An increasing interest is emerging in identifying natural products to overcome drug resistance in cancer patients. In this context, the present study was conducted to investigate the cytotoxic effects of neem plant (Azadirachta indica) oil in three different biological models (breast cancer cell lines, Allium cepa root tip, and mice vital organs). The cytotoxic potential of the neem oil was evaluated with two human cell lines (MCF7 and MDA-MB231) and an Allum cepa root tip bioassay. Histopathological analysis was conducted on the neem oil-treated and untreated control mice. The results revealed an anti-proliferative effect for neem oil on both estrogen receptor-positive (MCF7) and estrogen receptor-negative (MDA-MB231) breast cancer cell lines with an IC50 value of 45.7 and 60 µg/ml, respectively. Also, a significant (p ≤ 0.001) reduction in the average mitotic index and elevated levels of cytogenetic abnormalities were observed in A. cepa root tips treated with different concentrations of neem oil extract compared to untreated roots. Moreover, very low to undetectable histopathological changes in the vital organs (liver and spleen) of mice administered with 15 mg/ml neem oil were also observed. The findings of this study suggest that neem oil extract has the potential to inhibit the growth of different rapidly dividing biological models (breast cancer cell lines and A. cepa root tips) with minimal toxicity to the vital organs of the exposed mice. This could be explored further for the development of novel therapeutics to address the problem of drug resistance associated with different malignancies.
Characterized Iraq, being one of the oldest countries where oil was discovered in the Middle East since 1927, and possess a vast oil reserves. In addition, the production and marketing of Iraqi oil continued since 1934 and until the present time. Over the past eight decades, the range of economic benefit of the financial Iraq’s oil resources varied according to the applicable forms of investments in the oil sector in Iraq.
This research included a study
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The ability of pulverized walnut-shell to remove oil from aqueous solutions has been studied. It involves two-phase process which consists of using walnut-shell as a filtering bed for the accumulation and adsorption of oil onto its surface. Up to 96% oil removal from synthetic wastewater samples was achieved while tests results showed that 75% of oil can be removed from the actual wastewater discharged from Al- Duara refinery in the south of Baghdad.
Natural fractures provide an important reservoir space and migration channels for oil and gas reservoirs and control the reservoir potential. Therefore, it is essential to understand the methods for identifying accurate reservoir permeability and characterizing reservoir fractures. In particular, using conventional measurements to identify permeability and characterize fractures is very expensive. While using conventional logging data is very challenging, and an efficient characterization correlation method is urgently needed. In this paper, we have evaluated reservoir potential based on the sensitivity of sonic scanner tools to fluid mobility, maximum stress direction, and fractures presence. This tool provides a continuous estimat
... Show MoreIn the leaves of Olea europaea L. Olive trees an endophytic fungus was discovered. Cladosporium sp. was identified to be the fungus based on its morphological characteristics and nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS sequence analysis and was registered in NCBI as the Cladosporium genus has been registered under the number (0P939922.1) The species was not specified, and it was considered of unknown species after comparing it to global isolates. In comparison to olive leaf extract, Cladosporium sp. including total flavonoid, total phenolic, total terpenoid, and total saponins, Which were 121.9%, 198.1%, 89.13%, and 29.87 % respectively compared to its content in olive leaf extract, which was 61.54 %, 67.88 % , 17.1
... Show MoreMolecular barcoding was widely recognized as a powerful tool for the identification of organisms during the past decade; the aim of this study is to use the molecular approach to identify the diatoms by using the environmental DNA. The diatom specimens were taken from Tigris River. The environmental DNA(e DNA) extraction and analysis of sequences using the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) method showed the highest percentage of epipelic diatom genera including Achnanthidium minutissimum (Kützing) Czarnecki, 1994 (21.1%), Cocconeis placentula Ehrenberg, 1838 (21.3%) and Nitzschia palea (Kützing) W. Smith, 1856 (16.3%).
Five species of diatoms: Achnanthidiu
... Show MoreMicroalgae present much usefulness for antimicrobial research because of its enormous biodiversity and rapid growth rate. From this study results it is reaveled that Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were isolated from a pond of water in the province of Diwaniyah. The culture supernatants were obtained when extracted with methanol solvent. Antimicrobial activity of extracts was tested for pathogens, and the best inhibition zone obtained was against Candida albicans (32mm), S.aureus (15mm), and to E.coli (9mm). While it showed no effect against both S.epidermidis and Klebsiella spp. Biofilm was formed by all tested isolates with differences in its strength formation. The C. reinhardtii
... Show MoreA monthly correlation between urban vegetation growth and potential evapotranspiration (PET) is needed for better knowledge of controlling water resources and organized irrigation processes. This study aims to explore their relationship within an urban area like Baghdad, using a linear regression model to derive a best-fit line drawn in a scatterplot on a monthly time scale. Based on two different monthly data sources: weather variables (e.g., air temperature, solar radiation, and relative humidity) and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery of 2 years, 2018 and 2021, this study presented the interannual variations of PET and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The choice of these ye
Shaky Baghdad heavy crude oil 22 API is processed by distillation and solvent extraction. The purpose of distillation is to separate the light distillates (light fractions) which represent 35% of heavy crude oil, and to obtain the reduced crude oil. The heavy residue (9 API) is extracted with Iraqi light naphtha to get the deasphaltened oil (DAO), the extraction carried out with temperature range of 20-75 oC, solvent to oil ratio 5-15:1(ml:g) and a mixing time of 15 minutes. In general, results show that API of DAO increased twice the API of reduced crude oil while sulfur and metals content decreased 20% and 50% respectively. Deasphaltened oil produced from various operating conditions blended with the
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to investigate the genetic variability of 26 rice genotypes and evaluation at two locations in Sulaimani governorate, Gaba and Chawtan which were completely different in their environmental condition during the season of 2019. The performances of the genotypes were analyzed at both locations as well as the average of both. Simple coefficients of correlation were used to assess the grain yield components and their relationships. Path analysis was used to determine the direct and indirect effects of such components on grain yield plant-1. The genotypes were grouped based on the agro-morphological features using cluster analysis. Almost all of the traits at both locat
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