ABSTRACT The antibacterial and antbiofilm activities of water extract of Calendula officinalis flowers against some of enteropathogenic bacteria was studied, also phytochemical screening and determination of antioxidant activity of the extract has been investigated. The results showed that the water extract of C. officinalis exhibited a good antibacterial activity against all pathogenic bacterial isolates (Salmonella, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei and E. coli) especially at concentration 100 µg/ml in contrast with the control cefotan antibiotic. S. sonnei was more sensitive to extract than other bacteria with highest inhibition zone (23 mm). The preliminary phytochemical tests results indicated the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides and phenols, while tannins and reducing sugars absence in the extracts. Water extract (at concentration 100 µg/ml) caused 74.6% lipid peroxidation inhibition of linoleic acid emulsion, this activity was greater than other concentrations (25 and 50 µg/ml) and standard α-tocopherol (63%). Also, it was found that aqueous extracts decreased the adherent growth of bacteria on glass tubes. The results indicated that all isolates have the ability to form biofilms with different thickness degrees, the absorbance values were ranged between (1.04 - 1.68), the Salmonella isolate was the best isolate formed biofilm with highest absorbance value (1.68). On the other hand C. officinalis extract inhibited bacterial adhesion on polystyrene surface and consequently caused biofilms detachment and this revealed decreased in absorbance values of biofilms. These reported activities for C.officinalis flowers extract allow their listing as potential antibiofilm, antibacterial and antioxidant natural agents. This might suggest their use as therapeutic agents for treatment enteric infections.
Crude soybean peroxidase (SBP), isolated from soybean seed coats (hulls) at unusually low concentrations, catalyses the oxidative polymerisation of hazardous aqueous benzidine and its 3,3′-dichloro, 3,3′-dimethyl and 3,3′-dimethoxy derivatives in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The optimum operating conditions for oxidation of 0·10 mM benzidine were investigated. At pH 5, the hydrogen peroxide-to-substrate concentration ratio was 1·5 and the minimum SBP concentration required to achieve at least 95% conversion of the benzidine in synthetic wastewater was 0·43 mU/ml. Progress curves were established for the conversion of the four substrates, and apparent first-order rate constants were derived. Enzyme-catalysed polym
... Show MoreThere is a great operational risk to control the day-to-day management in water treatment plants, so water companies are looking for solutions to predict how the treatment processes may be improved due to the increased pressure to remain competitive. This study focused on the mathematical modeling of water treatment processes with the primary motivation to provide tools that can be used to predict the performance of the treatment to enable better control of uncertainty and risk. This research included choosing the most important variables affecting quality standards using the correlation test. According to this test, it was found that the important parameters of raw water: Total Hardn
The Disi water samples were collected from different Disi aquifer wells in Jordan using a clean polyethylene container of 10-liter size. A hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) detector with high- resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy and a low background counting system was used for the identification of unknown gamma-rays emitting from radionuclides in the environmental samples. The ranges of specific activity concentrations of 226Ra and 228Ra in the Disi aquifer water were found to be from 0.302 ± 0.085 to 0.723 ± 0.207 and from 0.047 ± 0.010 to 0.525 ± 0.138 Bq L−1, with average values of 0.516 ± 0.090 and 0.287 ± 0.091 Bq L−1, respectively. The average combined radium (226Ra + 228Ra) activity and radium activity ratio (228Ra/226Ra) in Disi
... Show MoreCarbamazepine (CBZ) is a narrow therapeutic index drug used in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and psychiatric disorders. Valerian (VAL) is a popular herbal product which should be prescribed to treat insomnia and anxiety. The study was designed to investigate the presence of significant pharmacokinetic (PK) interaction between Valerian (VAL) at different concentrations on Carbamazepine (CBZ) pharmacokinetic parameters in healthy male rabbits. In an in vivo, parallel-randomized controlled trial, the rabbits in three groups "first (control), second and third" were given oral doses of CBZ (50 mg/kg), for "second and third" groups (as test groups) rabbits were given (20 and 40 mg/kg/day) of the VAL respectively, as suspensi
... Show MoreAnastatica hierochuntica L. is distributed throughout Arabain Peninsula, and elsewhere it is locally called "Kuffe Maryam" .All parts of the plant are used in folk medicine. This study amid to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of anastatica hierochunctica L. on the cancer cell lines AMN-3. Anti cancer activity of aqueous extract of anastatica hierochunctica L. showed anticancer activity against AMN-3 cell line for twelve concentrations (0.04, 0.09, 0.195, 0.39, 0.78, 1.56, 3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100) mg/mL in comparison with negative control.
Methotrexate (MTX) is a folate antagonist widely used in the treatment of neoplastic diseases; its biotransformation in the liver produced active metabolites that promote hepatotoxicity. The present study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of aqueous extract of Camellia sinensis (Green tea) against MTX-induced liver damage in rats. A model of liver injury in rats was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 20mg/kg MTX as a single dose followed by saline and 1.25% and 2.5% aqueous extract of green tea (GTE) were orally administered 7 days prior and 5 days after MTX-intoxication as a sole source of drinking water. After killing the animals, blood samples were obtained for evaluation of serum levels of alanine and
... Show MoreAnastatica hierochuntica L. is distributed throughout Arabain Peninsula, and elsewhere it is locally called "Kuffe Maryam" .All parts of the plant are used in folk medicine. This study amid to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of anastatica hierochunctica L. on the cancer cell lines AMN-3. Anti cancer activity of aqueous extract of anastatica hierochunctica L. showed anticancer activity against AMN-3 cell line for twelve concentrations (0.04, 0.09, 0.195, 0.39, 0.78, 1.56, 3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100) mg/mL in comparison with negative control.
The effect of the aqueous extract of fig (Ficus carica) fruit was studied by using different concentrations of this fruit (15, 20 and 25 mg/kg of body weight) on some hematological parameters (hemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, white blood cell count and platelets count) in female rabbits. Twenty female rabbits were randomly divided into four groups (five animals in each group). Three groups were dosed with the concentrations mentioned above, while the last was administered with distilled water and considered as control group. These animals were orally dosed by aqueous extract using a micropipette. The results showed that there was a significant (P<0.05) increase in hemoglobin concentration and packed cell volume means for all
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