Panax ginseng (PG), one of the most widely used herbal medicines, has demonstrated various beneficial effects such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer impacts. Naturally occurring ginsenosides in the ginseng plant inhibit cell proliferation and significantly reduce liver damage induced by certain chemicals. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a primary mycotoxin due to its hepatotoxic, immunotoxic, and oncogenic effects in animal models and humans. In this study, we examined the effects of assorted doses of PG aqueous crude extract on the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 and 7 (MMP-1 and MMP-7) in the kidney, spleen, and liver of experimental AFB1-exposed mice, using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Mice were orally administered 6 mg/kg body weight (bw) of refined AFB1 (isolated and extracted from Aspergillus flavus, conc. 0.05 ppm) twice weekly for two weeks. We then compared the effects of three different doses (50, 100, and 150 mg/kg bw) of crude ginseng. We estimated the expression of MMP-1 and 7 in organs using IHC. We used the 6 mg/kg of purified AFB1, representing a 60% concentration, as a control group. IHC analysis showed that MMP (1 and 7) expression in the spleen, liver, and kidney of mice decreased after treatment with ginseng crude extract. MMP-1 expression was reduced in the liver by approximately 2.6 times, while the effectiveness in the MMP-1 reduction reached 9 and 8 times, respectively, in the spleen and kidney when treated with a higher dose of PG compared to the control. MMP-7 expression was reduced in the liver by approximately 13 times, while the reduction effectiveness fell to 2.3 and 5.6 times in the spleen and kidney when treated with a higher dose of PG compared to the control. The reduction in MMPs expression due to the effect of PG aqueous crude extract was observed to act against the effect of AFB1 on various living organs involved in AFB1 metabolism. IHC analysis indicated a more significant reduction efficiency observed in the expression of MMP-7 compared to both studied markers in the mice's liver.
The accumulation of construction and demolition waste is one of the major problems in modern construction. Hence, this research investigates the use of waste brick in concrete. Seven different concrete mixes were investigated in this study: a control concrete mix, three mixes with volumetric replacement (10, 20, and 30)% of natural aggregate with brick aggregate, and two mixes with the addition of nano brick powder at a percentage level of 5– 10% by weight of cementitious materials. And the last one was mixed with 10% nano brick and 10% coarse brick aggregate. The experimental results for the additive of nano brick powder showed an enhancement in mechanical properties (compressive,
Thin films Tin sulfide SnS pure and doped with different ratios of Cu (X=0, 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05) were prepared using thermal evaporation with a vacuum of 4*10-6mbar on two types of substrates n-type Si and glass with (500) nm thickness for solar cell application. X-ray diffraction and AFM analysis were carried out to explain the influence of Cu ratio dopant on structural and morphological properties respectively. SnS phase appeared forming orthorhombic structure with preferred orientation (111), increase the crystallinity degree and surface roughness with increase Cu ratio. UV/Visible measurement revealed the decrease in energy gap from 1.9eV for pure SnS to 1.5 for SnS: Cu (0.05) making these samples suitable f
... Show MoreThis work aimed to study the effect of laser surface treatment on the mechanical characteristics and corrosion behaviour of grey cast iron type A159. Many technical applications used conventional surface treatment, but laser surface hardening has recently been used to enhance the surface properties of many alloys. The mechanical characteristics, including microstructure, microhardness, and wear resistance of A159 grey cast iron, were studied, in addition to corrosion behaviour. The experimental laser parameters in this work were 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 KW power with continuous wave carbon dioxide lasers with scanning speeds of 10 and 12 mm/s were used. The results found that phase-transitional alterations in microstructure were influenced by lase
... Show MoreA series of 4-(methylsulfonyl)aniline derivatives were synthesized in order to obtain new compounds as a potential anti-inflammatory agents with expected selectivity against COX-2 enzyme. In vivo acute anti-inflammatory activity of the final compounds 11–14 was evaluated in rat using an egg-white induced edema model of inflammation in a dose equivalent to 3 mg/Kg of diclofenac sodium. All tested compounds produced significant reduction of paw edema with respect to the effect of propylene glycol 50% v/v (control group). Moreover, the activity of compounds 11 and 14 was significantly higher than that of diclofenac sodium (at 3 mg/Kg) in the 120–300 minute time interval, while compound 12 expressed a comparable effect to that of di
... Show MoreLittle is known about hesitancy to receive the COVID‐19 vaccines. The objectives of this study were (1) to assess the perceptions of healthcare workers (HCWs) and the general population regarding the COVID‐19 vaccines, (2) to evaluate factors influencing the acceptance of vaccination using the health belief model (HBM), and (3) to qualitatively explore the suggested intervention strategies to promote the vaccination.
This was a cross‐sectional study based on electronic survey data that was collected in Iraq during December first‐19th, 2020. The electronic surve
This experiment presented essential oils by GC/MS, pigment content, and their antioxidant activities as well as sensory evaluation of delight samples. Limonene (66.88%) was the most prevalent yield. The peels of clementine had DPPH and ABT Scavenging activity. All levels of pigment extract had better scores for all sensory values and recorded acceptable scores in terms of appearance, color, aroma, and overall acceptability compared to control delight. Besides, delight samples containing 15 mg astaxanthin pigment extract showed maximum sensory scores compared to other samples and control delight. On the other hand, the product was less acceptable to the panelists compared to control in the case of the addition of 3.75 mg astaxanthin pigme
... Show More