Background: The microbial production of substances that have the potency to suppress the growth of other microorganisms is probably one of the prevalent defense strategy developed in nature, microorganisms produce a variable bunch of microbial defense systems, which include antibiotics, metabolic by-products, lytic agents, bacteriocins and others. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to isolate and identify Enterococcus faecium isolates then detecting its ability of carrying the gene responsible for enterocin production in this species. Materials and methods: Out of 50 samples from different sources (food and clinical sources) were collected for the Enterococcus faecium isolation, and the isolated bacteria Enterococcus faecium (37) isolates were detected for their harboring of Enterocin A gene (entA), using conventional PCR technique. Results: The identification revealed that 37(74%) isolates were considered as Enterococcus faecium, 20 isolates (54.05%) out of food samples (10 samples were collected from dairies, 7 from vegetables and 3 from fish samples), and 17 isolates 45.9% out of clinical samples (11 from stool and 6 from urine source). Genotypic Detection done by the amplification of the enterocin coding gene (ent A), and the results revealed that all the isolates were harboring that gene despite of the phonotypical differences, that they amplified entA gene and the PCR product size (362 bp) was detected using agarose gel electrophoresis. Conclusions: This study indicates the presence of Enterococcus spp. in food and clinical sources and the ability of these bacteria to produce antibacterial substances which is active against closely related clinical isolates.
The emergence of staphylococci, either coagulase negative (CNS) or coagulase positive (CPS), as important human pathogens has implied that reliable methods for their identification are of large significance in understanding the diseases caused by them. The identification and characterization of staphylococci from biopsies taken from human breast tumors is reported here. Out of 32 tissue biopsies, a total of 12 suspected staphylococci grew on mannitol salt agar (MSA) medium, including 7 fermenters and 5 non-fermenter staphylococci based on traditional laboratory methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) successfully identified seven isolates at the genus level as methicillin resistant St
... Show MoreIn this work, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were biosynthesized from leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. jujube plant in Iraq and tested against fungal pathogens. Extract of leaves of Z. mauritiana mixed with 10-3 M AgNO3exposed to slight sunlight for 3 days. Characterization of AgNPs was done using UV-visible spectroscopy, SPM (scanning probe microscopy) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The change of solution color from pale brown to dark brown and the exhibited maximum peak at 445 nm accepted as an indicator to biosynthesized AgNPs. Aqueous extract of Ziziphus mauritiana is considered as biological reduced and stabilized agent for Ag+ to Ag0. AFM showed the formation of irregular shapes of AgNPs. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles ha
... Show MoreIn order for the process of removing pollutants, including dyes, from the aquatic environment to be effective, plant wastes such as banana peels were used as adsorbent surfaces by thermally activating them (ABP) and modifying them with iron oxide nanoparticles (MABP), which were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. They were applied in the field of Janus green (JG) dye adsorption for the batch system and studied the effect of several factors (adsorbent weight, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature). Their data were analyzed kinetically using first- and second-order kinetic models and they were found to follow the second order. Their data were also analyzed thro
... Show MoreAleppo bentonite was investigated to remove ciprofloxacin hydrochloride from aqueous solution. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study the several factors affecting the removal process, including contact time, pH of solution, bentonite dosage, ion strength, and temperature. The optimum contact time, pH of solution and bentonite dosage were determined to be 60 minutes, 6 and 0.15 g/50 ml, respectively. The bentonite efficiency in removing CIP decreased from 89.9% to 53.21% with increasing Ionic strength from 0 to 500mM, and it increased from 89% to 96.9% when the temperature increased from 298 to 318 K. Kinetic studies showed that the pseudo second-order model was the best in describing the adsorption sys
... Show MoreIn order for the process of removing pollutants, including dyes, from the aquatic environment to be effective, plant wastes such as banana peels were used as adsorbent surfaces by thermally activating them (ABP) and modifying them with iron oxide nanoparticles (MABP), which were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. They were applied in the field of Janus green (JG) dye adsorption for the batch system and studied the effect of several factors (adsorbent weight, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature). Their data were analyzed kinetically using first- and second-order kinetic models and they were found to follow the second order. Their data were also analyzed thro
... Show MoreBiodegradation is utilizing microorganisms to degrade materials into products that are safe for the
environment, such as carbon dioxide, water, and biomass. The current study aims to isolate and characterize
bacteria with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation ability isolated from Shatt al-Arab water and
sewage from Basra, the bacteria were identified as Klebsiella pneumonia. According to the findings, the
isolates showed a highly significant difference in degradation of PET (24% during 7 days) and the percent of
degradation increased to 46% at 4 weeks compared to the control. The study also involved determining the
optimum temperature of K. pneumonia growth, which was 37°C, while the preferred
This work deals with preparation of zeolite 5A from Dewekhala kaolin clay in Al-Anbar region for drying and desulphurization of liquefied petroleum gas. The preparation of zeolite 5A includes treating kaolin clay with dilute hydrochloric acid 1N, treating metakaolin with NaOH solution to prepare 4A zeolite, ion exchange, and formation. For preparation of zeolite 4A, metakaolin treated at different temperatures (40, 60, 80, 90, and 100 °C) with different concentrations of sodium hydroxide solution (1, 2, 3, and 4 N) for 2 hours. The zeolite samples give the best relative crystallinity of zeolite prepared at 80 °C with NaOH concentration 3N (199%), and at 90 and 100°C with NaOH concentration solution 2N (184% and 189%, respectively). Ze
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to study the effect of adding transglutaminase (TGase) on the mechanical and reservation properties of the edible films manufactured from soybean meal protein isolate (SPI) and whey protein isolate(WPI). The results showed an improvement in the properties with increase in the WPI ratios. Thickness of the SPI films amounted 0.097 mm decreased to 0.096 mm for the WPI: SPI films at a ratio of 2:1, when TGase was added decreased to 0.075 mm. While the tensile strength increased from 7.64 MPa for SPI films to eight MPa for the WPI: SPI films at a ratio of 2:1, when TGase was added increased to 11.04 MPa. Also, the elongation of the WPI: SPI films at a ratio of 2:1 presence of the TGase decreased to 40.6% compared wit
... Show MoreObjectives: Six different Schiff bases were synthesized from ampicillin and amoxicillin with isatin, 5-bromoisatin, and 5-nitroisatin. Methods: Ampicillin and Amoxicillin are linked directly through their α-amino groups to the acyl side chain with isatin and isatin derivatives by nucleophilic addition using glacial acetic acid as a catalyst. Results: chemical structures of these Schiff bases were confirmed using FTIR, 1H NMR and elemental microanalysis. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by measuring minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values and showed various degrees of antibacterial activities when compared with parent drugs. Compounds 1a and 2b, which are the Schiff bases of ampicillin and amoxicillin with isatin, showed very
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