Background: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the tested oil against the fungus. The combination of the oil extract of Nasturtium officinale with calcium hydroxide was evaluated and compared to calcium hydroxide paste with iodoform by using the agar well diffusion method. Results: The oil extract exhibited antifungal activity against Candida albicans, this activity was found to be increased as the concentration of extract increased. The tested combination of watercress oil extract with calcium hydroxide revealed larger inhibition zones than the ones formed by each tested agent individually. Conclusion: The oil extract of Nasturtium officinale is active against Candida albicans suggesting its potential to be used as an intracanal medicament alone or in combination with calcium hydroxide.
Bovine milk is one of the richest nutrients that contain minerals and vitamins that enhance immunity, especially in children, but because many children do not want to drink the raw milk, therefore this study aimed to enhance the sensory characteristics of raw milk by using hibiscus plant extract, which is characterized by red color and distinctive flavor as well as studying the effect of aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa on inhibiting the growth of microorganisms, by using three concentrations of the aqueous extract (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5%), where the statistical results showed a significant difference (P≤0.05) between the concentrations in color, texture and general acceptance, and the best results appeared when using
... Show MoreWater samples were collected from output of water for Al-Wahda plant where located in al-karrada area in Baghdad city to study water contamination with bacteria, fungi and Algae. The study lasted one year started on August, 2016 to July,2017.Results were acquired according to two tests performed, the first is biological test included total coliform,E.coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa, total fungi, Diatom and non Diatom Algae and the second is physiochemical test included temperature, turbidity and residual chlorine. The results of bacteria were within the permitted specification in the Iraqi standards no. 14/2270 for the year 2015 except August was exceeded the permitted standard for total coliform, it was 1.1< cell/100 ml.Total Fungi, Dia
... Show MoreCardiac toxicity can occur during the therapy with several cytotoxic drugs, including 5- Fluorouracil (5- FU). It is an antimetabolite that acts during the S phase of the cell cycle and is activated by thymidine phosphorylase into fluorodeoxyuridylate (5 fluoro 2'deoxyuridine 5'monophosphate, 5-FdUMP) that inhibits thymidylate synthase, thus preventing DNA synthesis that leads to imbalanced cell growth and ultimately cell death. It is still a widely used anticancer drug, since 1957. The present study aimed to evaluate the possible cardio-protective effects of ethanolic artichoke extract (Cynara scolymus L.) against 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) induced cardio-toxicity in rats by evaluating serum levels of Alanine aminotransferase, aspartate amin
... Show MoreAbstract: Fluoroquinolones drugs are an important class of wide
... Show MoreCyclophosphamide (CP) is a cytotoxic alkylating agent it's used associated with different side effects including lung toxicity. Vitamin B2 and vitamin B12 have lung-protective effects. This study was designed to evaluate lung-protective effects of both vitamins against lung toxicity induced by cyclophosphamide. seventy healthy adult albino male and female rats divided into seven groups each group containing ten rats were used in the present study and treated for seven days. On day eight rats were sacrificed and serum was obtained for glutathione and total antioxidant capacity measurement and lung extracted for immunohistochemical study; both vitamins significantly (P<0.05) increased glutathione and total antioxidant capacity in compar
... Show MoreThe estimation of the initial oil in place is a crucial topic in the period of exploration, appraisal, and development of the reservoir. In the current work, two conventional methods were used to determine the Initial Oil in Place. These two methods are a volumetric method and a reservoir simulation method. Moreover, each method requires a type of data whereet al the volumetric method depends on geological, core, well log and petrophysical properties data while the reservoir simulation method also needs capillary pressure versus water saturation, fluid production and static pressure data for all active wells at the Mishrif reservoir. The petrophysical properties for the studied reservoir is calculated using neural network technique
... Show MoreAsphaltenes are a solubility class described as a component of crude oil with undesired characteristics. In this study, Sharqy Baghdad heavy oil upgrading was achieved utilizing the solvent deasphalting approach as asphaltenes are insoluble in paraffinic solvents; they may be removed from heavy crude oil by adding N-Hexane as a solvent to create deasphalted oil (DAO)of higher quality. This method is known as Solvent De-asphalting (SDA). Different effects have been assessed for the SDA process, such as solvent to oil ratio (4-16/1 ml/g), the extraction temperature (23 ºC) room temperature and (68 ºC) reflux temperature at (0.5 h mixing time with 400 rpm mixing speed). The best solvent deasphalting results were obtained at room temp
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