Background: Pumpkin seeds are a valuable source of high-quality protein and can be utilized as functional food ingredients due to their properties, such as solubility, foam formation, and stability. This study aims to produce protein isolate and its enzymatic hydrolysates from local pumpkin seeds to study their properties. Methodology: Preparing defatted pumpkin seeds for protein extraction, followed by the enzymes’ hydrolysis using Trypsin and Pepsin enzymes separately and together in two methods. The determination of amino acids and the degree of hydrolysis was conducted; moreover, protein properties were studied, including solubility, emulsifying activity, stability index, foaming capacity, and stability. Results: A protein sample was successfully produced from local, peeled, non-soaked pumpkin seeds, yielding a protein percentage of 53.15%. Enzymatic protein hydrolysates were produced at different times. Essential and non-essential amino acids were determined. The functional properties of protein samples and protein hydrolysates were studied, including solubility at various pH levels. The higher emulsifying capacity was observed for the enzymatic hydrolysate using pepsin, while the protein sample dissolved in pH 8 had higher emulsifying stability. The enzymatic hydrolysate produced using pepsin exhibited the highest foaming capacity, while a mixed enzyme (Ma) (pepsin + trypsin) showed a higher foaming capacity and stability. Conclusion: Pumpkin seed protein has numerous nutritional values that can be utilized in the preparation of protein-rich foods for athletes and as a source of Nitrogen in microbial culturing media.
During infection, T. gondii disseminates by the circulatory system and establishes chronic infection in several organs. Almost third of humans, immunosuppressed individuals such as HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, and organ transplant recipients are exposed to toxoplasmosis. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the possibility that Toxoplasma infection could be a risk factor for COVID-19 patients and its possible correlation with C-reactive protein and ferritin. Overall 220 patients referred to the Al Furat General Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq were enrolled from 2020–2021. All serum samples were tested for T. gondii immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) antibodies, C-reactive protein and ferritin levels. In patients with COVID-19, the results
... Show More
(3)
Background Cadmium (Cd), one of the most abundant heavy metals, is extremely toxic to both humans and animals. hIt is well known that zinc (Zn) administration reduces Cd-induced toxicity and that metallothioneins can have a protective effect in biological systems to mitigate Cd toxicity. Objective The aim of the current study to determine if Zn administration affected the induction of MT-1 and MT-2 in the liver tissue in mice exposed to Cd. Materials and methods Metallothionein protein (MT) level in the tissue of male mice were detected using the anion -exchang high-performance liquid chromatography coupled (HPLC)assay and immunohistochemical staining. Results Single treatment to zinc or cadmium increase the level of MT in the liver, but zi
... Show MoreThyroid hormones (TH) regulate the metabolic processes required for normal development and growth; also, to organizemetabolism in adults, any defect in thyroid function leads to abnormality in thyroid hormones level. The current study hasbeen designed to find the relationship between retinol-binding protein-4 and progranulin in the serum of Iraqi women withhypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, also, to study whether these patients are exposed to a risk of developing diabetes mellitus,and PGRN may be a biomarker in detection early stage of diabetes mellitus.Materials and Methods: in this study, serum samples were obtained from 50 Iraqis women patients, [25 patients withhypothyroidism (G2) and 25 patients with hyperthyroidism (G3)] in addition
... Show More
(4)
The research aims to study the elements of attraction in television advertising and determine their relationship to consumer preferences, the extent to which the sample (250) watches television advertisements, and the motives for viewing. Males and females, and the statistical program spss was used to analyze the results using percentages, arithmetic mean, correlation coefficients ch2, Pearson’s coefficient and Alpha Cronbach for the stability of the test, and the research came to the conclusion that the percentage of watching television advertisements is good motivated by the identification of new goods and services in the market, as advertisements sometimes achieve consumer preferences, and the most prominent The forms that a
... Show MoreLevofloxacin belongs to the fluoroquinolone family; it is a potent broad-spectrum bactericidal agent. The pharmacophore required for significant antibacterial activity is the C-3 carboxylic acid group and the 4-pyridine ring with the C-4 carbonyl group, into which binding to the DNA bases occur. In this work, we tried to show that by masking the carboxyl group through amide formation using certain amines to form levofloxacin carboxamides, an interesting activity is kept. Levofloxacin carboxamides on the C-3 group were prepared, followed by the formation of their copper complexes. The target compounds were characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the target compounds was evaluated and showed satisfactory resu
... Show MoreIn order to evaluate the effect of seed size, plant growth regulators and some chemical materials on seed vigour and seedling growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.) an experiment was conducted in 2015 at Laboratories of Agriculture and Marshes College, University of Thi-Qar. Factorial experiment in CRD was used with four replications in two factors. The first factor included three seed sizes (4.6-5.1, 5.2-5.7 and 5.8-6.3 mm). The second factor was seeds soaking treatments (KNO3 6 gl-1, CaCl2 20 gl-1, salicylic acid 20 mg l-1, cytokinin 40 mg l-1, gibberllic acid 400 mg l-1, ascorbic acid 40 mg l-1 and seeds soaked in distilled water). The results showed that the largest seed size influenced significantly and gave the higher averages of germinatio
... Show MorePolymeric hollow fiber membrane is produced by a physical process called wet or dry/wet phase inversion; a technique includes many steps and depends on different factors (starting from selecting materials, end with post-treatment of hollow fiber membrane locally manufactured). This review highlights the most significant factors that affect and control the characterization and structure of ultrafiltration hollow fiber membranes used in different applications.
Three different types of polymers (polysulfone PSF, polyethersulfone PES or polyvinyl chloride PVC) were considered to study morphology change and structure of hollow fiber membranes in this review. These hollow fiber membranes were manufactured with different pro
... Show More
The preliminary test of the compounds N [2– (3,4–dimethoxy nitrobenzene oxazepine– 2,3–dihydro–4,7–dione]–5–mercupto–2–amino–1,3,4–thiadiazol [A] and N [ 2–anthralidene– 5– ( 2–nitrophenyl ) –1,3–oxazepine–4,7–dione–2–d](5–mercapto–1,3,4–thiadiazole–2–amin) [B] , showed that they possess high activity against some positive and negative bacteria , like pseudomonas aeruginosa (pseudo.), Escherichia coli (E-coli), staphylococcus aureus (sta.) and Bacillus subtilis (Ba.) and finally there is a study of the effect of some antibiotics like streptomycin (S), gentamycin (GN), chloramphenicol (C) and Nalitixic acid (NA) in order to compare the differences in effects. In the present study, results
... Show MoreSpecies of genus Chrotogonus (surface grasshoppers) are phytophagous and damaging to various economical important plants in their seedling stages. In order to know the biodiversity of surface grasshoppers, the detailed study has been conducted from four provinces of Pakistan. During this study, biodiversity, taxonomy, diagnosis, morphometric analysis, habitat, global distribution, and remarks of each species have been described. Total of 826 specimens were collected and sorted out into three species and three subspecies: C. (Chrotogonus) homalodemus homalodemus (Blanchard, 1836), C. (Chrotogonus) homalodemus (Blanchard, 1836), C. (Chrotogonus) trachypter
... Show More
(3)
(1)