Given the paucity and toxicity of available drugs for leishmaniasis, coupled with the advent of drug resistance, the discovery of new therapies for this neglected tropical disease is recognised as being of the utmost urgency. As such antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been proposed as promising compounds against the causative Leishmania species, insect vector-borne protozoan parasites. Here the AMP temporins A, B and 1Sa have been synthesised and screened for activity against Leishmania mexicana insect stage promastigotes and mammalian stage amastigotes, a significant cause of human cutaneous disease. In contrast to previous studies with other species the activity of these AMPs against L. mexicana amastigotes was low. This suggests that ama

Abstract his study involved evaluation of side effects of two weight reduction pills that had been widely distributed in the last period. Two weight reduction compounds are studied, Reductil (containing chemical substances) and Chinese’s weight reduction herbs (containing natural substances). Two doses for each compound are used in this research; 5mg/ml and 0.5mg/ml for Reductil, while 30mg/ml and 10mg/ml for Chinese weight reduction herbs. To evaluate the toxic effects of these compounds, the following parameters were determined which include mitotic index (cytogenetic analysis), serum FSH and LH hormones level (follicles stimulation hormone/FSH and lutenising hormone/LH) and histological examination of female mice ovaries. Control group

The shear strength of soil is one of the most important soil properties that should be identified before any foundation design. The presence of gypseous soil exacerbates foundation problems. In this research, an approach to forecasting shear strength parameters of gypseous soils based on basic soil properties was created using Artificial Neural Networks. Two models were built to forecast the cohesion and the angle of internal friction. Nine basic soil properties were used as inputs to both models for they were considered to have the most significant impact on soil shear strength, namely: depth, gypsum content, passing sieve no.200, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, water content, dry unit weight, and initial

In this research the relation between skin resistances and standard penetration test of over consolidated
clay soils has been studied. The research includes doing boreholes at Babil governorate in Iraq to get
undisturbed samples and standard penetration test. Determination skin friction from direct shear test between
smooth concrete and soil was explored in laboratory for design purposes and correlated with standard
penetration test values. In many foundation design problems, the shear strength between soil and
foundation materials were estimated or correlated without any direct methods for measurement.
Twelve strain controlled direct shear tests were performed simulate the shear strength interaction
between smooth c

The optical properties for the components CuIn(SexTe1-x)2 thin films with both values of selenium content (x) [0.4 and 0.6] are studied. The films have been prepared by the vacuum thermal evaporation method with thickness of (250±5nm) on glass substrates. From the transmittance and absorbance spectra within the range of wavelength (400-900)nm, we determined the forbidden optical energy gap (Egopt) and the constant (B). From the studyingthe relation between absorption coefficient (α) photon energy, we determined the tails width inside the energy gap.
The results showed that the optical transition is direct; we also found that the optical energy gap increases with annealing temperature and selenium content (x). However, the width of l

The present research  investigates joints welding of 304L austenitic stainless steel using metal inert gas (MIG) welding method. The research explores the effect of process parameters (arc voltage, wire feed rate, and electrode wire diameter) on the mechanical properties of stainless steel.  The above variables are varied  respectively with 18.5, 19, 19.5 V, 116, 127, 137 mm/s, and 0.8, 1, 1.2 mm, with E308L as a filler electrode. The design matrix of the experiments was determined using the design of experiment (DOE) program Minitab 17 based on the levels of input elements used. The Taguchi orthogonal matrix methodology (Taguchi) technique was used to develop some empirical analysis for the maximum tensile strength and proper surface

Carbides or nitrides thin films present materials with good mechanical properties for industrial applications as they can be coatings at low temperatures serve temperature sensitive surfaces. In this work the effect of the C percentage on the mechanical properties represented by the Young modulus (E) of combinatorial magnetron sputtered TiC_x (34%x˂65%) has been studied. The structure of the produced films is TiC independent on the C concentration. The mechanical properties are increased with increasing the C concentration up to 50%, and then decreasing with further C % increasing. These results can be explained by considering the resultant residual stresses.