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 complete genome sequence of bacteriophage VPUSM 8 against O1 El Tor Inaba
Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a North American natural fruit. consumed as food and used for health promotion and prevention of various diseases. Aim. The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of cranberry fruit extract on nephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin in mice by measuring selected oxidative stress markers. Methods. Twenty-eight male albino mice were used in this study. The animals were divided into 4 groups as follows: Group I [Negative Control]/orally-administered normal saline for 7 successive days; Group II [Orally-administered cranberry fruit extract alone (200 mg/kg) for 7 successive days; Group III/Mice IP injection with cisplatin (12mg/kg) on day 7 and; Group IV [Orally-administered cr
... Show MoreOver the past few decades, the health benefits are under threat as many commonly used antibiotics have become less and less effective against certain illnesses not only because many of them produce toxic reactions but also due to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. The clinical use of a combination of antibiotic therapy for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections is probably more effective than monotherapy. The present study aims to estimate the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of Conocarpus erectus leaves extracts against multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa isolated from different hospitals in Baghdad city. One hundred fifty different clinical specimens were collected from patients from September 2021 to January 2022. All samples were
... Show MorePsoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory condition that primarily affects the skin, hair, and joints and is associated with significant humanistic and economic consequences. This work induced psoriasis in mice using an imiquimod 5% cream, an immune response modifier that can cause psoriasis-like skin inflammation when given orally. Paquinimod is prepared as an ointment and has been topically given to mice before imiquimod application. In this study, albino mice were allocated into five groups and treated as follows: the control group received only a daily application of cream based on shaved back (62.5mg/2cm) with a daily topical dose of ointment for 14 consecutive days with the oral vehicle. The Imiquimod group received a daily topical
... Show MoreSpinach, Spinacia oleracea L is a popular vegetable belonging to the family Chenopodiaceae. This study was concerned with extraction of compounds in Iraqi spinach leaves, preliminary phytochemical evaluation, identification of two biological important flavonols, quercetin and kaempferol in spinach leaves and evaluation of the protective effect of aqueous spinach extract on methotrexate (MTX) induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The percentage yield of extraction procedure, identification of spinach by chemical tests and identification of flavonols by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were fully described in this study. The results indicate that the percentage of quarce
... Show MoreThe use of medicinal plant preparations to clean and disinfect root canal infection is gaining popularity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bioactive composition of leaf extracts of Moringa oleifera plants cultivated in Iraq (specifically Baghdad) and their antimicrobial activity against selected root canal pathogens for potential application in endodontic treatment. Materials and Methods. Moringa leaf extracts were prepared either through cold maceration or warm digestion techniques to perform an ethanolic or aqueous extraction, respectively. Phytochemical detection was performed before thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to measure flavonoids and phenolic compounds within both
... Show MoreThe main aim of this study was to molecular identification and determine the antagonistic impact of rhizosphere Trichoderma spp. against some phytopathogenic fungi, including (Magnaporthe grisea) pyricularia oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani and Macrophomina phasolina. Four Trichoderma isolates were isolated from rhizosphere soils of the different host plants in different locations of Egyptian governorates. The morphological characterization of isolated Trichoderma as well as using of (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) ribosomal gene sequence acquisition and data analyses. By comparing the results of DNA sequences of ITS region, the fungi represented one isolate were positively identified as T. asperellum (1 isolate T1) and one as T. longibrachiatum (1 isolate T2)
... Show MoreThe extraction of Cupressus sempervirens L. or cypress essential oil was studied in this paper. This cypress oil was extracted by using the hydro-distillation method, using a clevenger apparatus. Cupressus sempervirens L. leaves were collected from Hit city in Al-Anbar province – Iraq. The influences of three important parameters on the process of oil extraction; water which used as a solvent to the solid ratio (5:1 and 14:1 (ml solvent/g plant), temperature (30 to 100 °C) and processing time, were examined to obtain the best processing conditions to achieve the maximum yield of the essential oil. Also, the mathematical model was described to calculate the mass transfer coefficient. Therefore, the best conditions, that were obtained in
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