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.
Background: Nanotechnology represents a new science that promises to provide a broad range of uses and improved technologies for biological and biomedical applications. One of the reasons behind the intense interest is that nanotechnology permits synthesis of materials that have structure is less than 100 nanometers. The present work revealed the effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on Streptococcus mutans of Human Saliva in comparison to de-ionized water. Materials and methods: Streptococcus mutans were isolated from saliva of forty eight volunteers of both sexes their age range between 18-22 years and then purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic and biochemical tests. Different concentrations of ZnO NPs w
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to determine the flexural properties of steel fiber as a metal fiber and polyester resin as a matrix. The steel fibers were added to polyester resin at the various fiber volume fractions of 5, 10, and 15% steel fiber, and with different fiber orientations such as woven steel fiber type (0-45) ° and woven steel fiber type (0-90) ° indicate. Hand layup processes in these experiments were used to produce specimens test with the curing time of 24 hr. for the composite at room temperature. The results show that the flexural strength and flexural modulus values for 15 % vol.of woven steel fiber composite type (0-90) ° are (210MPa) and (2.29GPa( respectively. The results above indicate that the woven steel fiber (0-9
... Show MoreThe effects of three different additives formulations namely Lubrizol 21001, HiTEC 8722B and HiTEC 340 on the efficiency of VII namely OCP of three base lubricating oils namely 40 stock and 60 stock and 150 stock at four temperatures 40, 60, 80 and 100oC were investigated. The efficiency of OCP is decreased when blended with 4 and 8 wt% of Lubrizol 21001 for all the three base oil types. But it is increased when adding 4 wt% and 8 wt% of H-8722B in 40 stock. While for 60 stock and 150 stock the OCP efficiency decreased by adding 4 and 8 wt% of H-8722B. In the other hand, it is decreased with a high percentage by adding 4 and 8 wt% of H-340 for 60 stock and 150 stock and for 40 stock it is increased by adding 4 wt% of H-340 and decreased
... Show MoreWith the growing number of Internet users, public and private arts activities have become increasingly popular. Adolescents have begun to establish aesthetic taste and new cultural values. This category is the most affected one by the published images and ideas especially in the social networking space and specifically the Facebook. It is the most important problem in their cultural composition. This research aims to detect the problems of social networking sites in nurturing the aesthetic taste of adolescents. The researcher used the analytical descriptive approach to obtain accurate information describing the current situation or depicting the social reality of adolescents. The research concluded that the public discourse in social med
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify: 1) the challenges facing blended education from the point of view of teachers of students with disabilities. 2) The challenges facing blended education from the point of view of teachers of students with disabilities according to the gender variable (males-females). 3) The challenges facing blended education from the point of view of teachers of students with disabilities, according to the academic qualifications of graduates
(institute-bachelors-masters). 4) The challenges facing blended education from the point of view of male and female teachers, according to the functional service period with students with disabilities (less than 8 years - from 9 to 15 years - 16 years and above). 5) the
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to investigate the behavior of composite castellated beam in which the concrete slab and steel beam connected together with headed studs shear connectors. Four simply supported composite beams with various degree of castellation were tested under two point static loads. One of these beams was built up using standard steel beam, i.e. without web openings, to be a reference beam. The other three beams were fabricated from the same steel I-section with various three castellation ratios, (25, 35, and 45) %. In all beams the concrete slab has the same section and properties. Deflection at mid span of all beams was measured at each 10 kN load increment. The test results show that the castellation process leads to
... Show MoreThis study deals with the petrology of the lower succession of the Injana Formation in the Shorr Shareen area, Wasit Governorate, Eastern Iraq. The study revealed that the sandstone is litharenite consists of 45.56% rock fragments, 22.13% quartz and 8.5% feldspars. The matrix is about 8.39%, consisting of silt and clay particles. The cement is variable (carbonates 8.42%, evaporites 1.78% and iron oxides 0.96%). The grain assemblage infers that the source of the rock fragments is nearby. The petrographic analyses indicate that the studied Injana sandstones are immature mineralogically because of their content of unstable constituents, such as lithic fragments and feldspars. In addition, the presence of such fresh feldspars indica
... Show MoreIrinotecan induced-mucositis is an inflammatory event of intestine caused by an increase in concentration of active metabolite 7ethyl10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN38) in the intestine. Irinotecan must first be converted by a carboxylesterase (CES) to the active metabolite (SN38), which is subsequently glucuronidated by the hepatic enzyme to SN38G. The SN-38G is deconjugated in the intestine to SN-38 via ?-glucuronidase produced by the intestinal bacterial flora, which accounts for SN-38 delayed intestinal mucositis of irinotecan. To study the protective effect of mentha in irinotecan-induced mucositis, intestinal mucositis induced by I.P injection of irinotecan (75mg/Kg/day) for 4 days. Mentha ethanolic extract orally administered to
... Show MoreThe present study investigates the application of a combined electrocoagulation-electrooxidation (EC-EO) process for the treatment of wastewater generated from Al-Dewaniya petroleum refinery plant in Iraq. The EC-EO process was examined in terms of its ability to simultaneously produce coagulant and oxidant agents by using a parallel plate configuration system composed of stainless steel plates as cathode and pair of aluminum and graphite plates as anode at two different current concentrations (1.92A/l and 0.96A/l). The results showed that the best conditions for treatment of Al-Dewaniya petroleum refinery wastewater using the combined approach were current concentration of (0.96A/l), current density
It is widely accepted that early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) makes it possible for patients to gain access to appropriate health care services and would facilitate the development of new therapies. AD starts many years before its clinical manifestations and a biomarker that provides a measure of changes in the brain in this period would be useful for early diagnosis of AD. Given the rapid increase in the number of older people suffering from AD, there is a need for an accurate, low-cost and easy to use biomarkers that could be used to detect AD in its early stages. Potentially, the electroencephalogram (EEG) can play a vital role in this but at present, no reliable EEG biomarker exists for early diagnosis of AD. The gradual s
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