Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disease caused by Leishmania tropica parasite. Current treatments for this parasite are undesirable because of their toxicity, resistance, and high cost. Macrophages are key players against pathogens. Nitric oxide (NO), a molecule produce by immune cells, controls intracellular killing of pathogens during infection. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against various types of infectious diseases. It has the ability to stimulate oxygen species production.  This study aims to analyze the macrophages activation through NO production and estimate the cytotoxicity based on the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release upon exposure to L. tropica and

Selective recovery of atropine from Datura innoxia seeds was studied. Applying pertraction in a rotating film contactor (RFC) the alkaloid was successfully recovered from native aqueous extracts obtained from the plant seeds. Decane as a liquid membrane and sulfuric acid as a stripping agent were used. Pertraction from native liquid extracts provided also a good atropine refinement, since the most of co-extracted from the plant species remained in the feed or membrane solution. Solid–liquid extraction of atropine from Datura innoxia seeds was coupled with RF-pertraction in order to purify simultaneously the extract obtained from the plant. Applying the integrated process, proposed in this study, a product containing 92.6% atropine was

New series of 2-mecapto benzoxazole derivatives (1-20) incorporated into fused to different nitrogen and suphur containing heterocyclic were prepared from 2-meracpto benzoxazole, when treated with hydrazine hydrate to afford 2-hydrazino benzoxazol (1). Compound (1) converted to a variety of pyridazinone andphthalazinone derivatives (2-4) by reaction with different carboxylic anhydride. Also, reaction of (1) with phenyl isothiocyanate and ethyl chloro acetate afforded 3-phenyl-1,3-thiazolidin-2,4-dione-2-(benzoxazole-2-yl-hydrazone) (6). Azomethines (7-10) were prepared through reaction of (1) with aromatic aldehyde, then (7, 8) converted to thaizolidinone derivatives (11, 12). Treatment of (1) with active methylene compounds afforded deriva

   A microbubble air flotation technique was used to remove chromium ions from simulated wastewater (e.g. water used for electroplating, textiles, paints and pigments, and tanning leather). Experimental parameters were investigated to analyze the flotation process and determine the removal efficiency. These parameters included the location of the sampling port from the bottom of the column, where the diffuser is located to the top of flotation column (30, 60, and 90 cm), the type of surfactant (anionic, SDS, or cationic, CTAB) and its concentration (5, 10, 15, and 20 mg/L), the pH of the initial solution (3, 5, 7, 9, and 11), the initial contaminant concentration (10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/L), the gas flow rate (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 L/mi

This paper aims to validate a proposed finite element model to be adopted in predicting displacement and soil stresses of a piled-raft foundation. The proposed model adopts the solid element to simulate the raft, piles, and soil mass. An explicit integration scheme has been used to simulate nonlinear static aspects of the piled-raft foundation and to avoid the computational difficulties associated with the implicit finite element analysis.

The validation process is based on comparing the results of the proposed finite element model with those of a scaled-down experimental work achieved by other researchers. Centrifuge apparatus has been used in the experimental work to generate the required stresses to simulate t

In folk medicine there are various medicinal amalgamation possessing hepatoprotective activity. This activity is of significance because several toxins cause liver injury. Hence, many pharmaceutical companies are targeting herbal medicines for the treatment of liver abnormalities and towards evolving a safe and effective formulation with desired route of administration. In current review we have focused on the studies showing hepatoprotective effect using marine compounds and plant derived compounds. Liver disorder, a global health problem, usually include acute or chronic hepatitis, heptoses, and cirrhosis. It may be due to toxic chemicals and certain antibiotics. Uncontrolled consumption of alcohol also affects liver in an unhealthy wa

A novel encapsulated deep eutectic solvent (DES) was introduced for biodiesel production via a two-step process. The DES was encapsulated in medical capsules and were used to reduce the free fatty acid (FFA) content of acidic crude palm oil (ACPO) to the minimum acceptable level (< 1%). The DES was synthesized from methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (MTPB) and p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA). The effects pertaining to different operating conditions such as capsule dosage, reaction time, molar ratio, and reaction temperature were optimized. The FFA content of ACPO was reduced from existing 9.61% to less than 1% under optimum operating conditions. This indicated that encapsulated MTPB-DES performed high catalytic activity in FFA esterificatio

This paper presents an application of a Higher Order Shear Deformation Theory (HOST 12) to problem
of free vibration of simply supported symmetric and antisymmetric angle-ply composite laminated plates.
The theoretical model HOST12 presented incorporates laminate deformations which account for the effects
of transverse shear deformation, transverse normal strain/stress and a nonlinear variation of in-plane
displacements with respect to the thickness coordinate – thus modeling the warping of transverse crosssections more accurately and eliminating the need for shear correction coefficients. Solutions are obtained in
closed-form using Navier’s technique by solving the eigenvalue equation. Plates with varying number of

This study was designed to evaluate the ability of bioemulsifier to inhibit the growth of some pathogenic microorganisms. Fourteen isolates belonged to Serratia sp. were collected and tested for their ability to produce bioemulsifier. Results showed that Serratia marcescens S10 (isolated from the gut of the American cockroach) had the highest ability to produce bioemulsifier, among 14 isolates belong to Serratia spp. and it had the ability to inhibit the growth of some microorganisms. The production of bioemulsifier was detected by determination of emulsification index (E24%), qualitative drop-collapse test, emulsification activity (E.A) and measuring the surface tension (S.T). The results of bioemulsifier produced by Serratia marcescens S1