Background: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fung

The antagonism of the rhizospheric bacteria toward pathogenic fungi Macrophomina phaseolina was investigated. Ten soil samples were collected from the rhizospheric zone around Cowpea root (Vignaunguiculata L.). These samples were used as the source of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobacterial isolates. Twenty-five bacteria were isolated and evaluated as an antagonistic agent against pathogenic fungi. M. phaseolina was isolated from infected roots of Cowpea and used as a pathogen. Twenty-five bacteria were isolated and evaluated as an antagonistic agent against pathogenic fungi. M. phaseolina was isolated from infected roots of Cowpea and used as a pathogen. The synergistic effect between A. siccitolerans and (AMF) Glomusmosseae,

Owing to high antibacterial resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, it could be considered as the main reason behind the nosocomial infections. P. aeruginosa has a well-known biofilm forming ability. The expression of polysaccharide encoding locus (pelA gene) by P. aeruginosa is essential for this ability. The purpose of the current research was to determine the biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa isolated from clinical samples and to evaluate the role of the selected PelA gene in biofilm formation using PCR method in Iraqi patients. Results revealed that 24 (96%) isolates were found to have the ability to form biofilm that was remarkably related to gentamicin resistance. Moreover, the pelA gene was found in all biofilm-producers. In c

Endophytic fungi live inside plants or any part of them without creating any visible pathogenic signs. Endophytic fungi are found within medicinal plants and have shown strong biologic activity, such as anticancer and antioxidant activities, as well as producing extracellular enzymes. In this study, different fungal strains were isolated from the leaves of the medicinal plant Ziziphus spina, including Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium sp., Rhizopus sp., and Mucor sp. Extracellular enzymes have been quantified using agar plate-based methods in which fungi were grown in specified growth media to detect the enzymes produced. The results showed that A. niger has the highest ability to produce amy

An aqueous chemical reaction has been used to prepare antifungal ZnS: Mn nanostructures, from manganese chloride, zinc acetate and thioacetamide in aqueous solution. The nanoparticle size has been controlled using thioglycolic acid as a capping factor. The major feature of the ZnS:Mn nanoparticles of average diameter ~ 2.73 nm is that possible preparing the sample from sources non-toxic precursors. The manufactured ZnS:Mn nanoparticles were identified and characterized to investigate the structure, morphology, composition of components of the nanoparticles and optical properties using (XRD, SEM, EDS and UV-Vis spectroscopy) techniques respectively. The agar dilution mechanism used to evaluate of the antifungal activity using ZnS:Mn nanopart

An increasing trend to use probiotic and study their effects on the pathogens has been conductor where they are defined as live micro-organisms that give a health benefit to the host when ingested in sufficient quantities, including the yeast Saccharomyces boulardii In addition research show that a magnetic field (MF) has a biological effect. This study aims to investigate the effects of magnetic field on the inhibitory action of Saccharomyces boulardii against bacteria isolated from urinary tract infection, Study the sensitivity of bacterial isolates to antibiotics after diagnosis by microscopic, Cultural and biochemical examinations as well as Api20 E examinations were used gram negative bacteria , Most isolates were resistant to an

The study in duded isolation and identification of microbial isolates from oral cavity to 10 volunteers, diagnosed within the three groups: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus spp. and Candida albicans . The sensitivity test of all isolates bacteria Streptococcus spp. , S. aureus and S. epidermidis showed high resistance to Ampicillin(100)%,followed Methicillin (88.88)% and Amoxicillin / clavulanic acid(77.77)%, while the resistance for each of Vancomycin and Amoxicillin were (66.66)%, and the resistance to Erythromycin and Pencillin (55.55)% to each of them. The results showed less resistance to Trimethoprim (22.22)% and Cefalotine (11.11)% of all bacteria isolate. Investigation of the pre

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a considerable problem aecting the health of people each year. It is caused by various Gram-positive (G+ve) and Gram-negative (G-ve) pathogens. It is an important illness in the world aecting all age groups across their life span. Objectives: To identify the most common aerobic bacteria that cause UTIs and their antibiotic susceptibility and antimicrobial activity of plant extracts of the males' patients. Materials and methods: The study involved 35 midstream urine samples from the male students (University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq) with suspicious symptoms of UTI, during the period from January-March 2018. Each urine sample was cultured rst on Mannitol Salt Agar and MacConkey agar plates to dierentiate

Materials and Methods Bacterial strains P. aeruginosa was obtained from postgraduate students Laboratories of Biology Department/College of Science/University of Baghdad. That previously isolated from patient suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. API 20 NE system was employed for the identification of P. aeruginosa. A total of 122 urine specimens were collected in the period between of mid of July until to the mid of September of 2010 from AL-Kadhmiya Teaching Hospital in Baghdad City. Specimens were collected from out-patients in sterile screw cupped containers. Regarding inpatients, catheter was withdrawn and cut