Twenty five vaginal swabs from outpatients' healthy women were collected from Kamal Al-Samarai Hospital, Baghdad, to isolate and identify of Lactobacillus acidophilus. Three isolates were diagnosed as L. acidophilus which represents 15% of the total number of lactic acid bacterial (LAB) isolates; other LAB types represent 65% (20 isolates).The ability of L. acidophilus to produce surlactin was detected after measuring its biological activity to inhibit the adhesion of biofilm formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to surfaces using test tube method. It was found that all isolates were able to produce surlactin but the activity of surlactin was varying in each isolate. Surlactin produced by isolates 1 and 13 was the most effective. Biological applications of surlactin were studied by inhibiting the adhesion of pathogenic P. aeruginosa producing biofilm on contact lenses. In this study the surlactin has the ability to inhibit the adhesion up to 60% and 55% for isolates 1 and 13 respectively and does not have an antibacterial activity.Surlactin showed an ability to treat the infection in rabbits' eyes with P. aeruginosa while it did not show this ability against Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, it prevented the infection with P. aeruginosa when administrated to rabbits' eyes inoculated with these bacteria only, while it showed no effect against S. aureus.
In this research, hand lay- up technique is used to prepare samples from epoxy resin reinforced with multi- walled carbon nanotubes in different weight fractions (0, 2, 3, 4, 5) wt%. The immersion effect by sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) at normality (0.3N) for a period of (15 days) on the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites was studied, and compared to natural condition (before immersion). The thermal conductivity of epoxy nanocomposites specimens were carried out using Lee’s disk method. The experimental results showed that thermal conductivity increased with increase weight fraction before and after immersion for all specimens, while the immersion effect leads to decrease thermal conductive values compared to thermal conductivi
... Show MoreRecently, some of Iraq's newly constructed asphalt concrete pavements showed premature failures with significant negative impacts on roadway safety and the economy. Using Nano hydrated lime (NHL) in pavement construction could be one of the possible steps to improve pavement durability. This article discusses how NHL affects the durability of hot mix asphalt. NHL was added in two methods to the asphalt concrete mixture for the wearing course. The first is the dry method, i.e., on the aggregate, whereas the second is the wet addition method, i.e., to the bitumen. The percentages were tried for each additional method; 1, 2, and 3% by weight of aggregate for the dry method and 0.5, 1, and 1.5% by weight of asphalt concrete for the wet
... Show MoreThe primary aim of the present study was to prepare a set of exercises on the multi-resistor VertiMax device and to identify the effect of these exercises on the development of the endurance of discus throwers under 16 years old. The design of the present study was experimental. Participants were selected using purposive sampling method. A total of 5 discuss players constituted the sample of the study. The authors found a significant improvement in the levels of endurance and performance as a result of the training on the VertiMax device. Therefore, it is recommendable to use exercises on the VertiMax device to improve the endurance and performance of under 16-years of age discus throwers.
This study investigated a novel application of forward osmosis using different types of draw solutions for oilfield produced water treatment from the East Baghdad oilfield affiliated to the Midland Oil Company (Iraq). Magnesium chloride (MgCl2) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) were used as draw solutions in forward osmosis process to evaluate their effectiveness. Experiments were conducted in a laboratory scale forward osmosis system with cellulose triacetate hollow fiber membrane. In this work, sodium chloride solution was used as a feed solution with a concentration of 76 g/L (same concentration as the East Baghdad oilfield produced water) and the applied external pressure on the feed solution side was 2 bar. The impact of draw solution (DS)
... Show MoreBackground: Mobile phones are approximately widely used everywhere like in hospital wards, clinics and universities as well as biomedical laboratories. They have become very important tool in students’ life. In contrast, these tools carry many harmful bacteria which are responsible for infectious diseases in human because they serve as a reservoir for different pathogens. Current study was aimed to isolate bacteria from students’ mobile phones at the Institute of Medical Technology/Al-Mansour/The Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq. Also, the study investigated microbial resistance to many antimicrobial agents as well as the appropriate remedial measures. Method: Four hundred and fifty swabs from mobile phones were collected from
... Show MoreThe fabrication of Solid and Hollow silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) has been achieved and their characterization was performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), zeta potential, UV–VIS spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). A TEM image revealed a quasispherical form for both Solid and Hollow Ag NPs. The measurement of surface charge revealed that although Hollow Ag NPs have a zeta potential of -43 mV, Solid Ag NPs have a zeta potential of -33 mV. According to UV-VIS spectroscopy measurement Solid and Hollow Ag NPs both showed absorption peaks at wavelengths of 436 nm and 412 nm, respectively. XRD pattern demonstrates that the samples' crystal structure is cubic, similar to that of the bulk materials, with
... Show MoreA study was conducted to evaluate the antibacterial effect of Phyllanthus emblica extract (ethanol:methanol, 1:1) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli at different concentrations, i.e. 0.625, 1.25, 2.50, 5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 mg/ml. The antibacterial activity was determined by the agar well diffusion method to investigate the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). The alcoholic extract of Phyllanthus emblica had the highest antibacterial activity at 20 mg/ml and 5 mg/ml except for Pseudomonas aeruginosa where the value of inhibition was between 20 and 10 mg/ml. The MIC concentrations were mostly very high and ranged from 5 to 1.25 mg/ml, while the MBC range fro
... Show MoreBackground: Since the invention of laser in 1960, lasers have been developed and approved in many fields. Lasers can now be regarded as practical tools with unique properties that have been utilized effectively in several applications in fields of medical and biological sciences.Objectives: The aim of the current study was to preparation of vaccines (live attenuated and killed) by irradiation of the bacteria by the low level diode laser.Methods: six bacterial isolates were isolated from human samples of diabetic foot infections, which used for preparation of vaccines. The experiment was conducted on fifteen adult male rabbits; they were divided into three groups with 5 rabbits each. Blood samples were collected from the marginal ear vein
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