Cataract is an opacity in the normally transparent focusing lens of the eye which leads to blindness. The aim of current study is to investigate the possible protective and therapeutic effects of aqueous extract of Foeniculum vulgare seed eye drops (0.5%) against selenite induced cataract in rabbits. Aqueous extract of Foeniculum vulgare seed prepared then formulated as eye drops. Sodium selenite used to induce cataract in rabbits' right eye by single intravitreal injection. Thirty-six rabbits included in the study and divided into three equal groups (12 rabbits in each group): healthy control group, Cataract-Induced group and group treated by Foeniculum vulgare seed extract eye drops. Parameters include the score of lens opacity which was

Salt stress negatively affects germination and seedling growth. Sorghum cultivars (Bohuth70, Inqath and Rabeh), seed soaking in dry yeast extract (3, 6 and 9 g l-1) in addition to dry seeds and electrical conductivity (4, 10 and 16 dS m-1) were studied. Traits of germination ratio at first and final counts, lengths of radicle and plumule, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index were studied. The cultivar of Bohuth70 and concentration of yeast extract (9 g l-1) were superior at all studied traits, while all traits values were reduced with increased saline stress. The combination (Bohuth70×9×4) was superior to most other treatments at first and final counts, radicle length and seedling dry weight, while superiority of plumule length a

In this work, multilayer nanostructures were prepared from two metal oxide thin films by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. These metal oxide were nickel oxide (NiO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The prepared nanostructures showed high structural purity as confirmed by the spectroscopic and structural characterization tests, mainly FTIR, XRD and EDX. This feature may be attributed to the fine control of operation parameters of dc reactive magnetron sputtering system as well as the preparation conditions using the same system. The nanostructures prepared in this work can be successfully used for the fabrication of nanodevices for photonics and optoelectronics requiring highly-pure nanomaterials.

An anatomical study was carried out at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, in 2017, on lupine crop (Lupinus albus) as a comparison guide of three seed weights of three lupine cultivars viz. ‘Giza-1’, ‘Giza-2’ and ‘Hamburg’. The nested design was used with four replications. The results showed that cultivars had a significant effect on stem anatomical traits. ‘Hamburg’ cultivar recorded the highest stem diameter, cortex thickness and xylem vascular diameter, while cultivar ‘Giza-1’ recorded the lowest values for the same traits as well as the highest collenchyma layer thickness, vascular bundle thickness, and xylem thickness. Cultivar ‘Giza-2’ recorded the lowest vascular b

  Methylotrophs bacteria are ubiquitous, and they have the ability to consume single carbon (C1) which makes them biological conversion machines. It is the first study to find facultative methylotrophic bacteria in contaminated soils in Iraq. Conventional PCR was employed to amplify MxaF that encodes methanol dehydrogenase enzyme. DNA templates were extracted from bacteria isolated from five contaminated sites in Basra. The gene specific PCR detected Methylorubrum extorquens as the most dominant species in these environments. The ability of M. extorquens to degrade aliphatic hydrocarbons compound was tested at the laboratory. Within 7 days, gas chromatographic (GC) studies of remaining utilize

In this study, a packed bed was used to remove pathogenic bacteria from synthetic contaminated water. Two types of packing material substrates, sand and zeolite, were used. These substrates were coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which were prepared by decomposition of Ag ions from AgNO3 solution. The prepared coated packings were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The packed column consisted of a PVC cylinder of 2 cm diameter and 20 cm in length. The column was packed with silver nanoparticlecoated substrates (sand or zeolite) at a depth of 10 cm. Four types of bacteria were studied: Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Pseudomonas aerugi

This study was carried out to evaluate the hepato-protective property of (Arachis hypogea L.) peanut skin extracts in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in mice. The antioxidant activity was measured utilizing 2, 2-diphenyl-1-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity. The results showed that the methanolic extract was the highest free radical scavenging activity than the aqueous extract with values (92.34 ± 0.45 and 87.62 ± 0.44) respectively in 12 mg/mL compared to 89.61 ± 0.34 for Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and 93.25 ± 0.06 for vitamin C, which means that the methanolic extract of peanut skin is superior to BHT. Furthermore, the total phenolic content was analyzed by using Folin-Ciocalteu method, the amount of total phenol in a