Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the cause of the major world health issue, tuberculosis (TB). The cytokine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has been implicated in protection against TB in the early stages of the disease. TNF-α is an effective cytokine in the killing of intracellular M. tuberculosis. This study inducted to investigate whether there is any relationship between levels of TNF-α in sera of TB patients and their recovery, and is there any difference in the level of this cytokine in sera of female and male TB patients. This study included 29 patients with pulmonary TB (18 female and 11 male), their ages ranging from 37 to 59 years. All of them received first line TB therapy. They were consulted at Pasture Center during Septem

Background: Manuka honey (MH) is a mono-floral honey derived from the Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium). MH is a highly recognized for its non-peroxide antibacterial activities, which are mostly related to its unique methylglyoxal content (MGO) in MH. The beneficial phytochemicals in MH is directly related to their favorable health effects, which include wound healing, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of MH on pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-8 and TNF-α) in patients with gingivitis and compare it with chlorhexidine (CHX) and distilled water (DW). Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized, double blinded, and parallel clinical trial. Forty-fiv

Many cinematic adaptations were produced for the Grimms’ “Little Snow-White” (1812) including Mirror Mirror movie (2012), the contemporary version adapted by Taresm Singh. Singh’s version was able to depict the modern reality of women and went against patriarchy by embracing feminist ideologies of the fourth-wave feminism. Therefore, he challenged the ideologies of the mainstream cinema dominated by the patriarchal élite’s capitalist mode of production that still adhere to the stereotyped patriarchal image of women’s ‘victimization,’ ‘objectification’ and ‘marginalization,’ which did not represent women’s modern reality anymore. This paper, however, is a qualitative study aimed to prove that the femini

A pulsed (TEA-0O2) laser was used to dissociate molecules of silane ethylene (C2I-14) and ammonia (NH3) gases, through collision assisted multiple photon dissociation (MPD) to deposit(SiC i_xNx) thin films, where the X-values are 0, 0.13 and 0.33, on glass substrate at T,----648 K. deposition rate of (0.416-0.833) nm/pulse and thickness of (500-1000)nm .Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) was used to study the nature of the chemical bonds that exist in the films. Results revealed that these films contain complex networks of the atomic (Si, C, and N), other a quantity of atomic hydrogen and chemical bonds such as (Si-N, C-N, C-14 and N-H).Absorbance and Transmittance spectra in the wavelength range (400-1100) nm were used to stud

In recent years, infectious diseases are increasingly being encountered in clinical settings. Due to the development of antibiotic resistance and the outbreak of these diseases caused by resistant pathogenic bacteria, the pharmaceutical companies and the researchers are now searching for new unconventional antibacterial agents. Recently, in this field, the application of nanoparticles is an emerging area of nanoscience and nanotechnology. For this reason, nanotechnology has a great deal of attention from the scientific community and may provide solutions to technological and environmental challenges. A common feature that these nanoparticles exhibit their antimicrobial behavior against pathogenic bacteria. In this report, we evaluate

    The results revealed that the incidence of Rhizoctonial damping-off of tomato was 65% and 67% in both rotations. Substrates of pine leaf litter and mushcom 2 suppressed infection reaching 59 and 60%. Mushcom1 restricted disease occurrence to 53%. In contrast, formulated Th + B. subtillus revealed a noticeable disease reduction reaching 33.16%, due to nutrients incited from mushroom thallus. The highest occurrence of damping-off (92 and 94 %) was found in control (sandy loam soil) during rotations. However, partial suppressive of Trichoderma spp. against R. solani was detected in different substrates. Mortality was 90% in control (non-amended soil). Finally, a comparable reduction of

The Leishmania donovani parasite causes visceral leishmaniasis (VL), an acute and fatal form of leishmaniasis. Because traditional therapy alternatives, such as glucantime and other pentavalent medicines, are toxic and have side effects, new treatments with fewer negative effects are needed. Only a handful of drugs are clinically beneficial to treatments of the disease, but considerable limitations threaten their very usage. Novel, safe, and efficient drugs, including those against antimalaria and leishmaniasis co-infections, are so essential. Artemether (ATM) is an Artemisinin derivative that has been demonstrated to be useful in the treatment of malaria and, more recently, leishmaniasis. The current research was carried out to evaluate th

The effect of 0.662MeV gamma radiation on the optical properties of the CdTe thin films was studied. 300nm thickness of CdTe samples were irradiated with doses (10, 20, 30,60krad) in room temperature. The absorption spectra for all the samples were recorded using UV- Visible spectrometer in order to calculate the energy gap, width of localized states and optical constants(refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant). The optical energy gap was found to decrease from (1.53 to 1.48 eV), while the width of localized states increased from (1.34 to 1.49 eV) with the increasing of radiation dose. The behavior of energy gap with the irradiation dose makes the material a good candidate for dosimetry