Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disease caused by Leishmania tropica parasite. Current treatments for this parasite are undesirable because of their toxicity, resistance, and high cost. Macrophages are key players against pathogens. Nitric oxide (NO), a molecule produce by immune cells, controls intracellular killing of pathogens during infection. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against various types of infectious diseases. It has the ability to stimulate oxygen species production. This study aims to analyze the macrophages activation through NO production and estimate the cytotoxicity based on the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release upon exposure to L. tropica and Ag NPs. Serially concentrations of Ag NPs were used under two conditions during and following macrophages exposure to L. tropica. MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity of Ag NPs on L. tropica amastigotes during infection of macrophages in vitro. The results showed that by increasing the Ag NPs concentrations, the viability percentage of L. tropica amastigotes decreased and reached to 21.7 ± 0.64 % during infection compared with the control. The 50% inhibitory concentration of Ag NPs on amastigotes was 2.048µg/ml during infection. Moreover, post-phagocytosis study involved the assessment of NO and LDH release by macrophages upon exposure to L. tropica. It have shown that untreated macrophages released low levels of NO while in the presence of Ag NPs, macrophages were activated to produce higher levels of NO under all experimental conditions. On the other hand, macrophages were capable of controlling cytotoxicity and decreasing LDH levels during phagocytosis of L. tropica amastiogotes. Taking together, these findings suggest that Ag NPs can enhance macrophages NO production which provides a method for the identification of Ag NPs ligands with microbicidal and anti-cytotoxic properties against L. tropica pathogens.
In this research, an analysis for the standard Hueckel edge detection algorithm behaviour by using three dimensional representations for the edge goodness criterion is presents after applying it on a real high texture satellite image, where the edge goodness criterion is analysis statistically. The Hueckel edge detection algorithm showed a forward exponential relationship between the execution time with the used disk radius. Hueckel restrictions that mentioned in his papers are adopted in this research. A discussion for the resultant edge shape and malformation is presented, since this is the first practical study of applying Hueckel edge detection algorithm on a real high texture image containing ramp edges (satellite image).
Quantitative analysis of human voice has been subject of interest and the subject gained momentum when human voice was identified as a modality for human authentication and identification. The main organ responsible for production of sound is larynx and the structure of larynx along with its physical properties and modes of vibration determine the nature and quality of sound produced. There has been lot of work from the point of view of fundamental frequency of sound and its characteristics. With the introduction of additional applications of human voice interest grew in other characteristics of sound and possibility of extracting useful features from human voice. We conducted a study using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique to analy
... Show MoreThis study aims to test ceramic waste's capacity to remove nickel from aqueous solutions through adsorption. Ceramic wastes were collected from the Refractories Manufacturing Plant in Ramadi. Through a series of lab tests, the reaction time (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 minutes, and Ni concentrations (20, 40, 60, and 80) were tested using ceramic wastes with a solid to liquid ratio of 2g/30ml. At a temperature of 30ºC, the pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and electrical conductivity (EC) were all measured. The equilibrium time was set at 30 min. Thereafter, the sorption (%) somewhat increased positively with the Ni concentration. Freundlich's equation showed that the adsorption intensity is 1.1827 and the Freundlich c
... Show MoreIn 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 MoreThe present work is devoted to investigate the performance of a homemade Y-shape catalytic microreactor for degradation of dibenzothiophene (DBT), as a model of sulphur compounds including in gas oil, utilizing solar incident energy. The microchannel was coated with TiO2 nanoparticles which were used as a photocatalyst. Performance of the microreactor was investigated using different conditions (e.g., DBT concentration, LHSV, operating temperature, and (H2O2/DBT) ratio). Our experiments show that, in the absence of UV light, no reaction takes place. The results revealed that outlet concentration of DBT decreases as the mean residence time in the microreactor increases. Also, it was noted that operating temperature s
... Show MoreMembrane manufacturing system was operated using dry/wet phase inversion process. A sample of hollow fiber membrane was prepared using (17% wt PVC) polyvinyl chloride as membrane material and N, N Dimethylacetamide (DMAC) as solvent in the first run and the second run was made using (DMAC/Acetone) of ratio 3.4 w/w. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to predict the structure and dimensions of hollow fiber membranes prepared. The ultrafiltration experiments were performed using soluble polymeric solute poly ethylene glycol (PEG) of molecular weight (20000 Dalton) 800 ppm solution 25 °C temperature and 1 bar pressure. The experimental results show that pure water permeation increased from 25.7 to 32.2 (L/m2.h.bar) by adding aceton
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