Endophytic fungi live inside plants or any part of them without creating any visible pathogenic signs. Endophytic fungi are found within medicinal plants and have shown strong biologic activity, such as anticancer and antioxidant activities, as well as producing extracellular enzymes. In this study, different fungal strains were isolated from the leaves of the medicinal plant Ziziphus spina, including Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium sp., Rhizopus sp., and Mucor sp. Extracellular enzymes have been quantified using agar plate-based methods in which fungi were grown in specified growth media to detect the enzymes produced. The results showed that A. niger has the highest ability to produce amy

The study included the extraction of volatile oil from Mentha piperita which was 1.3 % in the leaves and flowers . Volatile oil of the Mentha piperita leaves had special aromatic odour, pale yellow color, slightly pungent taste . The specific gravity and refractive index were (0.9794) and ( 1.464) respectively. The inhibition activity of the Mentha piperita Volatile oil extracts were studied on some pathogenic microorganisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Proteus sp, and Klebsiella pneumoniae . The result showed that the volatile oil had an inhibition effect on the growth of all microorganisms, and it gave the higher inhibition effect on the growth of S. aureus in which the inhibition zone reached to 2

The first aim of the present study was performed to assay the activity of arginase in sera of women with uterine fibroid.. This study consisted of(50) women with uterine fibroid as patient's group and (30) healthy women as control group. The age ranged between (30-55) years for the two groups. The results showed that highly significant increase (P< 0.0001) in the arginase activity in sera of women with uterine fibroid (7.99± 0.23) I.U/L is found when compared with healthy group (0.52±0.02) I.U/L. The second aim was performed to isolate arginase from sera of women with uterine fibroids. The purification is done by addition of ammonium sulfate, dialysis, gel filtration chromatography by using sephadex G-50 and ion exchange chromatography

The preparation of activated carbon (AC) from date stones by using microwave assisted K2CO3 activation was investigated in this paper. The influence of radiation time, radiation power, and impregnation ratio on the yield and methylene blue (MB) uptake of such carbon were studied. Based on Box-Wilson central composite design, two second order polynomial models were developed to correlate the process variables to the two responses. From the analysis of variance the significant variables on each response were identified. Optimum coditions of 8 min radiation time, 660 W radiation power and 1.5 g/g impregnation ratio gave 460.123 mg/g MB uptake and 19.99 % yield. The characteristics of the AC were examined by pore structure analysis, and scan

In this research, cyclic compounds derived from 2- furfural mercaptan (oxazole, triazoles) were synthesized, and their biological efficacy was measured and compared with standard drugs. Also, their effectiveness as anti-oxidant was measured and compared with ascorbic acid as a standard substance. Some of the synthesized compounds were deduced with good efficacy. © 2021 Sami Publishing Company. All rights reserved

Neonatal sepsis refers to the bacterial bloodstream infections of the newborn during the neonatal period as usually the first twenty-eight days of life. The current study was done in the laboratories of AL-Batool Teaching Hospital for Gynecology and Pediatrics in Baqubah, Diyala Governorate, including 140 blood specimens collected from the neonates admitted to the hospital with suspected sepsis, the ages of the both groups was ranged from 1 day to 28 days. Out of the total cultured samples, 32.14% (45 of 140) were positive and 67.86% (95 of 140) were negative blood culture. 45 of 140 samples were negative to the blood culture chosen as control group. The results showed highest isolates were Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) 19 (42.2%

Nowadays, there is increased interest in the biosynthesis of microbial melanin related to their numerous biological functions and applications in many fields, especially in medical fields, including immune-modulating, antimicrobial antibiotic, antiviral antivenin, anticancer, antitumor activity, and anti-biofilm activity. Pyomelanin is a hydrophobic macromolecule that is typically dark brown or black in color, formed by the oxidative polymerization of phenolic or indolic compounds. Pyomelanin is reported to be safe for consumption, thus providing a crucial strategy for biocontrol of biofilm. Furthermore, natural pyomelanin is known as a potent antioxidant, photoprotective, and free radical scavenging. Objective: This study focuses on the

The present work describes the adsorption of Ba2+ and Mg2+ions from aqueous solutions by activated alumina in single and binary system using batch adsorption. The effect of different parameters such as amount of alumina, concentration of metal ions, pH of solution, contact time and agitation speed on the adsorption process was studied. The optimum adsorbent dosage was found to be 0.5 g and 1.5 g for removal of Ba2+ and Mg2+, respectively. The optimum pH, contact time and agitation speed, were found to be pH 6, 2h and 300 rpm, respectively, for removal of both metal ions. The equilibrium data were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and the data fitted well to both isotherm modes as indicated by higher correlation of deter

One of the most important problems facing the world today is the energy problem. The solution was in finding renewable energy sources such as solar energy. The solar energy applications in Iraq is facing many problems . One of the most important problems is the accumulation of dust on the solar panels surface which causes decreasing its performance sharply. In the present work, a new technique was presented by using two-axis solar tracking system to reduce the accumulated dust on the solar panel surface and compared it with the fixed solar panels which installed at tilt angles 30° and 45°. The results indicated that the maximum losses of the output power due to accumulation of dust on the fixed solar panels is about 31.4% and 23.1% res