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 fung

An investigation was conducted effect of addition co- solvent on solvent extraction process for two types of a lubricating oil fraction (spindle) and (SAE-30) obtained from vacuum distillation unit of lube oil plant of Daura Refinery. In this study two types of co-solvents ( formamide and N-methyl, 2, pyrrolidone) were blended with furfural to extract aromatic hydrocarbons which are the undesirable materials in raw lubricating oil, in order to improve the viscosity index, viscosity and yield of produced lubricating oil. The studied operating condition are extraction temperature range from 70 to 110 °C for formamide and 80 to 120 °C for N-methyl, 2, pyrrolidone, solvent to oil ratio range from 1:1 to 2:1 (wt./wt.) for furfural with form

Objective: To evaluate nurses' practices toward coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients in the
intensive care units (ICU) and to find out the relationship with some vanables.
Methodology: A purposive sample of (50) staff nurses was selected out of three hospitals for cardiac surgery.
The study instmment consisted of two major sections was constructed. It is based on the review of literature.
First it is concerned with demographic data for nurses; and the second section is observationaL tool (checklist) is
composed of six parts in which there mere (78) items. Reliability and validity of the observational checklist were
determined through the analysis of a pilot study.
Data were collected through the use of the

Sickle cell disease (SCD) comprises an inherited blood disorder that is life long and affects many people globally. In spite of the development in treatment, SCA is a considerable cause of mortality and morbidity. The present study tries to assess the role of leukocytes represented by β integrin(CD18) and platelets and their productivity in the pathogenicity of disease during  the steady state and crisis in comparison with the healthy as-control group, SCD patients (15) enrolled during crisis and steady state (follow up) showed a significant increase in leukocytes and platelets cells productivity during crisis when compared to the steady state and in the steady state when compared to the healthy control group . In this study, SCD patho

This article studied some linear and nonlinear optical characteristics of different pH solutions from anthocyanin dye extract at 180 oC from red cabbage. First, the linear spectral characteristics, including absorption and transmittance in the range 400-800 nm for anthocyanin solution 5% v/v with different pHs, were achieved utilizing a UV/VIS spectrophotometer. The experimental results reveal a shift in the absorption toward the longer wavelength direction as pH values increment. Then, the nonlinear features were measured using the Z-scan technique with a CW 532 nm laser to measure the nonlinear absorption coefficient through an open aperture. A close aperture (diameter 2 mm) calculates the nonlinear refractive index. The open Z-scan sh

Fluconazole was used to test the susceptibility of Candida albicans isolated from different clinical samples, and to detect mutations in ERG11 gene, and their relationship to fluconazole resistance. Forty-eight isolates of Candida albicans were tested for susceptibility using the disc diffusion method (M-44). ERG11 genes of six isolates were amplified (four resistant, two susceptible) and sequenced. The sequenced genes were analyzed to detect the mutations. Out of 48 isolates of Candida albicans, 4 (8%) were resistant to fluconazole. Sixteen-point mutations were detected included 13 silent mutations, and three missense mutations. The mutations of A945C (E266D) and G1609A (V488I) were found only in susceptible Candida albicans isolates, whil

Animal fats are a good, promising and ethical alternative source for biodiesel production, but they need more complex treatments than vegetable oils. Iraqi butchery plants waste fats (sheep fat) which are suggested as feedstock to produce biodiesel. This type of fat contains a large quantity of free fatty acids (FFAs) (acid number 49.13 mg KOH/g of fat). The direct transesterification of such fats produce high amount of soap instead of desired biodiesel, so a pre-treatment step (to reduce FFAs) is necessary before transesterification. This step was done by esterification of the free fatty acids in the fat by adding ethanol and using 1% acid catalyst (H2SO4) for 30 minutes. The results showed that the acid number of sheep fat after pre-tr