Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania. It is transmitted by the bite of sandfly (Subfamily Phlebotominae). Limited drugs are available for the treatment of leishmaniasis, and the general drug (pentostam) have many side effect on patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need for another drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis.
This study aimed to develop new type of antileishmanial agents instead of classical drug (pentostam) and investigated the effectiveness of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on Leishmania tropica parasites in both phases promastigote and amastigote in comparision to pentostam in in vitro condition.
This study showed the effects of Ag NPs in comparision to pentostam with different concentrations (0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.1 μg/ ml) on L.tropica promastigotes viability. The viability of promastigotes after 72 hr. recorded maximum cytotoxic effect of Ag NPs in highest concentration (2.1 μg/ml), it was 23.17 ± 0.45 % comparing with pentostam which was 69.33 ± 0.33 %, as well as IC50 was calculated for MTT assay and the result for Ag NPs was 1. 749 μg/ml after 72 hr., while pentostam drug did not show IC50 in all treatments.
On the other hand, the study also showed the effects of Ag NPs on L.tropica amastigote phase, and the viability was (3.10 ± 0.59 and 47.34 ± 0.87) % after 72 hr. in the highest concentration 2.1 μg/ml for Ag NPs and pentostam respectively, and IC50 was 1.148 μg/ ml for Ag NPs after 72 hr., but all results of pentostam stayed over than 50%.
Nuclear emission rates for nucleon-induced reactions are theoretically calculated based on the one-component exciton model that uses state density with non-Equidistance Spacing Model (non-ESM). Fair comparison is made from different state density values that assumed various degrees of approximation formulae, beside the zeroth-order formula corresponding to the ESM. Calculations were made for 96Mo nucleus subjected to (N,N) reaction at Emax=50 MeV. The results showed that the non-ESM treatment for the state density will significantly improve the emission rates calculated for various exciton configurations. Three terms might suffice a proper calculation, but the results kept changing even for ten terms. However, five terms is found to give
... Show MoreA quantitative description of microstructure governs the characteristics of the material. Various heat and excellent treatments reveal micro-structures when the material is prepared. Depending on the microstructure, mechanical properties like hardness, ductility, strength, toughness, corrosion resistance, etc., also vary. Microstructures are characterized by morphological features like volume fraction of different phases, particle size, etc. Relative volume fractions of the phases must be known to correlate with the mechanical properties. In this work, using image processing techniques, an automated scheme was presented to calculate relative volume fractions of the phases, namely Ferrite, Martensite, and Bainite, present in the
... Show MoreIn this study, the potential of adsorption of amoxicillin antibiotic (AMOX) from aqueous solutions using prepared activated carbon (AC) was studied. The used AC was prepared from an inexpensive and available precursor (sunflower seed hulls (SSH)) and activated by potassium hydroxide (KOH). The prepared AC was examined for its ability to remove AMOX from aqueous contaminated solutions and characterized with the aid of N2 -adsorption/desorption isotherm Brunauer–Emmett– Teller, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared. Zeta potential of the prepared activated carbon from sunflower seed hulls (SSHAC) were studied in relation to AMOX adsorption. The physical and chemical propert
... Show MoreIn this study, we present different methods of estimating fuzzy reliability of a two-parameter Rayleigh distribution via the maximum likelihood estimator, median first-order statistics estimator, quartile estimator, L-moment estimator, and mixed Thompson-type estimator. The mean-square error MSE as a measurement for comparing the considered methods using simulation through different values for the parameters and unalike sample sizes is used. The results of simulation show that the fuzziness values are better than the real values for all sample sizes, as well as the fuzzy reliability at the estimation of the Maximum likelihood Method, and Mixed Thompson Method perform better than the other methods in the sense of MSE, so that
... Show MorePiperine, a crystalline alkaloid compound isolated from Piper nigrum, piper longum, and other types of piper, has had many fabulous pharmacological advantages for preventing and treating some specific diseases, such as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antimetastatic, antithyroid, immunomodulatory, antitumor, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, Alzheimer's, and improving the bioavailability of other drugs. However, its potential for clinical use through oral usage is hindered by water solubility and poor bioavailability. The low level of oral bioavailability is caused by low solubility in water and is photosensitive, susceptible to isomerization by UV light, which causes piperine concentration to decrease. Many different
... Show MoreThe taxonomy of Ficus L., 1753 species is confusing because of the intense morphological variability and the ambiguity of the taxa. This study handled 36 macro-morphological characteristics to clarify the taxonomic identity of the taxa. The study revealed that Ficus is represented in the Egyptian gardens with forty-one taxa; 33 species, 4 subspecies and 4 varieties, and classified into five subgenera: Ficus Corner, 1960; Terega Raf., 1838; Sycomorus Raf., 1838; Synoecia (Miq.) Miq., 1867, and Spherosuke Raf.,1838; out of them seven were misidentified. Amongst, four new Ficus taxa were recently introduced to Egypt namely: F. lingua subsp. lingua Warb. ex De Wild. & T. Durand, 1901; F. pumila L., 1753; F. rumphii Blume, 1825, and F. su
... Show MoreChromium oxide (Cr2O3) doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique at different concentration ratios (0, 3, 5, 7 and 9 wt %) of ZnO on glass substrate. The effects of ZnO dopant on the average crystallite size of the synthesized nanoparticles was examined By X-ray diffraction. The morphological features were detected using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The optical band gap value was observed to range between 2.78 to 2.50 eV by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, with longer wavelength shifted in comparison with that of the bulk Cr2O3 (~3eV). Gas sensitivity, response, and recovery times of the sensor in the presence of NH3
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