Medicinal plants contain bioactive substances that are highly bioavailable in extracts or pure molecules, making them promising for therapeutic applications and precursors for chemo-pharmaceutical semi-synthesis. Harpagophytum procumbens (Devil’s Claw) is widely recognized as one of the most potent therapeutic herbs. This study aimed to extract seeds from H. procumbens using two types of solvents and to assess both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the extracts. The two extracts were evaluated for antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities using agar well diffusion assays against four bacterial isolates and two yeast isolates. Qualitative analysis identified the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and terpenoids. The active components detected were: alkaloids (12.69%), flavonoids (3.25%), total phenolic compounds (24.58%), total terpenoids (8.55%), and total steroids (1.25% for methanolic and 4.55% for petroleum ether). Both methanolic and petroleum ether extracts exhibited antioxidant activities of approximately 85.33% and 74.19%, respectively, compared to ascorbic acid, which had an antioxidant effect of 67.99% at a concentration of 200 µg/ml. The extracts demonstrated a broad spectrum of activity against all tested bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes) and fungi (Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis). At a concentration of 1000 µg/ml, the seed extracts showed the highest bactericidal activity, with inhibition zones ranging from 10 to 22 mm. Moreover, both extracts exhibited greater anti-biofilm activity at 1000 µg/ml compared to lower concentrations. Our study found that seed extracts of H. procumbens possess significant antibacterial and antioxidant activities, particularly at a concentration of 1000 µg/ml.
Form of investment in infrastructure important factor to drive economic growth in any country, with the dwindling ability of governments to provide the necessary funds for such investments, emerged as a rising trend for private sector involvement in public projects and infrastructure, and one of these trends is the build-operate-transfer system (BOT), which commonly used in various developed and developing countries as one of the tools used in the implementation of these investments, as the private sector under this system design, finance, build and operate the project, and are re-administration of the state after a certain period under a contractual agreement between the parties of the contract. As this system provides majo
... Show MoreIn this paper, a theoretical study of the energy spectra and the heat capacity of one electron quantum dot with Gaussian Confinement in an external magnetic field are presented. Using the exact diagonalization technique, the Hamiltonian of the Gaussian Quantum Dot (GQD) including the electron spin is solved. All the elements in the energy matrix are found in closed form. The eigenenergies of the electron were displayed as a function of magnetic field, Gaussian confinement potential depth and quantum dot size. Explanations to the behavior of the quantum dot heat capacity curve, as a function of external applied magnetic field and temperature, are presented.
The increasing complexity of how humans interact with and process information has demonstrated significant advancements in Natural Language Processing (NLP), transitioning from task-specific architectures to generalized frameworks applicable across multiple tasks. Despite their success, challenges persist in specialized domains such as translation, where instruction tuning may prioritize fluency over accuracy. Against this backdrop, the present study conducts a comparative evaluation of ChatGPT-Plus and DeepSeek (R1) on a high-fidelity bilingual retrieval-and-translation task. A single standardize prompt directs each model to access the Arabic-language news section of the College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, retrieve the three most r
... Show MoreCitrus fruit contain variety of flavonoids such as Hesperidin (the principal flavonoid in oranges and grapefruit). Hesperidin is found in high concentration in fruit peel of oranges and in substantially lower concentration in juice of these fruits. Hesperidin was extracted from oranges peel by treating the peels with calcium hydroxide. HPLC technique was used to determine hesperidin. Hesperidin was saperated and purified in a purity of about 90.1-95.7% and yield about 1.5 %w/w from oranges peel dry powder. Both hesperidin and oranges peel extract showed significan antibacterial activity. Sensitivity to hesperidin and oranges peel extracts were not similar for the chosen bacteriaCrude orange peel extract gave a various antimicro
... Show MoreAim: The aim of this study is to determine the correlation between levels of certain seminal biochemical parameters and serum reproductive hormones, on the one hand, and sperm function tests, on the other hand, in asthenospermic patients. Patients and Methods: Sixty asthenospermic patients and twenty fertile men as a control group were included in this study. Semen samples were collected to perform seminal fluid analysis. Total protein, cholesterol, calcium, creatine kinase, and fructose were measured in the seminal plasma. Blood samples were collected for hormonal assay of serum reproductive hormones: testosterone, prolactin, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone. Results: The results revealed a significant positive correla
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to investigate the sedimentation environments and diagenetic processes of the Ibrahim Formation (Oligocene-early Miocene) in Zurbatiya, eastern Iraq. The Ibrahim Formation is comprised mostly of clayey micrite and skeletal grains composed of planktonic foraminifera, calcispheres, radiolaria, and benthic foraminifera. Glauconite and pyrite were documented in some restricted zones of this formation; they reflect quiet and reducing conditions. Radiolaria were identified in Late-Oligocene which was not known previously at this age regionally in carbonate formations of the Arabian Plate (AP). Mudstone, wackestone, and planktonic foraminiferal wackepackstone are the main microfacies that are affected by dissolutio
... Show MoreThe study aimed to recommend a new spectrophotometric-kinetic method for determination of carbamazepine (CABZ) in its pure form and pharmaceutical forms. The proposed procedure based on the coupling of CABZ with diazotized sulfanilic acid in basic medium to yield a colored azo dye. Factors affecting the reaction yield were studied and the conditions were optimized. The colored product was followed spectrophotometrically via monitoring its absorbance at 396 nm. Under the optimized conditions, two method (the initial rate and fixed time (10 minute)) were applied for constructing the calibration graphs. The graphs were linear in concentration ranges 2.0 to 18.0 µg.mL-1 for both methods. The proposed was applied successfully in
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