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.
Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is one of the most advanced recent high compressive strength concrete. This work explored the effects of using glass waste as a fractional replacement for fine aggregate in reactive powder concrete at levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, and 100%. Linear and mass attenuation coefficients have been calculated as a function of the sample's thickness and bremsstrahlung energy. These coefficients were obtained using energy selective scintillation response to bremsstrahlung having an energy ranging from (0.1-1.1) MeV. In addition, the half-value thickness of the samples prepared has been investigated. It was found that there is a reversal association between the attenuation coefficient and the energy of the bremsstrahlu
... Show MoreAcidizing is one of the most used stimulation techniques in the petroleum industry. Several reports have been issued on the difficulties encountered during the stimulation operation of the Ahdeb oil field, particularly in the development of the Mishrif reservoir, including the following: (1) high injection pressures make it difficult to inject acid into the reservoir formation, and (2) only a few acid jobs have been effective in Ahdeb oil wells, while the bulk of the others has been unsuccessful. The significant failure rate of oil well stimulation in this deposit necessitates more investigations. Thus, we carried out this experimental study to systematically investigate the influence of acid treatment on the geomechanical properties of Mi4
... Show MoreBackground: The demand for esthetic orthodontic appliances is increasing; so the esthetic orthodontic archwires were introduced. Among them, Teflon and Epoxy coated stainless steel archwires. The amount of force available from the archwire depends on the structural properties and susceptibility to corrosion. All metallic alloys are changed during immersion in artificial saliva, chlorhexidine mouthwash andtoothpaste, but their behaviors differ from one type to another. They corrode at different rates, which lead to decrease the amount of force applied to the teeth. This in vitro study was designed to evaluate the corrosion pits in stainless steel archwires coated with Teflon and with Epoxy in dry and after immersion in artificial saliva, chl
... Show MoreWet granulation method was used instead of conventional pan coating or fluidized –bed coating technique to prepare enteric-coated diclofenac sodium granules, using ethanolic solution of EudragitTM L100 as coating, binding and granulating agent .Addition of PEG400 or di-n-butyl phthalate as a plasticizer was found to improve the enteric property of the coat.
Part of the resulted granules was filled in hard gelatin capsules (size 0), while the other part was compressed into tablets with and without disintegrant.
The release profile of these two dosage forms in 0.1N HCl (pH 1.2)for 2 hours, and in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) for 45 minutes as well as the release kinetic were compared with that of the en
... Show MoreThe current study aimed to adopt a method for inducing callus cells and regenerating the important common red bean using different types of growth regulators such as N6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), and Thidiazuron (TDZ). Different types of common bean pinto cultivar explants, such as internodes, cotyledons and roots, were inoculated on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) provided with different combinations of plant growth regulators, including 1- BAP (5 mg/l) 2-BAP (4.5 mg/l) NAA (0.5 mg/l), 3- BAP (4.5 mg/l), and TDZ (0.1mg/l). Callus was initiated on MS culture medium supplied with 5 mg/l BAP for all explants (internodes, cotyledons, and roots) at 50, 20, and 10% respectively, while adding NAA with 0.5mg/l showed
... Show MoreBackground: The irradiation of teeth with a laser results in an interaction between the light and the biological constituents of the dental hard substance, which is converted directly into heat.This thermal effect is the cause of the structural and chemical enamel changes.The combined treatment of topical fluoride agent with laser may increase fluoride uptake, and reduce progression of caries-like lesions. The aim of this study was to measure the uptake of the acidulated phosphate fluoride and sodium fluoride to the buccal and lingual caries-like lesion enamel surfaces before and after irradiated by Nd-YAG laser in comparison with matching control group. Materials and methods: The sample consisted of 30 human healthy upper premolar teeth wh
... Show MoreObjective: The present study investigates whether the exposure to low-power diode laser induces denaturation in red blood cell (RBC) membrane protein composition, and determines the irradiation time for when denaturation of membrane protein process begins. Background: A low-energy laser has been used extensively in medical applications. Several studies indicated significant positive effects of laser therapy on biological systems. In contrast, other studies reported that laser induced unwanted changes in cell structure and biological systems. The present work studied the effect of irradiation time of low-power diode laser on the structure of membrane proteins of human RBCs. Materials and methods: The RBC suspension was divided into five equa
... Show MoreIn this work, novel copolymers of poly(adipic anhydride-co-mannitol) were synthesized by melting condensation polymerization of poly(adipic anhydride) with five percentages of mannitol sugar, 1 to 5 Wt.%. These copolymers were purified and then, characterized by FT-IR, which was proved that the cross-linking reaction was caused by nucleophilic attack of mannitol hydroxyl group to acidic anhydride groups of poly(adipic anhydride) backbone and new ester groups were formed and appeared. Also, modified organic-soluble chitosan, N-maleoyl-chitosan, were synthesized by grafting reaction of chitosan with maleic anhydride in DMF as solvent, and it was also purified and characterized by FT-IR. Biodegradation in vitro of the IPNs of poly(adipic anhyd
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