possibility that Punica granatum could serve as an effective natural alternative treatment. Objective: To evaluate the effect of P. granatum methanolic and aqueous extracts of various parts against E. histolytica trophozoites in an in vitro setting. Methods: Various concentrations (0.14, 0.7, 1.4, and 2.8 mg/ml) of P. granatum extracts of the flowers, leafs, peels, and seeds were chosen for this purpose. A culture medium containing 0.05x106/ml E. histolytica trophozoites was treated with different concentrations of these extracts. The incubation period was 48 hours at 37°C. For every set, an untreated control was also performed. The standard medication metronidazole (17 μg/ml) was employed as a comparative control. Results: All parts of P. granatum showed high efficacy against E. histolytica trophozoites, but utilization of the methanolic extract proved to be quite effective compared to aqueous extract. Under a light microscope, several morphological changes were also seen. These include changes to the plasma membrane, reorganization of vacuoles that hold cell waste, and major changes to the cytoplasmic granules. Conclusions: The leaf, seed, flower, and peel extracts of P. granatum effectively inhibit the growth of E. histolytica trophozoites in vitro. The use of methanolic extract was more effective compared to the aqueous extract, and can be used as a natural alternative treatment for amoebic dysentery.
Background: One common undesirable side effect of orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances is the development of incipient caries lesions around brackets, particularly in patients with poor oral hygiene. Different methods have been used to prevent demineralization; the recent effort to improve the resistance against the demineralization is by the application of lasers. Materials and method: Thirty human premolars extracted for orthodontic purposes were used to test the effect of two energy level of ER-YAG laser on enamel resistance to demineralization. The brackets were bonded on the teeth and all the labial surface excluding 2 mm area gingival to the brackets were painted with acid resistance varnish. Three groups were generated. The fi
... Show MoreBackground This in vitro study compares a self-etch primer (SEP) to an etch-and-rinse (EaR) for bonding sapphire brackets by evaluation of the enamel etch-pattern, shear bond strength, amount of remnant adhesive and enamel surface damage following thermal and fatigue cyclic loading. Material and Methods Ceramic (sapphire) brackets were bonded to 80 extracted human premolars using two enamel etching protocols: conventional EaR using 37% phosphoric acid (PA) gel (control), and a SEP (Transbond Plus). Each group was subdivided into two subgroups (n=20 teeth) according to the time of bracket debonding: after 24 h water storage or following 5000 thermo-cycles plus 5000 cycles fatigue loading, to determine the shear bond strength (SBS), adhesive
... Show MoreBackground: This in vitro study compares a self-etch primer (SEP) to an etch-and-rinse (EaR) for bonding sapphire brackets by evaluation of the enamel etch-pattern, shear bond strength, amount of remnant adhesive and enamel surface damage following thermal and fatigue cyclic loading. Material and Methods: Ceramic (sapphire) brackets were bonded to 80 extracted human premolars using two enamel etching protocols: conventional EaR using 37% phosphoric acid (PA) gel (control), and a SEP (Transbond Plus). Each group was subdivided into two subgroups (n=20 teeth) according to the time of bracket debonding: after 24 h water storage or following 5000 thermo-cycles plus 5000 cycles fatigue loading, to determine the shear bond strength (SBS), adhesiv
... Show MoreNebivolol (NBH) is a third-generation B1-blocker with high selectivity and vasodilation activity. Nevertheless, nebivolol exhibits low oral bioavailability, which may adversely affect its efficacy. Recently, supersaturable self-nanoemulsion (Su-SNE) is an advanced SNE approach that can address low bioavailability The study aims to prepare nebivolol-loaded Su-SNE by reduction the amount of the prepared conventional SNE to half. Besides, an appropriate polymer type and concentration to prevent NBH precipitation upon oral administration have investigated.. A conventional self-nanoemulsion (formula A) was prepared by dissolving NBH in 500 mg vehicle mixture of imwitor®988: cremophor-EL: propylene glycol. Then, eight Su-SNE formulas wit
... Show MoreNebivolol (NBH) is a third-generation B1-blocker with high selectivity and vasodilation activity. Nevertheless, nebivolol exhibits low oral bioavailability, which may adversely affect its efficacy. Recently, supersaturable self-nanoemulsion (Su-SNE) is an advanced SNE approach that can address low bioavailability The study aims to prepare nebivolol-loaded Su-SNE by reduction the amount of the prepared conventional SNE to half. Besides, an appropriate polymer type and concentration to prevent NBH precipitation upon oral administration have investigated.. A conventional self-nanoemulsion (formula A) was prepared by dissolving NBH in 500 mg vehicle mixture of imwitor®988: cremophor-EL: propylene glycol. Then, eight Su-SNE formul
... Show MorePollen grains morphology have been studied for the wild species of the genus Erysimum L. which belong to Crucifereae family in Iraq. These species are E. filifolium Boiss. et Hausskn., E. oleifolium J. Gay, E. repandum L., E. eginense Hausskn. ex Bornm., E. aucheranum J. Gay, E. cheiranthoides L., E. alpestre Ky. ex Boiss., E. kurdicum Boiss. et Hausskn., E. tenellum DC., E. strophades Boiss., E. gladiiferum Boiss. et Hausskn., E. nasturtioides Boiss. et Hausskn. The study was performe by using light microscope . The study reveal that there was only one type of pollen grain named Tricoplate in all studied species . The study also demonstrated that there were differences among pollen grains morphology . The species E. kurdicum , E. alpestre
... Show MoreThis study evaluated the influence of administering different levels of L-arginine into eggs of 0-day-old Japanese quail embryos. On day 0 of incubation, 480 eggs (120 for each treatment group) were injected with 0% arginine (C group), 1% arginine (T1), 2% arginine (T2) or 3% arginine (T3). After hatching, 336 quail chicks (84 chicks produced from each in ovo injection treatment) were placed in an experimental quail house and allocated to four treatment groups of three replicates, with 16 quail chicks for each replicate. Traits involved in this study were hatchability rate, initial body weight (7 days of age), final body weight (42 days old), feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio and blood serum glucose, protein, cholesterol, tota
... Show MoreThis study was carried out in order to determine the toxic, mutagenic and antimutagenic effects for Mallow (Malva parviflora) in comparison to its mutagenic effect of Ultraviolet (UV) because it is consider physical mutagen by using parameters for the extract pri , with , post UV exposure by using bacterial system (G-system). The used system consisted of three isolates G3 Bacillus spp., G12 Arthrobacter spp. and G27 Brevibacterium spp.. The study depended on recording survival fraction (Sx) for studying the effects and induction of Streptomycin and Refampicin resistance mutants as a genetic markers.Water Extract was prepared from fresh and dry mallow leaves, stems, flowers and roots, in optimum concentration equal to (125µg/ml) which is
... Show MoreThis study was carried out to evaluate the hepato-protective property of (Arachis hypogea L.) peanut skin extracts in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in mice. The antioxidant activity was measured utilizing 2, 2-diphenyl-1-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity. The results showed that the methanolic extract was the highest free radical scavenging activity than the aqueous extract with values (92.34 ± 0.45 and 87.62 ± 0.44) respectively in 12 mg/mL compared to 89.61 ± 0.34 for Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and 93.25 ± 0.06 for vitamin C, which means that the methanolic extract of peanut skin is superior to BHT. Furthermore, the total phenolic content was analyzed by using Folin-Ciocalteu method, the amount of total phenol in a
... Show MoreBackground: The use of electronic apex locators for working length determination eliminates many of the problems associated with the radiographic measurements (interference of anatomical structures, errors in projection such as elongation or shortening, and lack of three-dimensional representation). Its most important advantage over radiography is that it measures the length of the root canal to the apical constriction, not to the radiographic apex. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of a new fifth generation apex locator (Joypex 5) in recording the apical constriction and comparing it with a third generation apex locator (Root ZX) in vitro. Materials and method: Twenty four single-rooted sound human premolars, extracted for t
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