The detection of fungi contaminating maize grain and the effect of four plant extracts Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus globulus Glycyrrhiza glabra and Zingiber officinale on the growth of A. flavus and its ability to produce AflatoxinB1. The results showed that the incidence of Aspergillus spp., was 52.75% of the isolated fungi, of which 29.50% was due to Aspergillus flavus, followed by Penicillium spp., with an incidence of 21.06%, and then Fusarium spp., with a rate of 18.13%. The percentage of toxin-producing A. flavus isolates reached 70.8% out of 24 isolates. The results showed the effect of alcoholic plant extracts at a concentration of 10 mg/ml on the fungal growth activity of A. flavus, the alcoholic extract of neem leaves was superi

Abdominal fat synthesizes a variety of adipokines, including vaspin and chemerin, that affect the resistance to insulin. This research was conducted to demonstrate the effect of pioglitazone, one insulin sensitizer used to decrease insulin resistance, on these adipokines in   obese patients with polycystic ovary (PCOS). Twenty-five obese women with PCOS were treated with pioglitazone 15mg/bid for 12 weeks. Modifications in fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum fasting insulin (FSI), chemerin and vaspin serum levels, follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T), and in baseline and post-therapy were assessed. Body mass index decreased without any substantial variance after 12 weeks of piogl

A new, accurate, precise and economic two spectrophotometric methods for determination of Paracetamol (Par), Ibuprofen (Ibu), and Caffeine (Caf) were suggested. Those methods were the first and second ratio derivative spectrum using a double devisor. Par, Ibu, and Caf showed many useful peaks for their quantified determination. The validity of all analysis modes for determination of the three compounds, peak to baseline, peak area and peak to peak were according to ICH. The linearity of two methods was between 5 µg/ml as a lower concentration and 50 µg/ml as the highest concentration for three compounds. Recovery percentage was around 100% and relative standard deviation was less than 2.6%. The methods were applied successfully in the

  Anthropogenic activities cause soil pollution with different serious pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) compounds. This study assessed the contamination of PAHs in soil samples collected from 30 sites divided into eight groups (residential areas, oil areas, agricultural areas, roads, petrol stations, power plants, public parks and electrical generators) in Basrah city-Iraq during 2019-2020. The soil characteristics including (moisture, pH, EC and TOC) were measured. Results showed the following ranges (soil moisture (0.03-0.18%),pH (6.90-8.16), EC (2.48-104.80) mS/cm and TOC (9.90-20.50%)). Gas Chromatography (GC) was used to measure PAHs in extracted soil samples. The total PAH range (499.96 - 5864.86) ng/g dr

Uropathogenic specific protein is a genotoxic protein targeting the DNA, leading to mutations and modifications in the normal cell's DNA and subsequently, cancer development. This study aims to determine the prevalence of the usp gene in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from females with urinary tract infections and study its correlation with biofilm formation. One hundred and five urine specimens were collected from female patients (20 to 55 years old) with urinary tract infections attending hospitals. Traditional laboratory methods using selective and differential culture media were used for initial bacterial isolation and identification, and molecular techniques that targeted a segment of the 16SrRNA gene with a specific primer pa

A simple, precise, and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been established for the analysis of doxycycline. The method includes direct charge transfer complexation of doxycycline withp-Bromanil in acetonitrileto form a colored complex. The intensely colored product formed was quantified based on the absorption band at 377 nm under optimum condition. Beer’s law is obeyed in the concentration range of 1–50 μg.mL-1 with molar absorptivity of 1.5725x104 L.mol-1.cm-1, Sandell's sensitivity index (0.0283) μg.cm-2, detection limit of 0.1064 μg.mL-1, quantification limit 0.3224 μg.mL-1 and association constant of the formed complex (0.75x103). The developed method could find application in routine quality control of doxycycline and has

The aim of this work was to estimate the concentrations of natural and artificial nuclides in some fertilized and unfertilized plant samples. These samples were collected and prepared in a petri dish for the measurements using gamma spectroscopy. The average values of 238U, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs for the unfertilized plant samples were (11.964 ± 3.226, 8.273 ± 2.639, 402.436 ± 18.099, and 2.761 ± 1.613) respectively, and for the fertilized plant samples were (30.434 ± 5.282, 22.584 ± 4.620, 711.332 ± 25.806, and 6.986 ± 2.542) respectively. The average values of radiological hazard indices, Raeq, D, D for 137Cs, (AEDE)in, (AEDE)out, Iγ, Hin, and Hout for the unfertilized plant samples were (54.782 ± 7.216, 27.306, 0.469, 0.

Background: Interleukine-2 is a multifunctional cytokine, considered a central regulator of host resistance against a variety of pathogens and has been recently demonstrated to exert an active role in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of scaling and root planning on level of IL-2 in serum and saliva of patients with chronic generalized periodontitis, in relation to clinical parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 subjects were enrolled, of which 25 had chronic generalized periodontitis and 25 periodontally healthy subjects as control. The clinical parameters included: gingival index, pocket probing depth, clinical attachment level and bleeding on probing. The level of