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 removal of turbidity from produced water by chemical coagulation/flocculation method using locally available coagulants was investigated. Aluminum sulfate (alum) is selected as a primary coagulant, while calcium hydroxide (lime) is used as a coagulant aid. The performance of these coagulants was studied through jar test by comparing turbidity removal at different coagulant/ coagulants aid ratio, coagulant dose, water pH, and sedimentation time. In addition, an attempt has been made to examine the relationship between turbidity (NTU) and total suspended solids (mg/L) on the same samples of produced water. The best conditions for turbidity removal can be obtained at 75% alum+25% lime coagulant at coagulant dose of 80 m
... Show MoreNew complexes were synthesized with Schiff base tetradentate ligand (L). The ligand was synthesized by the condensation reaction of the dimedone with 2-hydroxybenzohydrazide. The formula of complexes [M(L) (H2O)2].Cl2, where M represents Mn(II), Ni(II) Cu(II), [Co(L)Cl.H2O]Cl and [Zn(L)(H2O)2]Cl2.2H2O. The ligand was identified using m.p., UV-Vis, FT-IR, Mass, 1H-NMR, and C.H.N. These complexes were characterized using techniques including infrared, UV-Vis absorption, magnetic susceptibility, molar conductivity, elemental analyses, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), chloride content determination using Mohr’s method, and atomic absorption spectroscopy. The measurements revealed that the complexes are electrolytic. FT-IR results dem
... Show MoreBackground: The beneficial gut bacterium E. coli can cause blood poisoning, diarrhoea, and other gastrointestinal and systemic disorders. Objective: This study amid to examines the antibiofilm activity of Laurus nobilis leaves extract on E. coli isolates and compares pre- and post-treatment gene expression of fimA and papC genes. Subjects and Methods: Ten isolates of E. coli were obtained from the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Institute, University of Baghdad, which was previously collected from Baghdad city hospitals and diagnosed by chemical tests, the diagnosis was confirmed using VITEK-2 System. The preparation of the aqueous and methanolic Laurus nobilis leaves extracts was done by using the maceration method and Soxhlet appara
... Show MoreThe research includes a clinical study of Arginase and its relation with uterine fibroid. The normal value of arginase activity in female serum was found to be (0.52 ± 0.02 IU/L) in healthy group at age (35-55) years. The study also showed a highly significant increase in arginase activity (7.99 ± 0.23 IU/L) in serum of uterine fibroid patients group at (35-55years) in comparison to healthy.The results also indicated a highly significant increase in the level of progesterone, estradiol, prolactin, peroxynitrite and malondialdehyde in patients group. While a highly significant decrease in concentration of adiponectin in patients group was found in comparison to healthy.
Thermal decomposition of used tires was studied under atmospheric pressure and thermal heating program up to 350 °C for 110-120 min in a glass reactor. The effects of using MgO or SiO2 as catalyst in the thermal pyrolysis of tires waste on the yield ratio, reaction time, initial degree of decomposition also the contents of BTEX compounds in resulting pyrolytic oil was estimated via GC-FID. The results showed that the MgO catalyst gave a gas output in proportion of 17.063%, a liquid in a proportion of 38.245% and a solid product in proportion of 44.733%, while the SiO2 catalyst gave proportions of 14.308%, 40.161% and 45.448% for gas, liquid and solid products respectively. The results revealed that the thermal pyrolysis produced minor cont
... Show MoreCorncob is an agricultural biomass waste that was widely investigated as an adsorbent of contaminants after transforming it into activated carbon. In this research carbonization and chemical activation processes were achieved to synthesize corncob-activated carbon (CAC). Many pretreatment steps including crushing, grinding, and drying to obtain corncob powder were performed before the carbonization step. The carbonization of corncob powder has occurred in the absence of air at a temperature of 500 °C. The chemical activation was accomplished by using HCl as an acidic activation agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) facilitate
... Show MoreThe objective of study was determining the most prevalent Salmonella spp. and their antimicrobial susceptibility in broilers and laying chickens and their feed and drinking water in five chicken farms in Karbala, Iraq over the period from August to October 2020. A total of 289 samples, including 217 cloaca swabs, 46 water and 26 feed samples were collected. Salmonella spp. was identified firstly by routine diagnostic methods, followed by applying the API 20E kit, the Vitek2 system, and serology. There was significant differences in Salmonella prevalence among different types of samples, mainly cloaca swabs reported a high isolation rate (21.7%). In contrast, feed samples were completely free of contamination. The highest rate of isolation w
... Show MoreBackground: First six to twelve months after initial urinary tract infection, most infections are caused by Escherichiacoli, although in the first year of life Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter spp andEnterococcus spp, are more frequent than later in life, and there is a higher risk of urosepsis compared with adulthood
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of bacterial isolates from Urinary Tract Infections of children at a children hospital in Baghdad and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns.
Type of the study: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: During six months of study (1 June to 31 Dece
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