Given the paucity and toxicity of available drugs for leishmaniasis, coupled with the advent of drug resistance, the discovery of new therapies for this neglected tropical disease is recognised as being of the utmost urgency. As such antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been proposed as promising compounds against the causative Leishmania species, insect vector-borne protozoan parasites. Here the AMP temporins A, B and 1Sa have been synthesised and screened for activity against Leishmania mexicana insect stage promastigotes and mammalian stage amastigotes, a significant cause of human cutaneous disease. In contrast to previous studies with other species the activity of these AMPs against L. mexicana amastigotes was low. This suggests that amastigotes from different Leishmania species display varying susceptibility to peptides from the temporin family, perhaps indicating differences in their surface structure, the proposed target of these AMPs. In contrast, insect stage L. mexicana promastigotes were sensitive to two of the screened temporins which clearly demonstrates the importance of screening AMPs against both forms of the parasite. Copyright © 2011 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Thin films whose compositions can be expressed by (GeS2)100-xGax (x=0, 6,12,18) formula were obtained by thermal evaporation technique of bulk material at a base pressure of ~10-5 torr. Optical transmission spectra of the films were taken in the range of 300-1100 nm then the optical band gap, tail width of localized states, refractive index, extinction coefficient were calculated. The optical constants were found to increase at low concentration of Ga (0 to12%) while they decreases with further addition of Ga. The optical band gap was found to change in opposite manner to that of optical constants. The variation in the optical parameters are explained in terms of average bond energy
... Show MoreNanoparticles of copper sulfide have been prepared by simple reaction between using copper nitrate with different concentrations ratio 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 mM, thiourea by a simple chemical route. The prepared Nano powders have been deposited onto glass substrates by casting method at 60°C. The structure of the product Nano- films has been studied by x-ray diffraction, where the patterns showed that all the samples have a hexagonal structure of covellite copper sulfide with the average crystalline sizes 14.07- 16.51 nm. The morphology has been examined by atomic force microscopy, and field emission scan electron microscopy. The AFM images showed particles with almost spherical and rod shapes with average diameter sizes of 49.11- 90.64 nm.
... Show MoreIn this paper, we proposed to zoom Volterra equations system Altfazlah linear complementarity of the first type in this approximation were first forming functions notch Baschtdam matrix and then we discussed the approach and stability, to notch functions
CdSe alloy has been prepared successfully from its high purity elements. Thin films of this alloy with different thicknesses (300,700)nm have been grown on glass substrates at room temperature under very low pressure (10-5)Torr with rate of deposition (1.7)nm/sec by thermal evaporation technique, after that these thin films have been heat treated under low pressure (10-2)Torr at (473,673)K for one hour. X-ray patterns showed that both CdSe alloy and thin films are polycrystalline and have the hexagonal structure with preferential orientation in the [100] and [002] direction respectively. The optical measurements indicated that CdSe thin films have allowed direct optical energy band gap, and it increases from (1.77- 1.84) eV and from
... Show MoreA random laser is a non-conventional laser whose feedback mechanism is based on dissorder-induced light. However, random lasers occur in gain media with numerous scatterers and produce coherent laser emission without any predesigned cavity. The generation of coherent emission from multiple scattering is quite general and its basic principles are shown here using sulforhodamine B-TiO suspensions system. These suspensions were pumped with 337.1 nm pulses from N2 laser and the spectral and temporal behavior of light emitted from the pumped surface was recorded. When we pump power above a certain threshold a dramatic narrowing of the emission line width and a shortening of the emitted pulses were observed. We have experimentally found that i
... Show MoreExpansive soil spreads in Iraq and some countries of the world. But there are many problems can be occurred to the structures that built on, so we must study the characteristics of these soils due to the problems that may be caused to these structures which built on these kinds of soil and then study the methods of treatment. The present study focuses on improving the geotechnical properties of expansive soils by treating it Metakaolin(M). Metakaolin (M) has never been used before as an improvement material for stabilizing the expansive soil . Metakaolin is a pozzolanic material. It’s obtained by calcination of kaolinite clay at temperatures from 700°C to 800°C. Kaolin chemical composition is
... Show MoreThe antimicrobial activity of two naphthoquinone semicarbazone derivatives (Two newly synthesized compounds) have been studied by using tube — diluation and disc plate technique. The effect of those derivatives upon pathogenic microorganism iso-lated from specimen(urine iwounds,stool, swabs, throat ....etc) have been studied also in comparison with the antibiotics (amikacin,ampicillin, carbencillin, cephalothin, cefoxitin,clindamycin ,erythromycin,gentamycin,penicillin,tetracylin and tri-methoprim. It was shown that derivative(1) had more effective against micro organ-ism than derivative(11).