Prodigiosin is a ‘natural red pigment produced by Serratia marcescens which exhibits immunosuppressive and anticancer properties in addition to antimicrobial activities. This work presents an attempt to maximize the production of prodigiosin by two different strategies: one factor at time (OFAT) and statistical optimization. The result of OFAT revealed that sucrose and peptone were the best carbon and nitrogen sources for pigment production with concentration of prodigiosin of about 135 mg/ L. This value was increased to 331.6mg/ L with an optimized ratio of C/N (60:40) and reached 356.8 with pH 6 and 2% inoculum size at end of classical optimization. Statistical experimental design based on Response surface methodology was co

Brainstorming has been a common approach in many industries where the result is not always accurate, especially when procuring automobile spare parts. This approach was replaced with a scientific and optimized method that is highly reliable, hence the decision to optimize the inventory inflation budget based on spare parts and miscellaneous costs of the typical automobile industry. Some factors required to achieve this goal were investigated. Through this investigation, spare parts (consumables and non-consumables) were found to be mostly used in Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Nigeria but incorporated miscellaneous costs to augment the cost of spare parts. The inflation rate was considered first due to the market's

The behavior of AC conductivity (σ_ac), loss tangent (tan δ), and relative permittivity (ε′) for composites of PVC-P/graphite electrode waste (GEW) was investigated, and a qualitative explanation was provided as a function of PVC-P weight fractions (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25) wt. percent, temperature (30-90) °C, and frequency (100Hz-2MHz). The behaviors of the composites' ac. conductivity and impedance as a frequency function and temperature have been examined. The permittivity was shown to rise with increasing temperature (Tg). The relative permittivity increased as the GEW filler concentration increased and was highest in the low-frequency range; nevertheless decreased as the frequency increased.

Background: A global health concern is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The use of bacteriophages is one of the many novel control strategies against MRSA that are frequently sought. However, it is quite challenging to isolate enough lytic anti-MRSA phages. In order to extract, optimize, and remodel anti-MRSA phages, this study sought novel approaches.

Methods: Two ATCC MRSA strains and nine clinical MRSA isolates were used to isolate wild anti-MRSA phages from hospital settings, dirt, and sewage. The wild phages were optimized using plaque-based biokinetic techniques. Usi

Recently, young people have shown a desire to keep cats as pets, despite being threatened with health problems including toxoplasmosis. Therefore, the current study was aimed to detect toxoplasmosis infections among of volunteers students as well as spreading health awareness among students and knowledge about the importance of this disease. Prevalence rate and effects of liver functions were tested by measured levels of Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) enzymes while the OnSiteToxo IgG/IgM combo rapid test was used in the diagnosis of the disease. The blood samples were collected from 76 volunteers (35 male and 41 female). The results showed that, the total percentage of infections was 27.6% and all infect

Purpose: To synthesize and characterize novel Schiff base-chitosan composites and determine their antimicrobial activity. Methods: Novel Schiff-base chitosan composites were synthesized by grafting polyvinylpyrrolidone and then replacing it with different aldehydes. The resulting composites were characterized using advanced analytical techniques, including thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Results: The FT-IR results revealed that the Schiff-base chitosan was successfully produced during mixing and the crystallinity change of the samples was explained by the XRD patterns. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of compounds A1, A3 and A4 showed weight loss

A hydroponic experiment was carried out at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - University of Baghdad during the fall season of 2019-2020 in order to improve the quality traits of broccoli grown hydroponically under the modified Nutrient Film Technique (NFT), using an internationally approved standard solution and alternative solution, the plant was enriched with ozone and the foliar application of organic nutrients. The Hydroponic study included two experiments with the standard solution (Cooper's solution) and the alternative solution (ABEER). Both experiments were implemented within the Nested Design with three replications, and both included the gas type in the main plot, which were oxygen and ozone, while the sub-