Leishmania parasites are the causative agent of leishmaniasis. Many studies are inspecting chemical drugs, including the use of miltefosine and amphotericin B, but curative values may be limited for these drugs with side effects due to the chemical origin, therefore, investigating less toxic therapies is essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of artemisinin on Iraqi strain of Leishmania tropica, by experimental macrophage ex vivo infection of amastigotes into mouse macrophage cell-line RAW264.7. Different concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400, 500)μM of artemisinin (ART) were screened to examine the susceptibility of L. tropica amastigotes to invade macrophage cell line along three times of follow up (24, 48 and 72) hours. Results showed that artemisinin had a cytotoxic effect on the parasite in which a significance difference (P < 0.05) in cell viability was observed and IC50 was calculated as 182.6 μM after 48 hours treatment. In addition, percentage of infectivity of intracellular amastigotes was significantly decreased. These findings revealed the potential efficacy of artemisinin against the infectious amastigotes and can be further studied to screen its effectiveness in vivo for exploring a safer herbal compound to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Lignans are natural products widely distributed in the plant kingdom. They are composed of two β-β-linked phenylpropane (shikimate-derived biogenetic subunits). Although the backbone of lignans is composed of phenylpropane units, there is enormous diversity in the structure of lignans leading to different classes of lignans, such as γ-butyrolactone derivatives, eg. Hymatairesinol, bicyclooctadiene derivatives, e.g. pinoresinol, tetrahydrofuran derivatives e.g.lariciresinol, di-arylbutandiol derivatives, e.g. secoisolariciresinol. Introduction of a further carbon –carbon linkage leads to a class of lignans collectively known as cyclolignans such as tetrahydro-naphthalene derivatives, for example podophyllotoxin. Lignans ha
... Show MoreBackground: Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) is a prototypical resistant bacterium in root canal infections and a leading cause of endodontic treatment failure. German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) flower extract has been used as a traditional medicine to treat infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial efficacy of chamomile extract on the removal of E. faecalis root canal biofilm. Materials and Methods: Chamomile flower extract was prepared and subjected to detailed chemical analysis. For the in vitro biofilm model, human mandibular premolars (n=48) with 18-20mm working length were used. Root canal preparation was performed using the ProTaper® Next system. Each sample was split longitudinally and reassem
... Show MoreABSTRACT In dam construction stages when an earth embankment has retained a reservoir with constant water surface elevation for a long time, seepage conditions within the embankment will be reach a steady state. If it is necessary to drain the reservoir quickly, the pore-water pressures in the embankment may remain relatively high while the stabling effect of the reservoir's weight along the upstream (U/S) side for the embankment has removed. This process is referring to as "Rapid Drawdown" and may be cause instability in the upstream (U/S) face of the embankment. Kongele dam is one of the proposed earth dams to be implement within the current plan in Iraq. The authors study pore water pressure and the effect of rapid drawdown for the dam d
... Show MoreBackground: Eucalyptus extracts and derivatives are natural substances with potent antimicrobial properties. This study investigated the in- vitro effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on the antifungal activity of alcoholic and aqueous Eucalyptus extracts against Candida albicans, a common oral pathogen. Materials and Method: Ten isolates of Candida albicans were isolated from dental students’ salivary samples. The alcoholic and aqueous extracts were prepared from fresh Eucalyptus leaves using maceration. The sensitivity of Candida albicans isolates to various concentrations of Eucalyptus extracts ranging from 50 to 250 (mg/mL) was evaluated via agar well diffusion method, while the agar streaking method was used to assess the minimum
... Show MoreBackground: Enterococcus faecalis is emerging as an important endodontic pathogen, which can persist in the environment for extended periods after treatment and may cause endodontic failure. It is known to produce biofilms, a community of bacteria enclosed within a protective polymeric matrix. This study aimed to establish whether the biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis can be inhibited with steralium, co+steralium, and 5% sodium hypochlorite in the root surface environment. Materials and Methods: Extracted human teeth were biomechanically prepared, vertically sectioned, placed in the tissue culture wells exposing the root canal surface to E. faecalis to form a biofilm. At the end of the 3rd and 6th weeks, all groups were treated fo
... Show MoreThe flow emission rate of hard photons from lowest order the QCD processes for quark-anti quark annihilation processes in plasma media at high temperatures (175, 200, 225, 250 and 275 MeV) have been study. In these framework photons, the flow photons emission is calculate according to quark-antiquark annihilation using the quantum chromodynamic theory and solves the ultrarelativistic equation with MATLAP program. Due to the results, we show increases flow photons rate with increases strength coupling and increases with increases temperature of media, it indicate that logarithmically divergent thermal effect on photons product. The critical temperature (Tc=155 to 195 MeV) effect on the quarks confined in hadronic matter phase, it is importan
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