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: Green Tea is made from the leaf of the plant “Camellia sinensisâ€. Green tea is reported to contain thousands of bioactive ingredients including catechins which have shown great promise for having antimicrobial effects. Periodontal diseases represent one of the most prevalent diseases around the world and the main etiologic factor behind it, is plaque accumulation, in addition certain kinds of bacteria have been detected frequently in subjects suffering from periodontitis, Several studies suggested that the outcome of periodontal treatment is better if particular pathogens including Aggregatibacteractinomycetemcomitans can no longer be detected after therapy. Materials and Methods: plaque samples were collected from 2
... Show MoreThe study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze how technological discourses are influenced by AI-generate d English texts. The research marries Fairclough’s three-dimensional discourse analysis, Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach, and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) in the use of mixed-methods research, integrating primarily qualitative analysis with quantitative corpus-based data, to perform a thorough analysis of twenty AI-produced English texts. The findings identify the sophisticated linguistic mechanisms through which AI language employs modality, nominalization, passive voice, and interdiscursive blending to normalize and legitimize dominant contemporary ideologies. These mechanisms serve to legitimize te
... Show MoreColloidal silver nanoparticles were prepared by single step green synthesis using aqueous extracts of the leaves of thyme as a function of different molar concentration of AgNO3 (1,2,3,4 mM(. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), UV-Visible and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the resultant AgNPs. The surface Plasmon resonance was observed at wavelength of 444 nm. The four intensive peaks of XRD pattern indicate the crystalline nature and the face centered cubic structure of the AgNPs. The average crystallite size of the AgNPs ranged from 18 to 22 nm. The FESEM image illustrated the well dispersion of the AgNPs and the spherical shape of the nanoparticles with a particle size distribution be
... Show MoreBackground: Chief complaint of patients attending dental clinic represents the first step towards treatment plan. However, most of patients are not aware but the extent and severity of periodontal disease, which could be also, misdiagnose by the dentist. Aim of the study: To investigate whether reported chief complaint(s) are consistent with oral hygiene status Materials and methods: Records of 1102 patients, attending periodontics clinics in the college of dentistry/ university of Baghdad, were used to determine ten most commonly reported chief complaints. Sample of patients was further subdivided according to gender and age. In addition, plaque and gingival index were recorded to determine oral hygiene status. Results: Patients mostly
... Show MoreDuring 2019-2020, the experiment was conducted in the laboratory of the Department of Field Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - Baghdad University, to investigate the impact of soaking wheat seeds produced during the 2016 agricultural season with three plant extracts (licorice root extract 2%, 4% and 6%, Acadian and Humic(500, 1000, & 1500 mg L-1). Aside from the two control treatments (soaking in distilled water with dried seeds). The results show that the soaking treatment with licorice root extract outperformed the other therapies in conventional laboratory germination, root length, and seedling vigor index (95 percent and 3.42 cm 1207) compared to the two control treatments (soaking with distilled w
... Show MoreBackground: Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor that has a clear strong association with the prevalence and severity of chronic periodontitis (CP). Salivary biochemical parameters may be affected by both smoking and CP together. Materials and methods: Eighty systematically healthy male patients were included in this study. They were grouped based on their periodontal and smoking status. Unstimulated whole saliva (UWS) was collected from all subject. Salivary flow rate (FR) was measured during sample collection. Parameters such as salivary pH, total protein (TP), albumin (Alb), total fucose (TF), protein bound fucose (PBF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were estimated. Results: Salivary flow rate was not altered regarding to smoking
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