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.
LED is an ultra-lightweight block cipher that is mainly used in devices with limited resources. Currently, the software and hardware structure of this cipher utilize a complex logic operation to generate a sequence of random numbers called round constant and this causes the algorithm to slow down and record low throughput. To improve the speed and throughput of the original algorithm, the Fast Lightweight Encryption Device (FLED) has been proposed in this paper. The key size of the currently existing LED algorithm is in 64-bit & 128-bit but this article focused mainly on the 64-bit key (block size=64-bit). In the proposed FLED design, complex operations have been replaced by LFSR left feedback technology to make the algorithm perform more e
... Show MoreFeedback on students’ assignments can be done in many different ways. Nowadays, the growing number of students at universities has increased the burden on the instructors to give feedback on students’ writings quickly and efficiently. As such, new methods of modern online automated feedback tools, such as Hemingway app and ecree,are used to assist and help instructors. Hence, this research is an explanatory study to examine the effect of using the online automated feedback on some Iraqi EFL learners’ writings at the university level. The study comprised 60 students enrolled in an English language course at the University of Anbar. They were divided randomly into two groups, experi
... Show MoreVarious theories have been proposed since in last century to predict the first sighting of a new crescent moon. None of them uses the concept of machine and deep learning to process, interpret and simulate patterns hidden in databases. Many of these theories use interpolation and extrapolation techniques to identify sighting regions through such data. In this study, a pattern recognizer artificial neural network was trained to distinguish between visibility regions. Essential parameters of crescent moon sighting were collected from moon sight datasets and used to build an intelligent system of pattern recognition to predict the crescent sight conditions. The proposed ANN learned the datasets with an accuracy of more than 72% in comp
... Show MoreObjective: This study aims to assess the efficacy of CT-guided true-cut biopsy as a less invasive and cost-effective diagnostic technique for peripherally placed lung lesions. Methods: fourty patients with solitary lung nodule were involved in this study, true cut biopsies under Ct guide was taken then processed for routine H&E staining. Results: different pathological features can be identified with different pathological features giving primary diagnostic screening for lung cancer Conclusion: CT guided thoracic lesion biopsy is very efficient, cost-effective and less invasive technique when compared with the thoracic surgery
Carnosol, a phenolic diterpene, is one of the effective anticancer agents naturally occurring in rosemary, sage, parsley, and oregano. The chemoresistance problem increased with the routinely used chemotherapy. Therefore, the efforts to find a substitute with safe and low cost have become crucial worldwide. The current study attempts to inspect the anticancer molecular mechanisms of Carnosol on modulating up- and down- regulation of multiple genetic carcinogenesis pathways. The cytotoxicity of Carnosol on Hela cells was evaluated by MTS assay. Flow cytometry was used to assess apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The apoptotic morphological changes were obvious by dual apoptosis assay. The differential gene expression after treatment wi
... Show MoreBackground: The change in the concepts of cavity preparation and the development of reliable adhesive materials lead to the development of alternative methods of caries removal. Chemo-mechanical caries removal (CMCR) involves the chemical softening of carious dentin, followed by its removal with manual excavation. The present study was conducted to evaluate clinically the efficiency of caries removal using a new chemo-mechanical agent (Papacarie) compared to the conventional drilling method in reduction of total bacterial count. Material and methods: The study is a split mouth design. The sample composes from sixty mandibular deciduous molars teeth in thirty children, between six to nine years of age with bilateral class I deep occlusal car
... Show MoreIA Ali, FK Emran, DF Salloom, Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 2021
The research discusses the most important goals and means of IGAD in making peace in Sudan and then regional peace.
Tigris River is one of the main important surface water resources in Iraq. This necessitates continuous study of its quality . The present study is concerned with the characteristics and quality of Tigris water passing through in Baghdad city. (eight) samples were collected from the river in the area Grea't City. The study periods were carried over four season, which has been sampled once represent the every season. First sampling 12-11-2012 represent the autumn season The second sampling 20-1-2013 to represent the winter season. The third in 25-3- 2013 to represent the Springer season. The fourth during 29-5-2013 to represent the summer spring season. In order to specify the water quality, a group of physical and chemical analyses have bee
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