Over the past few decades, the health benefits are under threat as many commonly used antibiotics have become less and less effective against certain illnesses not only because many of them produce toxic reactions but also due to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. The clinical use of a combination of antibiotic therapy for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections is probably more effective than monotherapy. The present study aims to estimate the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of Conocarpus erectus leaves extracts against multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa isolated from different hospitals in Baghdad city. One hundred fifty different clinical specimens were collected from patients from September 2021 to January 2022. All samples were cultured on specific and differential media, only 83 isolates were able to grow on cetrimide agar and at 42˚C, and then the VITEK 2 compact system was dependent to complete the identification. The results showed that the high resistance of the isolates was to the two antibiotics Ceftriaxone and Amoxicillin-Clavulanic acid with a percentage of (92.7%) and (89.2%) respectively, followed by Trimethoprim with a resistance rate of (79.5%). Ten isolates with multi-drug resistance are selected to evaluate the antibacterial activity of plant extracts and the combination between Conocarpus erectus extract and antibiotics. Maceration and Soxhlet apparatus were used to prepare the methanolic and aqueous extracts. The results of the radical scavenging ability showed that the methanolic and aqueous extracts (96.44 and 94.13%) in 10 mg/ml respectively, were more than the artificial antioxidant (BHT) which was 93.11% and the approach with the vitamin C which was 97.20%. The results of the total phenolic content were observed at 51.58 and 65.60 mg/g in 5 mg/ml for the aqueous and methanolic extracts respectively. The antibacterial activity of C. erectus leaves extracts showed that the methanolic extract was more effective than the aqueous extract at a concentration of 100 mg/ml. The results of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the methanolic extract against P. aeruginosa were between 8-32 mg\ml. While the MIC values of the aqueous extract were 128-256 mg\ml. The synergistic activity between C. erectus methanolic extract and antibiotics against multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa was assessed using the checkerboard analysis technique. The methanolic extract showed a synergistic effect with Cefepime against six isolates (FICI: ≤0.5), and an additive effect against four isolates (FICI: (≥ 0.5–1.0). Furthermore, a synergistic effect with Ceftriaxone against seven isolates and additive interaction was found against three isolates.
The consumption of fossil fuels has caused many challenges, including environmental and climate damage, global warming, and rising energy costs, which has prompted seeking to substitute other alternative sources. The current study explored the microwave pyrolysis of Albizia branches to assess its potential to produce all forms of fuel (solid, liquid, gas), time savings, and effective thermal heat transfer. The impact of the critical parameters on the quantity and quality of the biofuel generation, including time, power levels, biomass weight, and particle size, were investigated. The results revealed that the best bio-oil production was 76% at a power level of 450 W and 20 g of biomass. Additionally, low power levels led to enhanced
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This study aimed to explain the criteria of managers at different levels of nursing in selecting effective nursing diagnosis.
In conventional content analysis, 10 nursing managers at different levels including head nurse, supervisor, and nursing manager were interviewed. Data was collected with semi-structured interviews and a narrative approach. Data analysis was performed using the Zhang–Wildemuth method simultaneously with sampling.
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This article presents the results of an experimental investigation of using carbon fiber–reinforced polymer sheets to enhance the behavior of reinforced concrete deep beams with large web openings in shear spans. A set of 18 specimens were fabricated and tested up to a failure to evaluate the structural performance in terms of cracking, deformation, and load-carrying capacity. All tested specimens were with 1500-mm length, 500-mm cross-sectional deep, and 150-mm wide. Parameters that studied were opening size, opening location, and the strengthening factor. Two deep beams were implemented as control specimens without opening and without strengthening. Eight deep beams were fabricated with openings but without strengthening, while
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A comparative study was done on the adsorption of methyl orange dye (MO) using non-activated and activated corn leaves with hydrochloric acid as an adsorbent material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were utilized to specify the properties of adsorbent material. The effect of several variables (pH, initial dye concentration, temperature, amount of adsorbent and contact time) on the removal efficiency was studied and the results indicated that the adsorption efficiency increases with the increase in the concentration of dye, adsorbent dosage and contact time, while inversely proportional to the increase in pH and temperature for both the treated and untreated corn leav
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Acinetobacter baumannii received attention for its multi-drug resistant associated with many severe infections and outbreaks in clinical environment. The aims of the study are to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility profile of clinically isolated A. baumannii, biofilm production, and the efficiency of Low Frequency Ultrasound (LFU) and honey to attenuate biofilm production. A total of 100 samples were taken from different sources from Baghdad hospitals. The susceptibility patterns revealed the percentage of pan drug resistant (PDR) isolates were 1.5 %, 72.7 % were extended drug resistant (XDR), 16.7 % were multidrug resistant (MDR), and 9.1 % were non MDR and sensitive to most antibiotics used. The ability to form
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Catalytic reduction is considered an effective approach for the reduction of toxic organic pollutants from the environment, but finding an active catalyst is still a big challenge. Herein, Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst was synthesized through polyol reduction method and applied for catalytic reduction (conversion) of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst displayed an outstanding reduction activity with 99% conversion of 4-NP in 5 min with a 0.61 min−1 reaction rate (k). A number of structural characterization techniques were executed to investigate the influence of Ag on CeO2 and its effect on the catalytic conversion of 4-NP. The outstanding catalytic performances of the Ag-CeO2 catalyst can be assigne
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