Alopecia areata is considered as a major health problem, its importance is attributed to its
recent increased incidence in our population. Till now, there is no exact cause for alopecia areata
although researchers thought it's an autoimmune disease.
This clinical study was designed to evaluate the role of trace elements (zinc and copper) in patients
with alopecia areata. Twenty patients were diagnosed as having alopecia areata with an age range
(10-40 years) were involved in this study. Normal subjects of the same age group were also
evaluated as control. The level of serum Zn and Cu were measured by flame atomic absorption
spectrophotometry in both control and patient group. And the ratio of Zn/Cu was also estimated.
The results of patients group revealed that serum Zn level was significantly lower than those of
control (p<0.001), while serum Cu was significantly higher than that of control group (p=0.002).
Furthermore, Zn/Cu ratio of patients group was significantly lower than that of control subjects
(p<0.001). These results suggest the possible role of Zn and Cu level in alopecia areata. In addition
to that the utility of measuring Zn/ Cu ratios for the diagnosis of the disease over that of
determining the serum level of Zn or Cu alone since this ratio clearly reflects the severity of the
progress.
In this paper we present the first ever measured experimental electron momentum density of Cu2Sb at an intermediate resolution (0.6 a.u.) using 59.54 keV 241Am Compton spectrometer. The measurements are compared with the theoretical Compton profiles using density function theory (DFT) within a linear combination of an atomic orbitals (LCAO) method. In DFT calculation, Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) scheme is employed to treat correlation whereas exchange is included by following the Becke scheme. It is seen that various approximations within LCAO-DFT show relatively better agreement with the experimental Compton data. Ionic model calculations for a number of configurations (Cu+x/2)2(Sb-x) (0.0≤x≤2.0) are also performed utilizing free a
... Show MoreIn-vitro biological activities of the free new H4L ( indole-7-thiocarbohydrazone) ligand and its Ni(II), Pd(II) , Pt(II), Cu(II), Ag(I), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes are screened against two cancerous cell lines, that revealed significant activity only for [Cu2Cl2(H4L)2(PPh3)2] after 72 h treatment by the highest tested concentrations. The Copper(I) complex was characterized by X-ray Crystallography and the NMR spectra, whereas it has been confirmed to have momentous cytotoxicity against ovarian, breast cancerous cell lines (Caov-3, MCF-7). The apoptosis-inducing properties of the Cu(I) complex have been investigated through fluorescence microscopy visualization, DNA fragmentation analysis and propidium iodide flow cytometry.
Copper, and its, alloys and composites (being the matrix), are broadly used in the electronic as well as bearing materials due to the excellent thermal and electrical conductivities it has.
In this study, powder metallurgy technique was used for the production of copper graphite composite with three volume perc ent of graphite. Processing parameters selected is (900) °C sintering temperature and (90) minutes holding time for samples that were heated in an inert atmosphere (argon gas). Wear test results showed a pronounced improvement in wear resistance as the percent of graphite increased which acts as solid lubricant (where wear rate was decreased by about 88% as compared with pure Cu). Microhardness and
... Show MoreInfluence of metal nanoparticles synthesized by microorganisms upon soil-borne microscopic fungus Aspergillus terreus K-8 was studied. It was established that the metal nanoparticles synthesized by microorganisms affect the enzymatic activity of the studied culture. Silver nanoparticles lead to a decrease in cellulase activity and completely suppress the amylase activity of the fungus, while copper nanoparticles completely inhibit the activity of both the cellulase complex and amylase. The obtained results imply that the large-scale use of silver and copper nanoparticles may disrupt biological processes in the soil and cause change in the physiological and biochemical state of soil-borne microorganisms as well.
An agricultural waste (walnut shell) was undertaken to remove Cu(II) from aqueous solutions in batch and continuous fluidized bed processes. Walnut shell was found to be effective in batch reaching 75.55% at 20 and 200 rpm, when pH of the solution adjusted to 7. The equilibrium was achieved after 6 h of contacting time. The maximum uptake was 11.94mg/g. The isotherm models indicated that the highest determination coefficient belongs to Langmuir model. Cu (II) uptake process in kinetic rate model followed the pseudo-second-order with determination coefficient of 0.9972. More than 95% of the Cu(II) were adsorbed on the walnut shells within 6 h at optimum agitation speed of 800 rpm. The main functional groups responsible for biosorption of
... Show MoreElectro coagulation treatment was used for zinc removal from electroplating wastewater of the State Company for Electrical Industries . This wastewater, here consists zinc ions with maximum concentration in solution of 90 ppm .
The parameters that influenced the wastewater treatment are: current density in the range 1-1.4 mA/cm2, pH in the range 5-10, temperature in the range 25-45°C and time in the range 10-180 minute.
The research is a laboratory experimental type using batch system for electrical process with direct current. The cell comprised of aluminum electrode as anode and stainless steel electrode as cathode. Thirty experiments and one hundred fifty sample lab tests were carried out in this research
... Show MoreProteus mirabilis is considered as a third common cause of catheter-associated urinary tract infection, with urease production, the potency of catheter blockage due to the formation of biofilm formation is significantly enhanced. Biofilms are major virulence factors expressed by pathogenic bacteria to resist antibiotics; in this concern the need for providing new alternatives for antibiotics is getting urgent need, This study aimed to explore whether green synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) can function as an anti-biofilm agent produced by P.mirabilis. Bacterial cells were capable of catalyzing the biosynthesis process by producing reductive enzymes. The nanoparticles were synthesized from cell free
... Show MoreIn this research, the efficiency of low-cost unmodified wool fibers were used to remove zinc ion from industrial wastewater. Removal of zinc ion was achieved at 99.52% by using simple wool column. The experiment was carried out under varying conditions of (2h) contact time, metal ion concentration (50mg/l), wool fibers quantity to treated water (70g/l), pH(7) & acid concentration (0.05M). The aim of this method is to use a high sensitive, available & cheep natural material which applied successfully for industrial wastewater& synthetic water, where zinc ion concentration was reduced from (14.6mg/l) to (0.07mg/l) & consequently the hazardous effect of contamination was minimized.