Introduction:Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, is a diffuse protozoan infection caused by Leishmania donovani complex. VL is principally caused by L. donovani and L. infantum (synonym L. chagasi in South America). The parasite targets the reticulo-endothelial system, with penetration of the spleen, liver, bone marrow and lymph nodes lead to organomegaly and pancytopenia. Organic pentavalent antimonials have been the first-line drugs for the therapy of leishmaniasis for the latest six decades, and clinical resistance to these drugs has emerged as a primary obstacle to successful treatment and control. Miltefosine has been shown to be higher or equivalent to presently approved essential medicines for at least one of viscer

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been identified as the main causative agent responsible for severe infections in burn patients worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of the exoU/exoS genotype in P. aeruginosa isolates collected from burn wound infections in Iraq. From January to April 2023, a total of eighty isolates of P. aeruginosawere obtained from patients with burn wound infections in two Iraqi hospitals (Teaching Baghdad Hospital and AL-Yarmok Hospital).The isolates were first identified using biochemical tests and then verified using molecular techniques, specifically by targeting the 16S rRNA gene with specific primers. The exoU/exoS genotype was detected using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by specifical

A total of nine swab samples were collected from inflamed teeth and gingiva of human’soral cavity from a dentist clinic in Baghdad. All specimens were cultured in Mitis Salivarius agar medium and the isolated bacterial pure colonies werethen identified by using VITEK2. Three samples were diagnosed and identified as Staphylococcus lentus. One of the three isolates which showed a distinctive heavy growth on the media was selected for further analysis in this study. Paper disk diffusion method was used to detect the antibacterial activityof three of mouthwash solutions (Zak, Colgate and Listerine). The results showed that “Colgate” was the most active solution with antibacterial activity compared with the other two s

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

Osteoblast and osteoclast activity is disrupted in post-menopausal osteoporosis. Thus, to fully address this imbalance, therapies should reduce bone resorption and promote bone formation. Dietary factors such as phyto-oestrogens and Zn have beneficial effects on osteoblast and osteoclast activity. However, the effect of combinations of these factors has not been widely studied. We therefore examined the effect of coumestrol, daidzein and genistein in the presence or absence of zinc sulphate (Zn) on osteoclast and osteoblast activity. Osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption were significantly reduced by coumestrol (10- 7 m), daidzein (10- 5 m) and genistein (10- 7 m); and this direct anti-osteoclastic action was unaffected by Zn (10-

The Cu2SiO3 composite has been prepared from the binary compounds (Cu2O, and SiO2) with high purity by solid state reaction. The Cu2SiO3 thin films were deposited at room temperature on glass and Si substrates with thickness 400 nm by pulsed laser deposition method. X-ray analysis showed that the powder of Cu2SiO3 has a polycrystalline structure with monoclinic phase and preferred orientation along (111) direction at 2θ around 38.670o which related to CuO phase. While as deposited and annealed Cu2SiO3 films have amorphous structure. The morphological study revealed that the grains have granular and elliptical shape, with average diameter of 163.63 nm. The electrical properties which represent Hall effect were investigated. Hall coeffici

In this work; copper oxide films (CuO) were fabricated by PLD. The films were analyzed by UV-VIS absorption spectra and their thickness by using profilometer. Pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used for prepared CuO thin films under O₂ gas environment with varying both pulse energy and annealing temperature. The optical properties of   as-grown film such as optical transmittance spectrum, refractive index and energy gap has been measured experimentally and the effects of laser pulse energy  and annealing temperature on it were studied. An inverse relationship between energy gap and both annealing temperature and pulse energy was observed.

Accurate description of thermodynamic, structural, and electronic properties for bulk and surfaces of ceria (CeO2) necessitates the inclusion of the Hubbard parameter (U) in the density functional theory (DFT) calculations to precisely account for the strongly correlated 4f electrons. Such treatment is a daunting task when attempting to draw a potential energy surface for CeO2-catalyzed reaction. This is due to the inconsistent change in thermo-kinetics parameters of the reaction in reference to the variation in the U values. As an illustrative example, we investigate herein the discrepancy in activation and reaction energies for steps underlying the partial and full hydrogenation of acetylene over the CeO2(111) surface. Overall, we find th

This work aimed to use effective, low-cost, available, and natural adsorbents like eggshells for removal of  hazardous organic dye result from widely number of  industries and study the influence of different eggshell particle size (75, 150) Mm.  The adsorbent was characterized by SEM, EDX, BET and FTIR . The initial pH of dye solutions  varying from 4 to 10 , the initial concentrations of methyl violet (MV) 2B range (20-80) mg/L, dosage range (0.5-10) g, contact time (30-180) min, and particles size of the adsorbent (75, 150) Mm were selected to be studied. Two adsorption isotherms models have been used to fit the experimental data. Langmuir and Freunlich models were found to more represent the experiments with high