Background: Enterococcus faecalis is emerging as an important endodontic pathogen, which can persist in the environment for extended periods after treatment and may cause endodontic failure. It is known to produce biofilms, a community of bacteria enclosed within a protective polymeric matrix. This study aimed to establish whether the biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis can be inhibited with steralium, co+steralium, and 5% sodium hypochlorite in the root surface environment. Materials and Methods: Extracted human teeth were biomechanically prepared, vertically sectioned, placed in the tissue culture wells exposing the root canal surface to E. faecalis to form a biofilm. At the end of the 3rd and 6th weeks, all groups were treated for 10 minutes with the previously mentioned tested solutions and control and were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results: Qualitative assay with 3-weeks biofilm showed a complete inhibition of bacterial growth with co+steralium and NaOCl, except steralium and saline, which showed presence of bacterial growth. In quantitative analysis, steralium and saline- treated tooth samples have 57.74 ± 5.39* CFU/ml., 140.71 ± 8.49 CFU/ml. respectively. Qualitative assay with 6-week biofilm showed growth when treated with steralium and saline treated tooth samples have 346.0 ± 78.88* CFU/ml., 127.18 ± 17.84 CFU/ml. respectively whereas co+steralium and NaOCl has shown complete inhibition. Conclusions: co+steralium and 5% sodium hypochlorite showed maximum antibacterial activity against E. Faecalis biofilm formed on tooth substrate. co+steralium showed statistically significant antibacterial activity. The use of co+steralium as a root canal irrigant might prove to be advantageous considering the several undesirable characteristics of NaOCl. Key words: Biofilm, E. faecalis, steralium, co+steralium, NaOCl, root canal irrigant.
Emulsion Liquid Membrane (ELM) is an emerging technology that removes contaminants from water and industrial wastewater. This study investigated the stability and extraction efficiency of ELM for the removal of Chlorpyrifos Pesticide (CP) from wastewater. The stability was studied in terms of emulsion breakage. The proposed ELM included n-hexane as a diluent, span-80 as a surfactant, and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a stripping agent. Parameters such as mixing speed, aqueous feed solution pH, internal-to-organic membrane volume ratio, and external-to-emulsion volume ratio were investigated. A minimum emulsion breakage of 0.66% coupled with a maximum chlorpyrifos extraction and stripping efficiency were achieved at 96.1% and 95.7% at b
... Show MoreHumanity is confronted with a growing array of environmental challenges that demand immediate attention and cannot be disregarded. One of the issues the world faces is air pollution, which presents a significant risk to both the environment and human well-being. The capitalist system has a great impact on the exacerbation of air pollution and environmental deterioration. This impact is reflected in Caryl Churchill’s post-apocalyptic play Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen (1971). The play presents a futuristic scenario in which humanity faces grave consequences due to the polluting practices of capitalism and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. It depicts a future in which environmental degradation drives people
... Show MoreVirtual reality, VR, offers many benefits to technical education, including the delivery of information through multiple active channels, the addressing of different learning styles, and experiential-based learning. This paper presents work performed by the authors to apply VR to engineering education, in three broad project areas: virtual robotic learning, virtual mechatronics laboratory, and a virtual manufacturing platform. The first area provides guided exploration of domains otherwise inaccessible, such as the robotic cell components, robotic kinematics and work envelope. The second promotes mechatronics learning and guidance for new mechatronics engineers when dealing with robots in a safe and interactive manner. And the thir
... Show MoreThe current study was conducted to investigate Annona fruit pulp effects on the levels of various physiological biomarkers linked with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus after disease induction in mice, as well as indications of oxidative stress and male hormones. The rats were separated into four groups, three of which were given Alloxan (90 mg/kg body weight) to induce diabetes, while the fourth served as a negative control. The first group of diabetic mice received no therapy, the second received metformin (600 mg/kg body weight) and the third received Annona fruit puree. The mice were sacrificed at the end of the experiment, to acquire blood and tissue samples from the liver, kidneys and spleen. The first untreated gro
... Show MoreThe purpose of this paper is to apply different transportation models in their minimum and maximum values by finding starting basic feasible solution and finding the optimal solution. The requirements of transportation models were presented with one of their applications in the case of minimizing the objective function, which was conducted by the researcher as real data, which took place one month in 2015, in one of the poultry farms for the production of eggs
... Show MoreThis study is conducted to evaluate the therapeutic and antioxidant effect of lemon juice on some hematological and biochemical parameters. Thirty female mice used in this study were exposed to oxidative stress through giving them hydrogen peroxide in drinking water for 30 days. Animals randomly distributed over 3 groups, each group contained 10 animals and treated as follows: T1 control group (drinking distilled water only), T2 (0.75% hydrogen peroxide in drinking water) and T3 (0.75% hydrogen peroxide in drinking water with daily drenching with 1 mL lemon juice). At the end of the experiment, blood samples were collected from animals for evaluating the following hematological and biochemical parameters: Haemoglobin concentration (Hb),
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