Background: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the tested oil against the fungus. The combination of the oil extract of Nasturtium officinale with calcium hydroxide was evaluated and compared to calcium hydroxide paste with iodoform by using the agar well diffusion method. Results: The oil extract exhibited antifungal activity against Candida albicans, this activity was found to be increased as the concentration of extract increased. The tested combination of watercress oil extract with calcium hydroxide revealed larger inhibition zones than the ones formed by each tested agent individually. Conclusion: The oil extract of Nasturtium officinale is active against Candida albicans suggesting its potential to be used as an intracanal medicament alone or in combination with calcium hydroxide.
The present study was undertaken in order to investigate the role of gentamicin in the gene expression of toxA in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cow mastitis. A total of ten P. aeruginosa strains originally isolated from cows infected with mastitis. Agar dilution methodology was performed to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration of gentamicin, all of which developed resistance toward gentamicin. The findings presented here demonstrated that all these strains harboured toxA depending on PCR-based assay. Nonetheless, RT-PCR technique revealed a wide variation in expression of toxA. Moreover, the cultivation of P. aeruginosa in the presence of gentamicin, significantly (P< 0.05), induced the expression of toxA, in addition to th
... Show Moreتعد الموازنة الأداة الأساسية لتنفيذ أولويات أية دولة، ويتوجب النظر إليها في ضوء المناخ الاجتماعي والسياسي والاقتصادي، لأنها تساعد في توجيه الاقتصاد لتحقيق النمو ورفع مستوى الرفاهية. اعتمدت وزارة المالية في أعداد الموازنة السنوية بعد 9/4/ 2003 أسلوباً مغايراً لما كان معتمداً في العقود الماضية، إذ كانت هناك موازنتين الأولى الموازنة الجارية، والثانية الموازنة الاستثمارية رغم وجود قانون يحتم إصدار موازنة
... Show MoreStripping is one of the major distresses within asphalt concrete pavements caused due to penetration of water within the interface of asphalt-aggregate matrix. In this work, one grade of asphalt cement (40-50) was mixed with variable percentages of three types of additives (fly ash, fumed silica, and phosphogypsum) to obtained an modified asphalt cement to resist the effect of stripping phenomena .The specimens have been tested for physical properties according to AASHTO. The surface free energy has been measured by using two methods namely, the wilhelmy technique and the Sessile drop method according to NCHRP-104
procedures. Samples of asphalt concrete using different asphalt cement and modified asphalt cement percentages(4.1,4.6 an
Due to the significance of hospital drinking water, a study was done to assess the water in three hospitals in Baghdad (Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital, and Ibn-Al-Nafis Hospital) for its nature and quality, compare it to other hospitals in terms of its physical, chemical, and bacterial specifications, and compare it to international standards. According to Iraqi standards from 2009 and WHO standards from 2011, Chemical factors were measured, which included pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), and Calcium Ion (Ca+2). Reported readings are all within acceptable ranges for drinking water. In contrast, turbidity, total hardness (T.H.), chlorides (Cl-), magnesium (Mg+2), the number of aerobic plates (APC), total coliform (T
... Show MoreEpoxy resin has many chemical features and mechanical properties, but it has a small elongation at break, low impact strength and crack propagation resistance, i.e. it exhibits a brittle behavior. In the current study, the influence of adding kaolin with variable particle size on the mechanical properties (flexural modulus E, toughness Gc, fracture toughness Kc, hardness HB, and Wear rate WR) of epoxy resin was evaluated. Composites of epoxy with varying concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 weights %) of kaolin were prepared by hand-out method. The composites showed improved (E, Gc, Kc, HB, and WR) properties with the addition of filler. Also, similar results were observed with the decrease in particle size. In addition, in this study, mult
... Show MoreIn this study NiO - CoO bimetallic catalysts are prepared with two Ni/Co ratios (70:30 and 80: 20) using the precipitation method of nitrate salts. The effects of Ni /Co ratio and preparation methods on the catalyst are analyzed by using different characterization techniques, i.e. atomic absorption (AA) , XRD, surface area and pore volume measurements according to the BET method . The results indicate that the best catalyst is the one containing the percentage of Ni :Co ( 70 : 30 ). Experiments indicate that the optimal conditions to prepare catalyst are stirring for three hours at a temperature of 60oC of the preparation , pH= (8-9) , calcination temperature at 400oC for two hours
... Show MoreIn this study, the effect of Nd: YAG laser on the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and alcoholdehydrogenase (ADH) was investigated. The Saccharomyces cells were irradiated using 532nm Q-Switched Nd: YAG laser with (1Hz) frequency. Different fluences 11.3, 22.6 and 33.9mJ/cm2 and different number of pulses 15, 30 and 60 pulse were used. The irradiated cells were incubated in a liquid nutritive medium for 24 hours. After incubation, the cells were harvested and disrupted to extract the intracellular enzymes and their activities were assessed. In comparison with the control, the irradiated cells showed a significant increase in the activity and the specific activity of SOD at energy densities of 11.3 and 22.6mJ/cm2 at 30 and 60 pulses
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