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.
This study was carried out to obtain the optimum conditions necessary for the process of soya protein hydrolysis by using hydrochloric acid (as a chemical catalyst) instead of the papain enzyme (as a biological catalyst), for the production of soya peptone. These conditions are implemented to test the effect of the variables of the process of hydrolysis on the nature and quality of the product.
The production of soya peptone was studied for their importance in the process of preparing and producing the culture media used in medical and microbiological laboratories.
The process of production of soya peptone includes four main
... Show MoreMersing is one of the places that have the potential for wind power development in Malaysia. Researchers often suggest it as an ideal place for generating electricity from wind power. However, before a location is chosen, several factors need to be considered. By analyzing the location ahead of time, resource waste can be avoided and maximum profitability to various parties can be realized. For this study, the focus is to identify the distribution of the wind speed of Mersing and to determine the optimal average of wind speed. This study is critical because the wind speed data for any region has its distribution. It changes daily and by season. Moreover, no determination has been made regarding selecting the average wind speed used for w
... Show MoreA survey of haemoproteids among the eight species of Iraq rallids were carried out in the
middle, south, and west of Iraq. Two haemoproteods were recorded, Haeomproteus porzanae
(Galli-Valerio, 1907) as a new record for Iraq and the new species H. baghdadensis described
from Fulica atra L. collected in the middle of Iraq.
The aim of this study is to understand the effect of addition carbon types on aluminum electrical conductivity which used three fillers of carbon reinforced aluminum at different weight fractions. The experimental results showed that electrical conductivity of aluminum was decreased by the addition all carbon types, also at low weight fraction of carbon black; it reached (4.53S/cm), whereas it was appeared highly increasing for each carbon fiber and synthetic graphite. At (45%) weight fraction the electrical conductivity was decreased to (4.36Scm) and (4.27Scm) for each carbon fiber and synthetic graphite, respectively. While it was reached to maximum value with carbon black. Hybrid composites were investigated also; the results exhibit tha
... Show MoreAbstract In this paper the effect of light exposure duration on Anthracene solution in chloroform is studied. It is found that: the Anthracene solution change its color when it is exposed to light, and that its relative quantum efficiency, Φ, decreases as the light exposure duration, t, increases and this govern by following empirical equation:- Φ = 0.7918-0.0762 In (t)
Background: Acute appendicitis is a common surgical
problem that is associated with an acute-phase reaction.
Previous studies have shown that cytokines and acutephase proteins are activated and may serve as indicators for
appendicitis.
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate of serum
levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in correlation to the severity
to acute appendicitis.
Methods: This is a prospective study from December 2008
to March 2009 of patients who had appendectomy in
Department of Surgery, Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital -
Baghdad/Iraq. Serum for estimating levels of interleukin-6
(IL-6) was taken pre-operatively. Depending on the
macroscopic evidence during the operation and the
histopathol
Sarcophaga africa Fall. considered to be medical and veterinary importance, therefore, its third larval instar was described by digital camera under compound and dissecting microscope. This description includes spines type, shaped and cephalopharyngeal skeleton. Furthermore the anterior and posterior spiracles were also studied.
The current work studies the effect of adding chopped carbon fiber (CCF) on gypsum plaster properties (precisely the compressive strength and the modulus of rupture). The research plan consists of using six mixes of gypsum plaster; these mixes are divided into two groups according to the (Water/Gypsum) ratios (0.5 & 0.6). Each group was divided into three subgroups according to CCF volume fraction (Vf): 0.0%, 0.2% and 0.4%. Three cubic (50×50×50) mm and three prismatic (40×40×160) mm samples were performed for each mix. It was found that, the addition of CCF to the gypsum plaster mixes increases both the compressive strength and the modulus of rupture for both (W/G) ratios, an