Leishmaniosis is a tropical neglected parasitic disease that is endemic in many countries, including Middle East, with no existing effective vaccines. The bite of female sand-fly transmits the causative agent, Leishmania spp., to humans. High toxicity, resistance and treatment failure of the available chemotherapy against visceral leishmaniosis demands the investigation of new anti-leishmanial compounds. Lupeol is a form of triterpene isolated from several medicinal plants and possesses an antimicrobial property. In this study, cytotoxic effect of lupeol was screened against the mammalian amastigotes form and insect promastigote form of Leishmania donovani, following three cycles of incubation at different concentrations by MTT assay. Results revealed the in vitro anti-leishmanial effect of lupeol on both forms of the parasite where significant decline in promastigotes and amastigotes growth was observed. This was conducted along three times of follow up (24, 48, 72) hours, in comparison to the classical sodium stibogluconate treatment. Cell viability was calculated and the minimum IC50 was detected after 48 hours for amastigotes and 24 hours for promastigotes, 12.125 µM, 102.78 µM, respectively. Given the severity of visceral leishmaniosis and the toxicity of conventional chemotherapies, the anti-leishmanial activity of lupeol suggested a promising compound for additional clinical trials
Waste materials might be utilized in various applications, such as sustainable roller compacted concrete pavements (RCCP), to lessen the negative environmental consequences of construction waste. The impacts of utilizing (brick, thermostone, granite, and ceramic) powders on the mechanical characteristics of RCCP are investigated in this study. To achieve this, the waste materials were crushed, grounded, and blended before being utilized as filler in the RCCP. After the mixes were prepared, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption, density, and porosity were all determined. According to the research results, adding some of these powders, mainly brick and granite powder, enhances the mechanical
... Show MoreEthanol as a solvent, a precursor of titanium isopropoxide and a stabilizer of either hydrochloric acid or ammonium hydroxide was used to prepare a titanium dioxide aqueous solution. The aqueous solutions with different values of pH and the morphology of the resultant reaction of the nanoparticles of titanium dioxide were investigated. The X-ray diffraction showed that at low temperatures and with acidic solutions, rutile structures are more favorable to grow on titanium dioxide synthesized, while at low and average temperatures and with base solutions, anatase phase is more pronounced. The crystalline form and the re-confirmation of the crystallite size growth were observed by the scanning electron microscopy. The atomic force micr
... Show MoreIn this research, a numerical simulation was conducted to study the behavior of the scouring pattern and the effect of spacing between bridge piers at specified hydraulic conditions such as velocity, depth of flow, and the sediment effective diameter. Moreover, the cross-section shape of piers and their effect on the scouring depth around bridge piers was studied, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), ANSYS (Fluent) software. A comparison of the simulation results obtained with previous laboratory investigations was done to verify the validity of the numerical model. Generally, the scour pattern using the CFD software gave good agreement with the experimental study. A reversed pro
Rutting is a predominant distress in asphalt pavements, particularly in hot climatic regions. This study systematically investigated the high-temperature performance of hot mix asphalt modified with five nanomaterials, namely, nano-silica (NS), nano-alumina (NA), nano-titanium (NT), nano-zinc (NZ), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), under consistent laboratory conditions. Modification dosages were selected up to 10% for NS, NA, and NT, and up to 5% for NZ and CNTs. The experimental methodology comprised the following: (i) binder rheological characterization through rotational viscosity, G*/sinδ, and multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) to quantify rutting susceptibility; (ii) chemical and microstructural assessments using Fourier transf
... Show MoreBackground: The study was designed for the assessment of the knowledge of medical students regarding pandemics. In the current designed study, the level of awareness was checked and the majority of students were found aware of SARS-CoV and SARS-Cov2 (Covid-19).
Objective: To assess the awareness of SARS-CoV and SARS-Cov2 (Covid-19) among medical students of Pakistan.
Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in different universities of Pakistan from May to August 2020. A self-constructed questionnaire by Pursuing the clinical and community administration of COVID-19 given by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China was used am
... Show MoreMany reports confirm ulcers as an adverse effect of drugs such as nicorandil and aspirin. The exact responsible mechanisms of ulceration have until now not proved. Mucosal ulcers associated with the onset of ulcer are manifested by an increase in proinflammatory cytokine, excessive prostaglandin, and up-regulation of Endothilin-1 level, which directly impacts the release of leptin. These, released locally within mucosal tissues, have played a role in controlling the extent of local inflammatory responses and processes of mucosal repair.
This study was designed to find out the correlation of plasma leptin and prostaglandin levels as a possible mechanism of oral ulcer formation as an adverse effect of nicorandil. The effect of nicorandi
Background: The discriminative power of the classical WHO parameters in relation to male fertility is quite low, because they only address few aspects of sperm quality and function. This has led investigators to focus their attention on the male gamete and in particular its genome.Objective: To explore which of the sperm DNA damage parameters measured by comet assay are more reliable, and their relations with the standard semen parameters.Methods: Study was done on 40 infertile men selected from couples attending the Institute of Embryo Reasearch and Infertility Treatment at Al-Kadhimiya City/ Baghdad in the period between February 2009 and May 2009, with a history of infertility of ≥1 years; and 15 healthy volunteers of proven fertili
... Show MoreThe research seeks to identify the effectiveness of a selective program in modifying irrational thinking that causes anger among an important class of societies in general. namely teachers. Specifically female teachers because of the pressures they suffer because of the nature of this profession. It may develop into anger outburst, which may cause irrational thinking arose as a result of the different situations they are going through. The sample of the program consisted of (12) teachers in Egypt, from different educational sectors. The researcher intended to clarify the emotion of anger and the irrational thoughts associated with it and the contribution of the selective counseling program in modifying those irrational thinking. This was
... Show MoreDifferent coating layers of fluorescent agent (FCA) on the solar cells were used. An increase of 35% in the energy conversion efficiency of the solar cell have been obtained. This increase is attributed to the reduction ofthe reflected light, eflection spectra show low values at higher thickness which explained the increase ofthe conversion efficiency with increases of layer thickness.
Background: As the development of zirconia crown using CAD/CAM technology, the usage of full zirconia crown is gradually increased. The aim of this in-vitro study was to evaluate and contrast the vertical marginal fit of single all-ceramic translucent zirconia crowns constructed from different brands translucent zirconia blanks. Materials and Methods: An acrylic resin model of a left maxillary premolar was prepared all around the tooth with (1 mm) depth and 3D scanning to get fifteen STL files, then distributed into three groups (Imes-icor, Whitepeaks and Dental direct), 3D scanning and milling machine by Imes-icor CAD/CAM devise. Marginal gaps along vertical planes were measured at four indentations at the (mid mesial, mid distal, mid bucc
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