Euphorbia lateriflora is a popular traditional medicinal plant whose leaves are used in Africa, especially Nigeria, to treat wounds and many diseases. This study investigated the preliminary phytochemical constituents, secondary metabolites by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography “HPLC” technique, and antimicrobial potentials (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration “MIC”, Minimum Fungicidal Concentration “MFC” and disc diffusion assay) of various concentrations (100 mg/mL, 50 mg/ml, and 25 mg/mL) of the solvents (ethyl acetate and n-hexane) extracts of E. lateriflora against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The phytochemical screening revealed that out of the thirteen constituents screened for, n-hexane extract contained seven components, including flavonoids, coumarin, steroid, glycosides, triterpenes, terpenoids, and alkaloids. In contrast, the ethyl acetate extract contains saponin, flavonoids, coumarin, steroid, glycosides, triterpenes, terpenoids, and alkaloids. The HPLC chromatogram of n-Hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of E. lateriflora detected numerous unidentified compounds along with a potential antimicrobial compound identified as caffeic acid. The low MIC (6.25 - 50 mg/mL), shown by the n-hexane extract signified a greater antimicrobial activity than ethyl acetate extract. This was further implicated by the varying concentrations levels, rather than the strain-dependent zone of inhibitions obtained. The highest diameter of zone of inhibition (14.23 mm) was obtained at 100 mg/mL by n-hexane extract against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively, while the lowest zone of inhibition (6.00 mm) was obtained by n-hexane at 25 mg/mL concentrated tested against S. aureus. However, the diameter of the zone of inhibition of Ciprofloxacin (50 mg/mL) ranged between 10-16 mm for E. coli and 6-10 mm for S. aureus. At the same time, 14.00 mm was obtained by itraconazole (antifungal agent) against C. albicans. Thus, this study shows that E. lateriflora harbors active compounds and supports the claim that its extract may be effective against infections caused by the test organisms, as practiced for years among rural dwellers in Nigeria.
Background: The microbial production of substances that have the potency to suppress the growth of other microorganisms is probably one of the prevalent defense strategy developed in nature, microorganisms produce a variable bunch of microbial defense systems, which include antibiotics, metabolic by-products, lytic agents, bacteriocins and others. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to isolate and identify Enterococcus faecium isolates then detecting its ability of carrying the gene responsible for enterocin production in this species. Materials and methods: Out of 50 samples from different sources (food and clinical sources) were collected for the Enterococcus faecium isolation, and the isolated bacteria Enterococ
... Show MoreObjective: Hesperidin (HSP) is a pharmacologically active organic compound found in citrus fruits and peppermint. We synthesized a new HSP derivative by reacting it with 5-Amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-thiol in acetic acid. Methods: This compound was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron impact mass spectra. A molecular docking study explores the predicted binding of the compound and its possible mode of action. Bioavailability, site of absorption, drug mimic, and topological polar surface was predicted using absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies. Results: The docking study predicts that the new compound binds to the active sites of Aurora-B
... Show MoreThe current research focuses on the antioxidant activity, phytochemical, and inorganic content of five common medicinal plants: Asian pigeonwings, lemon balm, lemongrass, ginger, and turmeric. According to the phytochemical screening, flavonoids were present in all plants; tannins were present in lemon balm and lemongrass, saponins were present in all plants except lemongrass, and anthraquinone glycosides were detected only in turmeric. The aqueous extracts from lemon balm, Asian pigeonwings, and the methanolic extract from turmeric had the highest phenolic content, respectively. The inorganic composition of plants was determined using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Asian pigeonwings, ginger and turmeric are mainly compos
... Show MoreBreast cancer constitutes about one fourth of the registered cancer cases among the Iraqi population (1)
and it is the leading cause of death among Iraqi women (2)
. Each year more women are exposed to the vicious
ramifications of this disease which include death if left unmanaged or the negative sequels that they would
experience, cosmetically and psychologically, after exposure to radical mastectomy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) documented that early detection and screening, when coped
with adequate therapy, could offer a reduction in breast cancer mortality; displaying that the low survival rates
in less developed countries, including Iraq, is mainly attributed to the lack of early detection programs couple
Apical meristems, lateral buds, anthers of immature flowers and immature embryos of chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) were cultured on MS media with different growth regulators and incubated for 6 weeks at 25-27?C with 16 hrs photoperiod for callus initiation. Results indicated that 1 and 0.1 mg/l of 2,4-D and BA were suitable for callus initiation when apical meristems and lateral buds were used. While 2 and 0.5 mg/l of both growth regulators were essential for immature embryos. It was noticed that using chickpea anthers of the MS medium must contain 1mg/l 2ip and 0.5 mg/l IAA. However, MS medium supplemented with 1-3 mg/l of BA and 2,4-D respectively was good for callus initiation from lateral buds, anther and immature embryos.
... Show MoreNew nitrone and selenonitrone compounds were synthesized. The condensation method between N-(2-hydroxyethyl) hydroxylamine and substituted carbonyl compounds such as [benzil, 4, 4́-dichlorobenzil and 2,2́ -dinitrobenzil] afforded a variety of new nitrone compounds while the condensation between N-benzylhydroxylamine and substituted selenocarbonyl compounds such as [di(4-fluorobenzoyl) diselenide and (4-chlorobenzoyl selenonitrile] obtained selenonitrone compounds. The condensation of N-4-chlorophenylhydroxylamine with dibenzoyl diselenide obtained another type of selenonitrone compounds. The structures of the synthesized compounds were assigned based on spectroscopic data (FT-IR,
... Show MoreNosocomial infections are one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity in hospitals. These are major public health problems worldwide, but particularly in developing countries. The purpose of this research was to analyze the frequency of the microorganisms in the specimens taken from the surgical wounds, and to examine antimicrobial susceptibility for some isolates . Wound swabs were examined from June 2010 to January 2011. The isolates were identified by conventional methods, antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method as per NCCLS guidelines.A total of 102 wound swabs were examined 22(21.56%) swabs were sterile and 80(78.43%) were positive for microorganisms. The results showed
... Show MoreHypercholesterolemia is a predominant risk factor for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The World Health Organization (WHO), ) recommended reducing the intake of cholesterol and saturated fats. On the other hand, limited evidence is available on the benefits of vegetables in the diet to reduce these risk factors, so this research was conducted to compare the hypolipidemic effect between the extracts of two different types of Iraqi peppers, the fruit of the genus Capsicum traditionally known as red pepper extract (RPE), and Piper nigrum as black pepper extract (BPE), respectively, in different parameters and histology of the liver of the experimental animals. The red pepper was extracted by ethyl acetate, while the black pepp
... Show MoreThis work is aimed to design a system which is able to diagnose two types of tumors in a human brain (benign and malignant), using curvelet transform and probabilistic neural network. Our proposed method follows an approach in which the stages are preprocessing using Gaussian filter, segmentation using fuzzy c-means and feature extraction using curvelet transform. These features are trained and tested the probabilistic neural network. Curvelet transform is to extract the feature of MRI images. The proposed screening technique has successfully detected the brain cancer from MRI images of an almost 100% recognition rate accuracy.