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.
In this study, condensation polymerization was used to synthesize a number of novel liquid crystal polymers with 1,3,4-oxadiazole rings based on melamine. The new synthesized polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical polarization microscopy (OPM) were used to investigate their liquid crystalline properties. The results demonstrated that throughout a wide temperature range, most of the polymers exhibited columnar (CohX) and nematic (N) liquid crystalline phases.
This paper proposes a compact, plasmonic-based 4 × 4 nonblocking switch for optical networks. This device uses six 2 × 2 plasmonic Mach-Zehnder switch (MZS), whose arm waveguide is supported by a JRD1 polymer layer as a high electro-optic coefficient material. The 4 × 4 switch is designed in COMSOL environment for 1550 nm wavelength operation. The performance of the proposed switch outperforms those of conventional (nonplasmonic) counterparts. The designed switch yields a compact structure ( 500 × 70 µ m 2 ) having V π L = 12 V · µ m , 1.5 THz optical bandwidth, 7.7 dB insertion loss, and −26.5 dB crosstalk. The capability of the switch to route 8 × 40 Gbps WDM signal is demonstrated successfully.
... Show MoreThe main objective of this research is to design and select a composite plate to be used in fabricating wing skins of light unman air vehicle (UAV). The mechanical properties, weight and cost are the basis criteria of this selection. The fiber volume fraction, fillers and type of fiber with three levels for each were considered to optimize the composite plate selection. Finite element method was used to investigate the stress distribution on the wing at cruise flight condition in addition to estimate the maximum stress. An experiments plan has been designed to get the data on the basis of Taguchi technique. The most effective parameters at the process to be find out by employing L9
... Show MoreThis study aimed to investigate the influence of longitudinal steel embedded tubes located at the center of the column cross-section on the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The experimental program consisted of 8 testing pin-ended square sectional columns of 150×150 mm, having a total height of 1400 mm, subjected to eccentric load. The considered variables were the steel square tube sizes of 25, 51 and 68 mm side dimensions and the load eccentricity (50 and 150) mm. RC columns were concealed steel tubes with hollow ratios of 3%, 12% and 20% depending on tube sizes used. The experimental results indicated an improvement in the overall behavior of eccentric columns when steel embedded tubes are used. The maximum gain in
... Show MoreIn present work examined the oxidation desulfurization in batch system for model fuels with 2250 ppm sulfur content using air as the oxidant and ZnO/AC composite prepared by thermal co-precipitation method. Different factors were studied such as composite loading 1, 1.5 and 2.5 g, temperature 25 oC, 30 oC and 40 oC and reaction time 30, 45 and 60 minutes. The optimum condition is obtained by using Tauguchi experiential design for oxidation desulfurization of model fuel. the highest percent sulfur removal is about 33 at optimum conditions. The kinetic and effect of internal mass transfer were studied for oxidation desulfurization of model fuel, also an empirical kinetic model was calculated for model fuels
... Show MoreObjective: Per-implantitis is one of the implant treatment complications. Dentists have failed to restore damaged periodontium by using conventional therapies. Tissue engineering (stem cells, scaffold and growth factors) aims to reconstruct natural tissues. The paper aimed to isolate both periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) and use them in a co-culture method to create three-layered cell sheets for reconstructing natural periodontal ligament (PDL) tissue. Materials and methods: BMMSCs were isolated from rabbit tibia and femur, and PDLSC culture was established from the lower right incisor. The cells were co-cultured to induce BMMSC differentiation into PDL cells. Cell morphology, stem cel
... Show MoreThis research aims to find how three different types of mouthwashes affect the depth of artificial white spot lesions. Teeth with various depths of white spot lesions were immersed in either splat mouthwash, Biorepair mouthwash, Sensodyne mouthwash, or artificial saliva (control)twice daily for one minute for 4 weeks and 8 weeks at 37°C. After this immersion procedure, lesion depth was measured using a diagnosed pen score. A one-way analysis of variance, Dunnett T3 and Tukey's post hoc α = .05 were used to analyze the testing data. Splat mouthwash enhanced the WSL remineralization and made the lowest ΔF compared with other mouthwashes in shallow and deep enamel after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. In the repair groups, after 4 weeks
... Show MoreAn experimental study was carried out for an evaporative cooling system in order to investigate the effect of using an aluminum pad coated with fabric polyester. In the present work, it was considered to use a new different type of cooling medium and test its performance during the change in the wet-bulb temperature and dry-bulb temperature of the supply air outside of the pad, the relative humidity of the supply air, the amount of air supplied (300-600) CFM and also the change of the amount of circulated water (1.75, 2.5, 4.5) liter per minute. A decrease in the WBT of the air was obtained, whereas the WBT of the air entering the pad was 26.5 . In contrast, the WBT of the outside air had reached 23 even though eva
... Show MoreDifferent parameters of double pipe helical coil were investigation experimentally. Four coils were used; three with a curvature ratio (0.037, 0.031, and 0.028) and 11mm diameter of the inner tube while the fourth with 0.033 curvature ratio and 13 mm diameter of the inner tube. The hot water flow in the inner tube whereas the cold water flows in the annulus. The inlet temperatures of hot and cold water are 50 0C and 18 0C respectively. The inner mass flow rate ranges from 0.0167 to 0.0583 kg/s. The results show the Nusselt number increase with increase curvature ratio. The Nusselt number of the coil with 0.037 curvature ratio increases by approximately 12.3 % as compare with 0.028 curvature ratio. The results also r
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