Background: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fung

Nutrient agar medium with various concentrations of cefotaxime was used for isolation spontaneous mutants from wild type strain of P.aeruginosa PHA-1. Eighty-two mutants were successfully isolated with the viable count 52×107 , these mutants were confirmed as spontaneous not physiological adaption mutants by reculture on the same medium. Then, wild type PHA-1 and mutants were examined for production pyocyanin; a blue greenish pigment was clearly noticed on King A medium. Remarkably the mutant strain named S300-8 was distinguished in productivity in comparison with wild type strain PHA-1; the amount of pigment was 56.0667mg/l and 74.53mg/l respectively. In addition, pyocyanin produced by mutant strain S300-8 revealed a potent efficacy again

Background: Folic acid (vitamin B9) is one of the important vitamins that are necessary for growth and development of the embryo and preventing the occurrence of congenital malformations which are one of the important health problems in the developing countries and the world as it has a direct effect on the affected babies, their families and the community. It affects an estimated 3% of newborns worldwide.Periconceptional supplementation with folic acid (before conception and during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy) was found to decrease many important types of these anomalies. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of periconceptional use of folic acid in pregnant women who are attending antenatal

A newly developed analytical method characterized by its speed and sensitivity for the determination of mefenamic acid (MFA) in pure and pharmaceutical preparation is established via turbidimetric measurement (0-180o) by Ayah 6SX1-ST-2D Solar cell CFI Analyser . The method was based on the reaction of
phosphomolybdic acid with mefenamic acid in aqueous medium to form blue color precipitate as an ion-pair complex . Turbidity was measured via the reflection of incident light that collides on the surface precipitated particles at 0-180o . The chemical and physical parameters were studied and optimized. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.3-7 or 0.3-10 mMol.L-1, with correlation coefficient r = 0.9907 or 0.9556 respectively

The present study was carried out in the nursery at Al – Dora (Baghdad). During spring 2015 under green hous conditions. The aim was to evaluate the effect of different concentration (0, 1.25 and 2.5) g./l of aqueous Ajwa date fruit extract on different cutting position (basal, sub terminal and terminal) for different dipping times (24, 48) hours, on cassia stem cuttings. After 2 months of planting the results showed that the 2.5 gm. /l of Ajwa date extract with basal cuttings for 48 dipping times accelerated the time of rooting to 3.7 weeks compared to 8 weeks in control treatment. This treatment increased rooting percentage to 77.7% compared to 0% in control treatment. It gave the highest value of both rooting numbers 2.2 per cutting

Background: Imprelon® Biostar foils are new alternative tray material that has become increasingly popular because oftheir several advantages. Also, (Duran®) is another type of Biostar foils which is used in splint therapy. This study assessed some mechanical properties of these two types Biostar sheets in comparison with some types of acrylic resins used for construction of trays and splints. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 specimens were prepared, 30 specimens for each test, 10 for each group material in order to assess some mechanical properties of the Imprelon® Biostar foil (dimension stability, surface roughness and shear bond strength of Imprelon® materialto zinc oxide impression material) and compare them to that of the oth

Some metal ions (Mn
+2
, Fe
+2
,Co
+2
,Ni
+2
,Cu
+2
, Cd
+2
and Hg
+2
) complexes of N-acetyl
Tryptophan( AcetrpH) and (2, 2′-bipyridine) (2, 2′-Bipy)have been synthesized and then
characterized on the basis of their FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, magneticsuscptibity
conductivity measurements and atomic absorption;from the results obtained and the propsed
molecular structure for these complexes as octahedral geometry,the following general formula
has been given for the prepared complexes.
[M
+n
(Acetrp)2(2, 2′-Bipy)].
Where M= Mn
+2
, Fe
+2
,Co
+2
,Ni
+2
,Cu
+2
, Cd
+2
,Hg
+2
(Acetrp)
-=Ligand ion(N-acetyl

      Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by elevated levels of circulating anti-nuclear autoantibodies and interferon-alpha (INFs-α). Interferon regulatory factor-5 (IRF5) plays an important role in the induction of type I interferon and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and participates in the SLE pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the role of IRF5 gene expression levels in a sample of SLE Iraqi patients and its correlation with disease activity, and to identify its diagnostic ability as a biomarker reflecting disease activity. Blood samples were taken from 45 participants diagnosed with SLE cases classified according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. T