Portulacaria afra is a small succulent tree, previously belonging to the Portulacaceae family, but with further studies, the plant transferred to the Didieracea family. P. afra was used as an ornamental, vegetable, and ethnomedicinal plant. Uses of the plant by rural South Africans to treat chronic skin conditions and rashes, alleviate exhaustion, and aid in treating TB and diarrhea have been documented in folklore. According to pharmaceutical research, plant extracts off er a wide range of remedial outcomes, such as antidiabetic, antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-infl ammatory. The study aims to determine some bioactive constituents responsible for pharmacological activities and traditional usefulness. Th

 Abstract

This paper is an experimental work to determinate the effect of welding velocity and formed arc energy for CO2-MAG fusion weld pool. The input parameters (arc voltage, wire feed speed and gas flow rate) were investigated to find their effects on the weld joint efficiency. Design of experiment with response surface methodology technique was used to build empirical mathematical models for welding velocity and arc energy in term of the input welding parameters. The predicted quadratic models were statistically checked for adequacy purpose by ANOVA analysis. Additionally, numerical optimization was conducted to obtain the optimum values for welding velocity and arc energy. A good agree

Background: elastomeric impression materials are indicated when a high degree of accuracy is required, due to their excellent properties like details reproduction, dimensional stability and tear strength but with main two disadvantages those are their hydrophilicity as well as the absence of antibacterial activity. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of incorporation of 0.5% wt Ag-Zn zeolite into condensation silicone through the following tests; setting time, dimensional stability, reproduction of details, wettability, and hardness . Materials and methods: one hundred specimens were constructed of condensation silicone, divided into two groups for the first 50 specimens one0.5% by wt Ag -Zn zeolite was added, keeping the other fifty sp

Interleukin-38 (IL-38), an inflammatory cytokine discovered in recent years, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). IL-38 is encoded by the IL1F10 (interleukin 1 family member 10) gene. Genetic variants of this gene have been associated with susceptibility to a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, while their association with SLE risk has not been explored. In this case–control study, two novel variants of the 5 prime untranslated region (5′UTR) of the IL1F10 gene, rs3811050 C/T and rs3811051 T/G, were investigated

Objective: This experiment was conducted to study the effects of ionized water on certain egg quality traits and the levels of proteins and enzymes in the blood of the Japanese quail Coturnix japonica . Materials and Methods: One hundred 42-day-old quail were randomly distributed among five treatment groups with four replicates for each group. The following treatments were used: T1 (control): The birds were provided normal water, T2: The birds were provided alkaline water (pH = 8), T3: The birds were provided alkaline water (pH = 9), T4: The birds were provided acidic water (pH = 6) and T5: The birds were provided acidic water (pH = 5). A Complete Randomized Design (CRD) was used to investigate the effects of the studied treatments on diffe

Various heavy metals, cations and anions of the Tigris River water in Baghdad regionwere studied during the winter, spring, summer and autumn of 2009, for 4 samplingsites. In the present investigation the levels of studied heavy metals, cations and anionswere found in the range of (0.011-0.333 mg/L) for As, in the water samples(undetectable-0.0043 mg/L) for Sb,( 0.011-0.080 mg/L) for Ti, (0.150-0.730 mg/L) forV, (0.01-1.06 mg/L) for Fe, (0.1-0.4 mg/L) for Zn, (0.011-0.15 mg/L) for Pb, (0.01-0.05mg/L) for Cd, (0.01-0.04 mg/L) for Ni, (50-290 mg/L) for Ca, (97-270 mg/L) for Mg,(0.65-1.74 mg/L) for K, (11-38.33) for Na, (35-113 mg/L) for Cl, (150-256 mg/L) forHCO3, (96-479 mg/L) for SO4, (0.93-3.9 mg/L) for NO3 and (undetectable - 0.360 mg/L)f

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is a heterogeneous disorder and its etiology appears to be complex and multifactorial; characterized by hyperandrogenism, chronic anovulation and infertility. It’s associated with evidence of low-grade chronic inflammation, as indicated by the presence of elevated levels of high sensitive C- reactive protein levels, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α. The source of excess circulating tumor necrosis factor-α in obese Polycystic ovary syndrome patient is likely to be the adipose tissues while in lean women increased visceral adiposity has been proposed as a source of excess tumor necrosis factor-α.Objectives: to evaluate the levels of high sensitive C- reactive protein, tumor necrosis facto

Background/Aim: Knee osteoarthritis is a frequently crippling chronic condition. Numerous pharmacological medications have been successfully utilised to treat knee osteoarthritis. This research aimed to compare the efficiency of metformin and serratiopeptidase in treating and preventing osteoarthritis development via distinct mechanisms. Methods: Between 1 January and 30 May 2019, a randomised-clinical-trial was done at Al-Kindy Hospital on 80 osteoarthritis patients, divided in two groups. Group I was given metformin 850 mg orally, whereas Group II was given serratiopeptidase 20 mg and metformin 850 mg orally. Parameters in these groups were compared with forty healthy normal controls. Results: Following treatment, patients in Grou