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.
The adsorption of Pb(II) ions onto bentonite and activated carbon was investigated. The effects of pH, initial adsorbent dosage, contact time and temperature were studied in batch experiments. The maximum adsorption capacities for bentonite and activated carbon were 0.0364 and 0.015 mg/mg, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy change, Enthalpy change and Entropy change have been calculated. These thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was thermodynamically spontaneous under natural conditions and the adsorption was endothermic in nature. Experimental data were also tested in terms of adsorption kinetics, the results showed that the adsorption processes followed well pseudo second- order
... Show MoreIn this research, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is prepared through the Hummers method with a slight change in some of the work steps, thus, a new method has been created for preparing carbon nanotubes which is similar to the original Hummers method that is used to prepare graphene oxide. Then, the suspension carbon nanotubes is transferred to a simple electrode position platform consisting of two electrodes and the cell body for the coating and reduction of the carbon nanotubes on ITO glass which represents the cathode electrode while platinum represents the anode electrode. The deposited layer of carbon nanotubes is examined through the scanning electron microscope technique (SEM), and the images throughout the research show the
... Show MoreThe uptake of Cd(II) ions from simulated wastewater onto olive pips was modeled using artificial neural network (ANN) which consisted of three layers. Based on 112 batch experiments, the effect of contact time (10-240 min), initial pH (2-6), initial concentration (25-250 mg/l), biosorbent dosage (0.05-2 g/100 ml), agitation speed (0-250 rpm) and temperature (20-60ºC) were studied. The maximum uptake (=92 %) of Cd(II) was achieved at optimum parameters of 60 min, 6, 50 mg/l, 1 g/100 ml, 250 rpm and 25ºC respectively.
Tangent sigmoid and linear transfer functions of ANN for hidden and output layers respectively with 7 neurons were sufficient to present good predictions for cadmium removal efficiency with coefficient of correlatio
... Show MoreABSTRACT
Naproxen(NPX) imprinted liquid electrodes of polymers are built using polymerization precipitation. The molecularly imprinted (MIP) and non imprinted (NIP) polymers were synthesized using NPX as a template. In the polymerization precipitation involved, styrene(STY) was used as monomer, N,N-methylenediacrylamide (N,N-MDAM) as a cross-linker and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as an initiator. The molecularly imprinted membranes and the non-imprinted membranes were prepared using acetophenone(AOPH) and di octylphathalate(DOP)as plasticizers in PVC matrix. The slopes and detection limits of the liquid electrodes ranged from)-18.1,-17.72 (mV/decade and )4.0 x 10-
... Show MoreBackground. Nanocoating of biomedical materials may be considered the most essential developing field recently, primarily directed at improving their tribological behaviors that enhance their performance and durability. In orthodontics, as in many medical fields, friction reduction (by nanocoatings) among different orthodontic components is considered a substantial milestone in the development of biomedical technology that reduces orthodontic treatment time. The objective of the current research was to explore the tribological behavior, namely, friction of nanocoated thin layer by tantalum (Ta), niobium (Nb), and vanadium (V) manufactured using plasma sputtering at 1, 2, and 3 hours on substrates made of 316L stainless steel (SS),
... Show MoreIn this work gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), were prepared. Chemical method (Seed-Growth) was used to prepare it, then doping AuNPs with porous silicon (PS), used silicon wafer p-type to produce (PS) the processes doping achieved by electrochemical etching, the solution etching consist of HF, ethanol and AuNPs suspension, the result UV-visible absorption for AuNPs suspension showed the single peak located at ~(530 – 521) nm that related to SPR, the single peak is confirmed that the NPs present in the suspension is spherical shape and non-aggregated. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated growth AuNPs with PS. compare the PS layer without AuNPs and with AuNPs doped for electrical properties and sensitivity properties we found AuNPs:PS is more
... Show MoreNanoparticles are defined as an organic or non-organic structure of matter in at least one of its dimensions less than 100 nm. Nanoparticles proved their effectiveness in different fields because of their unique physicochemical properties. Using nanoparticles in the power field contributes to cleaning and decreasing environmental pollution, which means it is an environmentally friendly material. It could be used in many different parts of batteries, including an anode, cathode, and electrolyte. This study reviews different types of nanoparticles used in Lithium-ion batteries by collecting the advanced techniques for applying nanotechnology in batteries. In addition, this review presents an idea about the advantages and d
... Show MoreNanofluids (dispersion of nanoparticles in a base fluid) have been suggested as promising agents in subsurface industries including enhanced oil recovery. Nanoparticles can easily pass through small pore throats in reservoirs formations; however, physicochemical interactions between nanoparticles and between nanoparticles and rocks can cause a significant retention of nanoparticles. This study investigated the transport, attach, and retention of silica nanoparticles in core plugs. The hydrophilic silica nanoparticles were injected into limestone core as nanofluid of different nanoparticles size (5 nm, and 20 nm), concentration (0.005 – 0.1 wt% SiO2), and base fluid salinity (0 – 3 wt% NaCl) at different temperatures (23, and 50 °C). D
... Show MoreA common approach to the color image compression was started by transform
the red, green, and blue or (RGB) color model to a desire color model, then applying
compression techniques, and finally retransform the results into RGB model In this
paper, a new color image compression method based on multilevel block truncation
coding (MBTC) and vector quantization is presented. By exploiting human visual
system response for color, bit allocation process is implemented to distribute the bits
for encoding in more effective away.
To improve the performance efficiency of vector quantization (VQ),
modifications have been implemented. To combines the simple computational and
edge preservation properties of MBTC with high c