Background: Kocuria kristinae (earlier known as Rothia kristinae) is a relatively new opportunistic pathogen responsible for ear infections. The ability of this organism to form biofilms increases its resistance to therapy and promotes the development of antimicrobial resistance, necessitating new treatment methods. Objective: To assess the effect of 3-caffeoylquinic acid on K. kristinae isolated from patients with ear infections. Methods: Isolation of five clinical strains was done by conventional microbiological procedures. The ability of K. kristinae to form biofilms was determined by the crystal violet method (absorbance at OD₅₇₀) before and after 3-caffeoylquinic acid exposure; statistical data analysis was done using a paired t-test (p < 0.05). Results: All strains showed the presence of strong biofilm production ability before treatment (OD 0.54–0.80). After treatment, it was significantly reduced (0.642 ± 0.108 vs 0.124 ± 0.025), by 80.7%. All the isolates changed from being strong biofilm formers to weak ones (p < 0.05). Conclusion: 3-caffeoylquinic acid exhibited strong antibiofilm activity against K. kristinae isolates, suggesting it could be used as an alternative treatment for ear infections. In vivo studies need to be further carried out.
This work was conducted to study the extraction of eucalyptus oil from natural plants (Eucalyptus camadulensis leaves) by organic solvents. the effects of the main operating parameters were studied; type of solvent (n-hexane and ethanol), time to reach equilibrium, the temperature (45°C to 65°C) for n-hexane and (45°C to 75°C) for ethanol, solvent to solid ratio (5:1 to 8:1 (v/w)), agitation speed (0 to 900 rpm) and the particle size (0.5 to 2.5 cm) of fresh leaves to find the best processing conditions for the achieving maximum oil yield. The concentration of eucalyptus oil in solvent was measured by using UV-spectrophotometer. The results (for n-hexane) showed that the agitation speed of 900 rpm, temperature 65°C with solvent to soli
... Show MoreIndustrial wastewater containing nickel, lead, and copper can be produced by many industries. The reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technologies are very efficient for the treatment of industrial wastewater containing nickel, lead, and copper ions to reduce water consumption and preserving the environment. Synthetic industrial wastewater samples containing Ni(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) ions at various concentrations (50 to 200 ppm), pressures (1 to 4 bar), temperatures (10 to 40 oC), pH (2 to 5.5), and flow rates (10 to 40 L/hr), were prepared and subjected to treatment by RO system in the laboratory. The results showed that high removal efficiency of the heavy metals could be achieved by RO process (98.5%, 97.5% and 96% for Ni(II),
... Show MoreThe removal of boron from aqueous solution was carried out by electrocoagulation (EC) using magnesium electrodes as anode and stainless steel electrodes as cathode. Several operating parameters on the removal efficiency of boron were investigated, such as initial pH, current density, initial boron ion concentration, NaCl concentration, spacing between electrodes, electrode material, and presence of carbonate concentration. The optimum removal efficiency of 91. 5 % was achieved at a current density of 3 mA/cm² and pH = 7 using (Mg/St. St. ) electrodes, within 45 min of operating time. The concentration of NaCl was o. 1 g/l with a 0.5cm spacing between the electrodes. First and second order rate equation were applied to study adsorp
... Show MoreThe degradation and mineralization of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) was investigated in this work, using both of UV/H2O2 and photo-Fenton UV/H2O2/Fe+3 systems.The reaction was influenced by the input concentration of H2O2, the amount of the iron catalyst, the type of iron salt, the pH and the concentration of 4-CP. A colored solution of benzoquinon can be observed through the first 5 minutes of irradiation time for UV/H2O2 system when low concentration (0.01mol/L) of H2O2 was used. The colored solution of benzoquinon could also be observed through the first 5 minutes for the UV/H2O2/Fe+3 system at high
concentration (100ppm) of 4-CP. The results have shown that adding Fe+3 to the UV/H2O2 system enhanced
Abstract
The present paper focuses in a particular on the study of the biochar production conditions by the thermal pyrolysis of biomass from local Iraqi palm fronds, in the absence of oxygen. The biochar product can be used as soil improvers. The effect of temperature on the extent of the thermal pyrolysis process was studied in the range from 523 to 773K with a residence time of 15 minutes and nitrogen gas flow rate of 0.1 l/min. The produced biochar was characterized as will as biomass and degradation products. The results showed that the rate of biochar production decreases with the increasing in temperature, also it was noted that the normalized biochar surface area and pore size increases with the increasin
... Show MoreNicotine was separated from eggplant and green pepper seeds (Solanaceous) by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).The concentration of nicotine in the eggplant extract (0.871-0.877 μg/ml) was determined by injecting standard material with 0.5 and 1.5 μg/ml, while the concentrations of nicotine in green pepper extract (0.613-0.618 μg/ml) was determined when the standard material was injected with 0.5 and 1.5 μg/ml. The qualitative chemical data was calculated from derivations of the standard material. Nicotine concentration was measured qualitatively in both extracts through the calibration curve and method of the standard addition. This technique has high accuracy and compatibility, bringing the proportion of relati
... Show MoreIn this work, a novel biocatalytic process for the production of 7-methylxanthines from theobromine, an economic feedstock has been developed. Bench scale production of 7-methlxanthine has been demonstrated. The biocatalytic process used in this work operates at 30 OC and atmospheric pressure, and is environmentally friendly. The biocatalyst was E. coli BL21(DE3) engineered with ndmB/D genes combinations. These modifications enabled specific N7- demethylation of theobromine to 7-methylxanthine. This production process consists of uniform fermentation conditions with a specific metabolically engineered strain, uniform induction of specific enzymes for 7-methylxanthine production, uniform recovery an
... Show MoreThis study focused on treating wastewater to remove phosphorus by adsorption onto naturaland local materials. Burned kaolin, porcelinite, bauxite and limestone were selected to be testedas adsorption materials.The adsorption isotherms were evaluated by batch experiments, studyingthe effects of pH, temperature and initial phosphorus concentration. The results showed that at pH6, temperature 20°C and 300 mg/l initial phosphorus concentration; the sorption capacity was0.61, 9, 10 and 13 mg/g at 10 h contact time, for burned kaolin, porcelanite, limestone and bauxiterespectively. As the pH increased from 2 to 10 the removal efficiency for the materials differs inbehaviour. The removal efficiency increased from 40 to 90 % for limestone, and dec
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