Antibiotic resistance is the major growing threat facing the pharmacological treatment of bacterial infections. Therefore, bioprospecting the medicinal plants could provide potential sources for antimicrobial agents. Mimusops, the biggest and widely distributed plant genus of family Sapotaceae, is used in traditional medicines due to its promising pharmacological activities. This study was conducted to elucidate the antimicrobial effect of three unexplored Mimusops spp. (M. kummel, M. laurifolia and M. zeyheri). Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying such antibacterial activity were studied. The Mimusops leaf extracts revealed significant antibacterial activities against the five tested bacterial strains with a maximum inhibition zone diameter of 22.0 mm against B. subtilis compared with standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin. The minimal inhibitory and bactericidal concentration values against tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains ranged from 3.15-12.5 µg/ml. However, weak antifungal effect was recorded against Candida albicans with MIC value ˃25 µg/ml. The 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay showed that M. caffra was the best antioxidant (IC50=14.75±0.028 µg/ml), while M. laurifolia was the least one (IC50=34.22±0.014 µg/ml). The phenolics in plant leaves extracts were identified and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) which revealed the presence of seven phenolic acids and four flavonoids. The abundant phenolic compounds were rutin (5.216±0.067 mg/g dried wt.) and gallic acid (0.296±0.068 mg/g) followed by myricetin (0.317±0.091 mg/g) then kaempferol (0.113±0.049 mg/g) as flavonoids. The antibacterial mechanism of M. laurifolia extract, as a representative species, induces ultrastructural changes in the model bacterium Staphylococcus aureus with cell wall and plasma membrane lysis as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. Overall, Mimusops species (M. laurifolia, M. kummel and M. zeyheri) are promising natural alternative sources for antimicrobial agents.
Spin coating technique has been applied in this work to prepared Xerogel films doped with Rhodamine 6G laser dyes. The solid host of laser dye modifies its spectroscopic properties with respect to liquid host. During the spin coating process the dye molecules suffer from changing their environment. The effects of three parameters were studied here: the spinning speed, multilayer coating and formaldehyde addition
Groundwater is an important resource that can be used for various purposes. Various factors can change the chemistry of the GW, such as the chemical composition of an aquifer as well as the leaching of human waste into groundwater. The study area is a barren land covered by some sabkhas, in addition to some agricultural fields. The study aims to assess groundwater quality for drinking purposes using the Water Quality Index. The groundwater is chemically heterogeneous and has a wide quality range from very poor to excellent. Evaporation appears to be the controlling factor among the other shallow waters, while relatively deep water is related to rock-soil dominance. Rocks, land use and land cover have helped control the groundwater q
... Show MoreBringing about urban, economic, and social changes in rural areas similar to those occurring in urban areas aims to reduce urban-rural disparities by providing services in those areas, decentralizing the management of these services, expanding citizen participation in local governance (decentralized administration), and achieving comprehensive development, developing and empowering localities, and keeping pace with new transformations and their impacts on the functions of the center and localities. In fact, the lack of clarity of the role of local government in planning and managing services has hindered development plans, and declined the level of services in rural areas, and has negative
... Show MoreBiomarkers such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) have a role in the pathogenesis of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to explore the differences between serum levels of such biomarkers in severe and non-severe COVID-19 cases and compare them with normal people and to evaluate the sociodemographic variables and chronic diseases effect on the severity of COVID-19. The study included 160 subjects, divided into two groups, a case group of 80 patients, and a control group of 80 normal persons. The case group was divided into two subgroups: 40 severe COVID-19 patients and 40 patients with non-severe disease. Blood IL-6 was asses
... Show MoreIrinotecan (CPT-11) is a semisynthetic derivative of the antineoplastic agent camptothecin used in a wide range as an anti-cancer agent in many solid tumors because of its cytotoxic effect through the interaction with the topoisomerase I enzyme. The major limiting factors for irinotecan treatment are its association with potentially life-threatening toxicities including neutropenia and acute or delayed-type diarrhea, results from distinct interindividual and interethnic variability due to gene polymorphism.
This is a cross sectional pharmacogentics study was conducted on 25 cancer patients to estimate the prevalence of UGT1A1*93 and ABCC5 allele single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in Iraqi cancer patients treated with irinotecan
... Show MoreSilver selenide telluride Semiconducting (Ag2Se0.8Te0.2) thin films were by thermal evaporation at RT with thickness350 nm at annealing temperatures (300, 348, 398, and 448) °K for 1 hour on glass substrates .using X-ray diffraction, the structural characteristics were calculated as a function of annealing temperatures with no preferential orientation along any plane. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray techniques are used to analyze the Ag2SeTe thin films' physical makeup and properties. AFM techniques were used to analyze the surface morphology of the Ag2SeTe films, and the results showed that the values for average diameter, surface roughness, and grain size mutation increased with annealing temperature (116.36-171.02) nm The transm
... Show MoreObjective: Evaluation the national standards for exposure to chemical materials and dusts in The State
Company for Drugs Industry in Samarra.
Methodology: A descriptive evaluation design is employed through the present study from 25th May 2011
to 30th November 2011 in order to evaluate the national standards for exposure chemical materials and dusts
in The State Company for Drugs Industry in Samarra. A purposive (non-probability) sample is selected for the
study which includes (110) workers from the State Company for Drugs Industry in Samarra. Data were
gathered through the workers` interviewed according to the nature of work that they perform. The evaluation
questionnaire comprised of three parts which include the w
in this paper copper oxide (cuO thin films were prepared by the method of vacum thermal evaporation a pressure.
A single step extraction-cleanup procedure using porous membrane-protected micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) in conjunction with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for the extraction and determination of aflatoxins (AFs) B1, B2, G1 and G2 from food was successfully developed. After the extraction, AFs were desorbed from the μ-SPE device by ultrasonication using acetonitrile. The optimum extraction conditions were: sorbent material, C8; sorbent mass, 20 mg; extraction time, 90 min; stirring speed, 1000 rpm; sample volume, 10 mL; desorption solvent, acetonitrile; solvent volume, 350 μL and ultrasonication period, 25 min without salt addition. Under the optimum conditions, enrichment factor of 11, 9, 9 and 10 for AFG2, AFG1
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