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.
We studied the effect of certain environmental conditions for removing heavy metal elements from contaminated aqueous solutions (Cd, Cu, Pb, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cr) using the bacterium Bacillus subtilis to appoint the optimal conditions for removal ,The best optimum temperature range for two isolate was 30-35○C while the hydrogen number for the maximum mineral removal range was 6-7. The best primary mineral removal was 100 mg/L, while the maximum removal for all minerals was obtained after 6 hrs of Cu element time and the maximum removal efficiency was obtained after 24 hrs of Cu element. The results have proved that the best aeration for maximum removal was obtained at rotation speed of 150 rpm/minute. Inoculums of 5ml/100ml which contained 1
... Show MoreA total of 60 cotton swabs are collected from patients suffering from burn wound and surgical site infections admitted to Baghdad Teaching Hospital and Burn Specialist Hospital in Baghdad city during 9/2013 to 11/2013. All cotton swabs are cultured initially on blood agar and MacConkey agar and subjected for standard bacteriological procedures for bacteriological diagnosis. Twenty samples out of sixty are identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa by conventional methods. The results of antibiotic susceptibility test illustrate that the antibiotics resistance rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates is as follows:100% (2020) for ceftriaxone, cefepime and carbencillin, 70% (14/20) for amikacin, 65%(13/20) for tobramycin, ceftazidim and gentamycin,
... Show MoreThis study wass carried out to investigate the incedence of powdery mildew disease on ornamental plants (Nasturtium) Tropaeolum majus L. caused by Oidiopsis haplophylli in some nurseries of Baghdad area and in fields at college of Agriculture /University of Baghdad. This study was conducted in tow succesive seasons of 2011-2012 (April and May). The survey indicated that the Mildew disease existe in the following nurseries (Al-Adhamiya 97.5% ,Palestine street 93.8%, Zayouna 86.0%, and 100% in two fields at college of Agriculture. It has been found that the disease severity was developed in Agriculture college fields successively from 12-4-2011 to 20-5-2011 and from 12-4-2012 to 20-5-2012 (18.0–98.0 % and 22.7–96.0% )for the two sea
... Show MoreIn the present study, advanced oxidation process / heterogeneous photocatalytic process (UV/TiO2/Fenton) system was investigated to the treatment of oily wastewater. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration H2O2, initial amount of the iron catalyst Fe+2, pH, temperature, amount of TiO2 and the concentration of oil in the wastewater. The removal efficiency for the system UV/TiO2/Fenton at optimal conditions and dosage (H2O2 = 400mg/L, Fe+2 = 40mg/L, pH=5, temperature =30oC, TiO2=75mg/L) for 1000mg/L load was found to be 77%.
Aluminum foil cover around the re
... Show MoreThe world is confronted with the twin crisis of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation caused by fossil fuel usage. Biodiesel produced from renewable feedstocks such as Jatropha seed oil or animal fats by transesterification offers a solution. Although biodiesel has been produced from various vegetable oils such as Jatropha seed oil, the reaction kinetics studies are very few in literature, hence the need for this study. Jatropha curcas seed oil was extracted and analyzed to determine its free fatty acid and fatty acid composition. The oil was transesterified with methanol at a molar ratio of methanol to oil 8:1, using 1% sodium hydroxide catalyst, at different temperature
... Show MoreBackground: the activity of acute lymphoblastic leukemia had been observed to correlate with levels of serum lipoproteins
Objective: to evaluate the correlation of serum levels of different types of lipoproteins with activity of the disease in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Type of the study: A prospective study.
Methods: A study included patients diagnosed as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, their serum levels of lipoproteins at time of diagnosis, and on relapse were obtained for comparison.
Results: there is significant inverse correlation of activity of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with serum total cholesterol
... Show MoreThis work was conducted to study the extraction of eucalyptus oil from natural plants (Eucalyptus camadulensis leaves) by organic solvents. the effects of the main operating parameters were studied; type of solvent (n-hexane and ethanol), time to reach equilibrium, the temperature (45°C to 65°C) for n-hexane and (45°C to 75°C) for ethanol, solvent to solid ratio (5:1 to 8:1 (v/w)), agitation speed (0 to 900 rpm) and the particle size (0.5 to 2.5 cm) of fresh leaves to find the best processing conditions for the achieving maximum oil yield. The concentration of eucalyptus oil in solvent was measured by using UV-spectrophotometer. The results (for n-hexane) showed that the agitation speed of 900 rpm, temperature 65°C with solvent to soli
... Show MoreFive species of Lactic acid bacteriawere isolated from raw milk, yoghurt, vegetables and pickles, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus bulgaricus isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene. Evaluate of antimicrobial activity against all the bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis. It showed that bacteriocin of Lactic acid bacteriamore effective than supernatant of lactic acid bacteria, the results showed that isolatemost efficient isolate belonging to Lactobacillus brevis, the diameter of the inhibition of the bacteriocin of Lactobacillus brevis were 27.7, 26.3 and 25.1
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