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.
The piled raft is a geotechnical composite construction consisting of three elements: piles, raft and soil.
In the design of piled rafts, the load shared between the piles and the raft, and the piles are used up to a
load level that can be of the same order of magnitude as the bearing capacity of a comparable single
pile or even greater. Therefore, the piled raft foundation allows reduction of settlements in a very
economic way as compared to traditional foundation concepts.
This paper presents experimental study to investigate the behavior of piled raft system in sandy
soil. A small scale “prototype” model was tested in a sand box with load applied to the system through
a compression machine. The settlement was
Destiny functional theory (DFT) calculations are undertaken in order to scrutinize the electrochemical and calcium (Ca) storage characteristics of a graphyne-like aluminum nitride monolayer (G-AlNyen) as an electrode material for Ca-ion batteries (CIBs). The results show that the change in internal energy as well as the cell voltage values for the CIB with the G-AlNyen anode are comparable to others with two-dimensional 2D nano-materials. It is shown that Ca is adsorbed primarily onto the center of a hexagonal and triangular ring of G-AlNyen with absorption energies of −2.06 and −0.42 eV. After increasing the concentration of Ca atoms on G-AlNyen, the adsorption energy as well as the cell voltage decreases. Lower values of 0.15–0.32 e
... Show MoreToxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite; it spreads via the circulatory system during infection and causes chronic infection in various organs. Toxoplasmosis affects nearly one third of people worldwide, especially immunocompromised people. This study aimed to determine the effect of toxoplasmosis on renal function in hemodialysis patients. Overall 300 patients referred to the Medical City, Al-Karama General Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq were enrolled from 2021 to 2022. All serum samples were tested for T. gondii immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) antibodies, urea and creatinine levels. In patients undergoing hemodialysis, the results revealed a high positivity percentage for anti-Toxoplasma IgG. In hemodialysis patients infe
... Show MoreThin films whose compositions can be expressed by (GeS2)100-xGax (x=0, 6,12,18) formula were obtained by thermal evaporation technique of bulk material at a base pressure of ~10-5 torr. Optical transmission spectra of the films were taken in the range of 300-1100 nm then the optical band gap, tail width of localized states, refractive index, extinction coefficient were calculated. The optical constants were found to increase at low concentration of Ga (0 to12%) while they decreases with further addition of Ga. The optical band gap was found to change in opposite manner to that of optical constants. The variation in the optical parameters are explained in terms of average bond energy
... Show MoreCadmium sulfide photodetector was fabricated. The CdS nano
powder has been prepared by a chemical method and deposited as a
thin film on both silicon and porous p- type silicon substrates by spin
coating technique. Structural, morphological, optical and electrical
properties of the prepared CdS nano powder are studied. The X-ray
analysis shows that the obtained powder is CdS with predominantly
hexagonal phase. The Hall measurements show that the nano powder
is n-type with carrier concentration of about (-5.4×1010) cm-3. The
response time of fabricated detector was measured by illuminating
the sample with visible radiation and its value was 5.25 msec. The
specific detectivity of the fabricated det
The main objective of the research is to identify the role of strategic training and its effect on enhancing the self-growth of the individual. Stratigic training represents a contemporary tendency. that is adopted by business organizations in carrying out their activities and tasks.
It is worth to mention, that self-growth of the individual is one of the indictors used to determine the ability of organization to a achieve its goals.
The problem of the research has pointed out to the minimum awareness of the important role played by training strategy in enhancing the self-growth of the individual. The researcher has adopted an analytical approach, in collecting and analyses
... Show MoreThe cities are not yet a temporal status in the process of the human and civilization development. The cities consider as a life pattern, this mean that people cannot live without cities, which surround us. Several phenomena like globalization, revolution of information, technical development, increased of consumption, do not confirmed without the living in cities. The urbanization – in its simple meaning – means transferring from rural community to city community. In other word, it means that socioeconomic changes happened subject to the patterns and conditions of the urban life. Each government depend a certain policy, this policy contains set of plans and programs, that targeting to affect the population factors and the st
... Show MoreIn this work the analysis of laser beam profile system ,using a two dimensional CCD (Charge Coupled Device) arrays, is established. The system is capable of producing video graphics that give a two dimensional image of laser beam. The video graphics system creates color distribution that represent the intensity distribution of the laser beam or the energy profile of the beam. The software used is capable of analyzing and displaying the profile in four different methods that is , color code intensity contouring , intensity shareholding, intensity cross section along two dimension x-y, and three dimensional plot of the beam intensity given in the same display.