Blastocystis is a ubiquitous human and animal protozoa that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Metronidazole is considered the standard drug for the treatment of Blastocystis infection; however, there is growing evidence of treatment failure, hazardous side effects, and appearance of strains resistant to metronidazole. In the last era, many studies have been implicated in the quest for new treatments for Blastocystis infection, especially natural products. Attention has been focused on the effect of Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seed on eradicating parasitic infections. The current work was built up to explore the in vitro efficacy of two natural compounds, Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seeds against

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease in tropical countries, including Iraq. Several studies have sought to examine chemotherapies for leishmaniasis treatment but most of them are of toxic and/or undesirable side effect, therefore, the need for investigating new fewer toxic therapies is essential. Aim of study: In this study, the cytotoxic effect of Artemisinin (ART), a novel herbal compound, was screened against the two forms, promastigotes and amastigotes, of the Iraqi isolate of Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of Baghdad boil. Material and methods: Different concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6 and 7.8) µM of Artemisinin were screened to investigate the leishmanicidal activity of th

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease in tropical countries, including Iraq. Several studies have sought to examine chemotherapies for leishmaniasis treatment but most of them are of toxic and/or undesirable side effect, therefore, the need for investigating new fewer toxic therapies is essential. Aim of study: In this study, the cytotoxic effect of Artemisinin (ART), a novel herbal compound, was screened against the two forms, promastigotes and amastigotes, of the Iraqi isolate of Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of Baghdad boil. Material and methods:  Different concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6 and 7.8) µM of Artemisinin were screened to investigate the leishmanic

Eleven yoghurt samples were collected from local markets in Baghdad to isolate Lactobacillus buchneri. Only 3 isolates of L. buchneri were found and the isolate No. 3 was the most producer of bacteriocin. Bacteriocin was adsorbed 100% onto silicic acid at pH 6.0-7.0. Below or above these pH values, adsorption was decreased, ranging between 35 and 90%. Therefore, pH 6.0 was used for the purification procedure. The purification procedure including silicic acid adsorption/desorption and cation-exchange chromatography (CEC) resulted in a 11.11 fold increase in the final specific activity of pure bacteriocin (1176.47 Au/mg) compared to the culture supernatant which was 32.64 Au/mg. The molecular weight was determined to be about 3.4 kDa. The bac

  Introduction and Aim: Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides that have bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic activity against other bacteria. The aim of this study was to assess the antibacterial efficiency of Klebocin a K. pneumoniae bacteriocin, against biofilm formation by clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA.   Materials and Methods: S. aureus isolated from clinical samples was identified according to vitek 2 system Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed according to disc diffusion method. Vitek 2 compact system was also used to detect MRSA strains. Agar well diffusion method was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of klebocin from K. pneumoniae towards 11 strains of S. aureus by

The current study includes 144 samples were 106 bacterial samples belonging to the clinical sources, 38 bacterial samples belonging to the environmental sources to investigate the presence of bacteria P. aeruginosa. The results of diagnosis clarified that there are 45 bacterial isolates belonging to the bacterium P. aeruginosa The examination of the sensitivity of all bacterial isolates was done for elected 45 isolation towards the 11 antibiotic by spread method on the dishes. The results showed that the resistance ratio toward Cefixim, Cefotaxim, Tetracycline, Amoxicillin, Cloxacillin, Methicillin, Erythromycin and Naldixic acid was 77.7, 73.3, 84.4, 82.2, 80, 77.7, 77.7 and 73.3 respectively, While most isolates were sensitive to all o

The present study was carried out to determine the bacterial isolates and study their antimicrobial susceptibility in case of burned wound infections. 70 burn wound swabs were taken from patients, who presented invasive burn wound infection from both sex and average age of 3-58 years, admitted to teaching medical Al- Kendi hospital from October 2007 to June 2008. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be the most common isolate (48.9%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (24.4%), Citrobacter braakii (13.3%), Enterobacter spp. (11.1%), Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (11.1%), Proteus vulgaris (6.66%), Corynebacterium spp. (6.66%), Micrococcus (6.66%), Proteus mirabilis (4.44%), Enterococcus faecalis (4.44%), E.coli (4.44%), Klebsiella spp. (2.22