Scrophularia. striata from Scrophulariacea family has been used in Iranian folk medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases. In this study we evaluated the synergistic effect of S. striata hydroalcoholic extract (SSE) and commercially available antibiotics against P. aeroginosa and Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The resazurin-based microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of plan extract and standard antibiotics. The interaction between standard antibiotics and SSE was evaluated by using checkerboard method. The results of this study revealed that SSE enhance the antibacterial activity of antibiotics. The combination of SSE and Vancomycin had synergistic to additive effects against MRSA. SSE in combination with Gentamicin had synergistic to additive effects against P. aeruginosa. The interaction between Ceftazidime and SSE was additive against P. aeruginosa. The best result was the synergistic effect between SSE and Piperacillin-Tazobactam against P. aeruginosa. In conclusion the results of this research indicated that S. striata has the potential to enhance the antibacterial activity of antibiotics and could be a source to the designing new compounds with synergistic effect in combination with standard antibiotics.
This paper presents a combination of enhancement techniques for fingerprint images affected by different type of noise. These techniques were applied to improve image quality and come up with an acceptable image contrast. The proposed method included five different enhancement techniques: Normalization, Histogram Equalization, Binarization, Skeletonization and Fusion. The Normalization process standardized the pixel intensity which facilitated the processing of subsequent image enhancement stages. Subsequently, the Histogram Equalization technique increased the contrast of the images. Furthermore, the Binarization and Skeletonization techniques were implemented to differentiate between the ridge and valley structures and to obtain one
... Show MorePolypyrrole/silver (PPy/Ag) nanocomposites was synthesized via a chemical oxidative method. The AFM analysis is performed to study the surface roughness, morphology and size distribution of the PPy particles and PPy-ag nanocomposites. The results indicated that as the concentration of Ag in the nanocomposite increases, the roughness also increases. The size of nanoparticles was also evaluated and found in the range of 15 nm to 125 nm. The PPy/Ag nanocomposites exhibited an effectiveness against Gram-negative Escherichia coli showing an inhibition zone of 4mm and displayed poor efficacy against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. Based on given adequate antibacterial characteristics of PPy/Ag nanocomposites, it can be identified as
... Show MoreThe research involves preparing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and studying the factors that influence the shape, sizes and distribution ratio of the prepared particles according to Turkevich method. These factors include (reaction temperature, initial heating, concentration of gold ions, concentration and quantity of added citrate, reaction time and order of reactant addition). Gold nanoparticles prepared were characterized by the following measurements: UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The average size of gold nanoparticles was formed in the range (20 -35) nm. The amount of added citrate was changed and studied. In addition, the concentration of added gold ions was changed and the calibration cur
... Show MorePolypyrrole/silver (PPy/Ag) nanocomposites was synthesized via a chemical oxidative method. The AFM analysis is performed to study the surface roughness, morphology and size distribution of the PPy particles and PPy-ag nanocomposites. The results indicated that as the concentration of Ag in the nanocomposite increases, the roughness also increases. The size of nanoparticles was also evaluated and found in the range of 15 nm to 125 nm. The PPy/Ag nanocomposites exhibited an effectiveness against Gram-negative Escherichia coli showing an inhibition zone of 4mm and displayed poor efficacy against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. Based on given adequate antibacterial characteristics of PPy/Ag nanocomposites, it can be identified as a pro
... Show MoreThe synthesis and bioactivity of zinc oxide nanoparticles has been extensively studied. The antibacterial activity of different antibiotics individually (ceftriaxone (C), chloramphenicol (CRO), penicillin (P) and amoxicillin (Ax)) and Zinc oxide nanoparticles (60μg/ml) in combination with the previously mentioned antibiotics has been demonstrated in the present study by using the disk diffusion assay method. The results showed a synergistic effect between Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and both Ax and P for most of the studied Gram-positive isolates (Staphylococcus aureus1, Staphylococcus aureus2, Staphylococcus epidermidis1, Staphylococcus epidermidis2, Enterococcus faecalis1, Enterococcus faecalis2 ) and between ZnO NPs and both C
... Show MoreIn this work, lead oxide nanoparticles were prepared by laser ablation of lead target immersed in deionized water by using pulsed Nd:YAG laser with laser energy 400 mJ/pulse and different laser pulses. The chemical bonding of lead oxide nps was investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR); surface morphology and optical properties were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and UV-Visible spectroscopy respectively, and the size effect of lead oxide nanoparticles was studied on its antibacterial action against two types of bacteria Gram-negitive (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcusaurus) by diffusion method. The antibacterial property results show that the antibacterial activity of the Lead oxide NPs was
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Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory condition that primarily affects the skin, hair, and joints and is associated with significant humanistic and economic consequences. Psoriasis was induced in mice in this work using an imiquimod 5% cream, an immune response modifier that can cause psoriasis-like skin inflammation when given orally. Paquinimod is prepared as a suspension and has been orally given to mice before imiquimod application. The current study found that paquinimod suspension reduced psoriasis area and severity index, spleen index, skin thickness ,TNF-α,IL-23,IL17 level and gene expression of TN
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