Activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) markedly attenuates development of atherosclerosis in animal models. However, the underlying mechanism is not well elucidated. Here, we show that the FXR agonist, obeticholic acid (OCA), increases fecal cholesterol excretion and macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) dependent on activation of hepatic FXR. OCA does not increase biliary cholesterol secretion, but inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption. OCA markedly inhibits hepatic cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (
Many studied were conducted to evaluate the antihepatotoxic and antioxidant activities of Silybum marianum and proved these actions. The Naturally grown seed in Iraqi-Kurdistan Region also were studied for its chemical contents and biological activities. Vegetable oils occur in various plant parts mainly concentrated in the seeds.
In this study comparison was made between the fatty acid patterns of two plant seeds, Silybum marianum and Nigella sativa. Seed sample of Silybum marianum and Nigella sativa were exposed for extraction and isolation of the fatty acid contents using two different solvents (petroleum ether and n-hexane) at 60-80oC using soxhlet apparatus and the oily extract
... Show MoreVancomycin Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) is a strain of S. aureus that is considered the main cause of bacterial skin and soft tissue infections. It has acquired resistance to vancomycin and represents a therapeutic challenge. The current study aimed to compare the possible therapeutic effects of VRSA bacteriocin (VRSAcin) on the treatment of skin infection in mice with those of an antibiotic (linezolid). The results showed that of the fifty swabs obtained from human skin wounds. One isolate was selected for VRSAcin extraction depending on its antibiotic resistance using an antibiotic susceptibility test.An agar well diffusion test was used to determine bacteriocin’s antibacterial activity, as well as its a minimum inhibitory concentration
... Show MoreAsthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of airways mediated by T-helper 2 (Th2) cells involving complex signaling pathways. Although resveratrol has previously been shown to attenuate allergic asthma, the role of miRNA in this process has not been studied. We investigated the effect of resveratrol on ovalbumin-induced experimental allergic asthma in mice. To that end, BALB/c mice were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) intraperitoneally followed by oral gavage of vehicle (OVA-veh) or resveratrol (100 mg/kg body) (OVA-res). On day 7, the experimental groups received intranasal challenge of OVA followed by 7 days of additional oral gavage of vehicle or resveratrol. At day 15, all mice were euthanized and bronchioalveolar fluid (BALF), se
... Show More
Genetic material is the most important component of cells because it contains the genetic information; hence any disruption to the structure chromosome of cells could lead to very bad results. Genotoxicity use to evaluate the safety of any chemical compounds on genetic materials. Artificial food flavoring additive are chemical substances to produce specific placebo effects added to foods but impart specific flavor to it.
The present study evaluates the genotoxic effect of artificial food flavoring additive on structure of chromosomes at three different concentrations (50%, 100%and 150%) on both bone marrow cells and spleen cells in mice for fourteen successive days. It was found that artificial food flavoring addit
... Show MoreDouble-layer micro-perforated panels (MPPs) have been studied extensively as sound absorption systems to increase the absorption performance of single-layer MPPs. However, existing proposed models indicate that there is still room for improvement regarding the frequency bands of absorption for the double-layer MPP. This study presents a double-layer MPP formed with two single MPPs with inhomogeneous perforation backed by multiple cavities of varying depths. The theoretical formulation is developed using the electrical equivalent circuit method to calculate the absorption coefficient under a normal incident sound. The simulation results show that the proposed model can produce absorption coefficient with wider absorption bandwidth compared w
... Show MoreThe current research is a spectroscopic study of Coumarin 334 dissolved in methanol. The range of concentrations of the prepared stock solution was (3.39x10-9 to 2.03x10-8) M. Some optical characteristics of this dye were investigated such as absorbance and transmission spectra, absorption coefficient, refractive and extinction coefficients, oscillation and dispersion energies, and energy band gap. The absorbance spectra were recorded at 452 nm using Broad Band Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (BBCEAS) which depends on increasing the path length of the traveling light from the source to the detector. The minimum absorbance amount was 0.07 with a low concentration of 3.39x10-9 M. As a result, the ot
... Show MoreIn this paper we proposed the method of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) determination of some essential trace elements in medicinal herbs and vitamin-mineral complexes at the level of 100-101 mg/ml. To increase sensitivity and selectivity of the determination we simple and effective approach based on the extraction of metal ions from aqueous solutions with chemically modified polyurethane foam sorbents followed by direct XRF analysis. The conditions of sorption preconcentration of Co(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) ions with modified sorbents were optimized. The proposed approach is used for the determination of trace elements in several kinds of medicinal herbs (coltsfoot leaves, nettle leaves and yarrow herb) and vitamin-mineral
... Show MoreThe consequences of ionizing radiation-induced oxidative stress on radiographers in X-ray and CT-scan departments utilizing several biochemical were analyzed. The study found highly considerable discrepancies in the interplay between radiation levels and gender in terms of mean Malondialdehyde (MAD), Vitamin D3 (Vit.D3), Triiodothyronine (T3), Thyroxine (T4), and High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), but not Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), cholesterol, triglyceride (TG) and Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL). The findings indicated that malondialdehyde is a useful biomarker for assessing oxidative stress in radiographers with exposure to ionizing radiation.