Solanum americanum is a new annual shrubby plant seen recently in fields and gardens of Baghdad city. A new species is described and illustrated, inhabit wet or semi dry places and have consequently a mesophytic habit. A detailed morphological study of the stems, leaves, Inflorescence, flower, male and female reproductive organs and fruits has been done, revealed several interesting taxonomic characteristics, which have not previously been studied in Iraq. Also, anatomical studies reveals constant taxonomical characteristics such as the presence of anthocayanine in outer row of epidermis, distinct chlorenchyma in whole cortex, the wide pith of stems, and presence of distinct mesophyll that differentiated into palisade layer and spongy laye

The production of biodiesel generates soap impurities that hinder biodiesel performance and complicate its purification. This study presents a novel approach for soap removal from biodiesel using NiO–doped ZnO nanoparticle (NP) adsorbent. The NPs are synthesized using a gliding arc discharge (GAD) method as a non-thermal plasma source (NTP). NiO doping reduced the bandgap energy by 74%, reduced the crystallite size, and increased the surface area by 78%, entailing lattice strain and structural modifications. Soap removal efficiency was 99.7% for NiO–doped ZnO within 16 min, compared with 95.5% for ZnO. Soap uptake as high as 2320 mg/g NiO–doped ZnO was reported, which could be equally fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms su

Water flow into unsaturated porous media is governed by the Richards’ partial differential equation expressing the mass conservation and Darcy’s laws. The Richards’ equation may be written in three forms,where the dependent variable is pressure head or moisture content, and the constitutive relationships between water content and pressure head allow for conversion of one form into the other. In the present paper, the “moisture-based" form of Richards’ equation is linearized by applying Kirchhoff’s transformation, which
combines the soil water diffusivity and soil water content. Then the similarity method is used to obtain the analytical solution of wetting front position. This exact solution is obtained by means of Lie’s

Beta-lactamase was purified from local isolate Klebsiella pneumonia by several steps included precipitation with ammonium sulphate at 20-40% saturation, DEAE- ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200 column. The obtained purification fold and recovery were 32.66; 47.04% respectively. The characterization of the purified beta-lactamase showed that the molecular weight was about 4000 daltons as determined by gel filtration.Purified enzyme had an optimal pH of 7 for activity and an optimal stability between pH 6.5-7.5, results shows that the optimal temperature appear to be 35 ? C .During storage the enzyme retained 72% at -20 ? C and retained 25% of the activity at the same period at 4 ? C.

Endoglucanase produced from Aspergillus flavus was purified by several steps including precipitation with 25 % ammonium sulphate followed by Ion –exchange chromatography, the obtained specific activity was 377.35 U/ mg protein, with a yield of 51.32 % .This step was followed by gel filtration chromatography (Sepharose -6B), when a value of specific activity was 400 U/ mg protein, with a yield of 48 %. Certain properties of this purified enzyme were investigated, the optimum pH of activity was 7 and the pH of its stability was 4.5, while the temperature stability was 40 °C for 60 min. The enzyme retained 100% of its original activity after incubation at 40 °C for 60 min; the optimum temperature for enzyme activity was 40 °C.

BACKGROUND: Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) is mostly an inherited trait and is not an uncommon problem. Prevalence of CVD differs among different ethnic and geographic properties of the population that affect their genetic constitution. Ishihara plates remain an internationally accepted tool for screening red-green CVD. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of red-green CVD among adult males from Baghdad province. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One thousand and five (1005) adult males were enrolled in this study, using a systematic sampling technique, and were screened for CVD utilizing 24-plate Ishihara plates and re-tested by EnChroma 39-Color plates. All males were residing in Baghdad and the center of Iraq. RESULTS: Among all tested males, 948 r

Twenty isolates of Serratia marcescens were isolated from inflammation of the urinary tract (UTI)., These isolates were found to produce hemolysin as indicated by blood agar plates in which the hemolysis of red blood cell indicate a positive result. Isolates were selected according to their hemolysis activity by measuring absorbance of hemoglobin at 405 nm that released from red blood cell. Hemolysin was completely purified using 50-75% saturation of ammonium sulphate followed by ion exchange chromatography with DEAE-cellulose then gel filtration chromatography by sepharose 4B. Accordingly molecular weight for the purified toxin was estimated as 45 KD.