Visceral leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease on the rise in different regions of Iraq, especially in areas with poor hygiene and among refugee populations. The effectiveness of existing chemotherapy for leishmaniasis is constrained by its high toxicity, cost, and the development of drug resistance. The current research examined various concentrations (ranging from 125 to 1000 μM) of lupeol to evaluate its ability to boost the generation of nitric oxide, which has anti-leishmanial properties, in an ex-vivo macrophage model. Griess assay was used to detect the nitric oxide (NO) production in Leishmania donovani infected U937 cell-line macrophages along 24 and 48 hours post treated. The nitric oxide concentration was significantly increased (P≤0.05) in the treated infected-macrophages after 24 and 48 hours post treated. Furthermore, the infectivity index was calculated for ex vivo amastigote-macrophage infection and the results showed a significant decrease in the percentage of invasion at higher concentrations of Lupeol at all periods of incubation (P≤0.05); whereas, the average of amastigotes per cell in lupeol-treated macrophages increased significantly (P≤0.05) only after 48hours of incubation. The results indicate that lupeol has the potential to enhance anti-leishmanial nitric oxide production by macrophages, enabling them to eliminate intracellular amastigote forms of the parasite. Further details on effect of Lupeol can be studied as a promising anti-leishmanial compound.
Antibiotics must be fully eliminated before they are released into the environment. In most cases, conventional wastewater treatment systems are not built to handle polar microcontaminants such as antibiotics. Oxytetracycline (OTC) is one of these antibiotics, an environmental hazard contaminant in aqueous solutions. Therefore, an advanced treatment method is needed for wastewater contaminated with antibiotics. In this study, we employed zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO), and the catalytic ozonation procedure was employed to increase the ozonation efficiency. A continuous experiment was carried out to compare the effectiveness of catalytic and single ozonation in degrading OTC in a continuous reactor. The flow rate of OTC solution, the initial
... Show MoreBacterial resistance caused by antibiotic misuse has garnered substantial attention, prompting numerous researchers to develop materials that can combat these resistant pathogens. The hydrothermal method is employed to produce γ-MnO2 nanostars and to coat them with Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The materials are characterized using XRD, FE-SEM, EDX, and UV-vis spectrophotometry, as well as antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The nano γ-MnO2 star shapes are coated with tiny spherical Fe2O3 nanoparticles with diameters of 35-47 nm. The peaks located at the crystal planes (120), (031), (131), (230), (300), (160), (421), and (003) are represented by the values of 2θ = 22.36º, 34.36º, 37.22º, 38.78º, 42.56º, 56.14º, 65.48º and 68.
... Show MoreThis study evaluated the influence of administering different levels of L-arginine into eggs of 0-day-old Japanese quail embryos. On day 0 of incubation, 480 eggs (120 for each treatment group) were injected with 0% arginine (C group), 1% arginine (T1), 2% arginine (T2) or 3% arginine (T3). After hatching, 336 quail chicks (84 chicks produced from each in ovo injection treatment) were placed in an experimental quail house and allocated to four treatment groups of three replicates, with 16 quail chicks for each replicate. Traits involved in this study were hatchability rate, initial body weight (7 days of age), final body weight (42 days old), feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio and blood serum glucose, protein, cholesterol, tota
... Show MoreNowadays, the field of radionuclide treatment is enjoying an exciting stage and preparing for further growth and progress in the future. For instance, in Asia, the large spread of liver and thyroid diseases has resulted in several new developments/clinical trials using molecular radiotherapy (i.e. targeted radionuclide therapy). Iodine-124 has unique physical properties including long half-life that adding an advantage for pharmacokinetics and radiopharmaceutical analysis. One of its applications in nuclear medicine is in Positron Emission Tomography (PET).