Rafidain Journal of Science

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of ethanol leaf extract of Azadirachta excelsa oral dose (250 mg /kg of b.w.) every other day for 28 days on the histological changes of the ovary and uterus, serum levels of progesterone and estrogen and the fertility of adult female mice.
The results showed histological changes in the ovaries of the treated groups indicating an increase in the number of secondary follicles, absence of the mature follicles, presence of the atretic follicles, bleeding tissue and congestion of blood vessels in the second group, while in the third group, they showed a decrease in the number of the primary and secondary follicles, absence of the mature follicles, presence of the atretic follicles and fibrosis of the ovarian cortex.
The uterus sections of the treated groups showed fibrosis of the uterus wall, hyperplasia of smooth muscle in the second group and papilloma of endometrium, congestion of blood vessels of serosa in the third group. The results observed a significant increase in progesterone and estrogen levels of the treated groups compared with control. The results observed an obvious decrease in the mean of newborn of the treated groups, which proved reduction of the fertility of the treated females. Thus, the application of this plant extract is important in the rodent control programs.

The detailed investigation of a sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace amounts of tellurium (IV) is described. The method is based on the reaction of tellurium (IV) with chrome azurol S in the presence of cetylpyridinium chloride hydrate surfactant at a final pH of 3.1 to form a pink coloured chelate absorbing maximum at 525 nm. Beer’s law is obeyed over the range (5-50) µg/25 ml, with a molar absorptivity of (2.5 ×104) l.mol-1.cm-1 and a coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.9997. Sandell’s sensitivity index is (5.104×10-3) µg.cm-2, a relative error of (0.8-0.2%) and a relative standard deviation of (0.2 to ±1.8) %, depending on the concentration levels in the calibration curve. The method has been applied successfully to determine Te (IV) in sea water and some synthetic alloys.

This study included the isolation of the enzyme Matrix Metalloprotrinase-1 (MMP-1; Collagenase-1) from serum of healthy individual and synovial fluid (SF) of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis using different techniques.
After precipitation of proteins using saturated ammonium sulfate, two porteinous components had been isolated by gel filtration chromatography. It was found that only the first peak has high activity of latent-MMP-1. The apparent molecular weights of MMP-1 in serum and SF using gel filtration chromatography was found to be (47752 ± 816 and 48194 ± 707) dalton respectively.
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to show the extent of purity. The main maximum of the enzyme from serum and SF appeared at retention times (1.652 and 1.65) minutes respectively compared with the retention time of standard enzyme at (1.571) minutes. The approximate molecular weight of latent-MMP-1 by HPLC technique, in serum and SF were found (48067 and 48033) dalton respectively.
The study included, also, the effect of some material compounds on the activity of latent-MMP-1. The results revealed that the addition of ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA), 2,4-dinitrophenol, sodium azide, potassium oxalate, mercaptoethanol (MEH), glutathione (GSH), cystein and healthy human serum decreased the activity of latent-MMP-1, while the addition of NaCl, MgSO4, CoCl2, CaCl2, CuSO4, ZnSO4, HgCl2 and pepsin increases the activity of enzyme.

The research includes measurement of some biochemical parameters in serum of uterine cancer patients. Serum samples were collected from (20) healthy females and (20) females with uterine cancer, their ages ranged between (35-68) years. These parameters included: lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and the level of some antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) and peroxynitrite. Some trace elements (copper and zinc) were also tested in the present study.
In comparison with the healthy females, the uterine cancer exhibited a significant increase in the level of MDA, peroxynitrite, LDH and copper. They also exhibited a significant decrease in the level of vitamin C, vitamin E, glutathione and zinc in comparison with healthy females.

Molar conductivities of dilute solutions for the complexes: Co(II)(alanine + valine), Ni(II)(valine + serine), Ca(II)(alanine + serine), Mg(II)(valine + serine) in water were measured in the temperature range from (293.16–313.16K). The ionic molar conductivity (Λ), the association constant (KA), distance parameter (R), and (σΛ) at best fit values were determined by treating experimental data with Lee-Wheaton conductivity equation. Thermodynamic quantities for the ion association reaction were derived from the temperature dependence of KA. The obtained results provide information on ion – ion and ion-solvent interactions.

A simple, rapid, accurate and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been developed for the quantitative determination of sulfadiazine (SDz) in both pure and its dosage forms. The method is based on diazotization of primary amine group of sulfadiazine with sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid followed by coupling with γ-resorsolic acid (2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid) in alkaline medium of sodium hydroxide to form a yellow coloured azo dye shows a maximum absorption at 458 nm against reagent blank solution. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 10-300 μg of SDz / 25 ml (0.4-12 ppm) with a determination coefficient (R2=0.9998 ) and molar absorptivity 4.38×104 l.mol-1.cm-1 and a relative error in the range of 0.1- 0.64% and a relative standard deviation from  0.27 to  1.21 % depending on the concentration level of SDz. The method is suitable for the determination of sulfadiazine in the presence of other ingredients that are usually present in dosage forms. The effect of organic solvents on the spectrophotometric properties of the azo dye and the composition of the resulting product have also been worked out and it is found to be 1:2 γ-resorsolic acid: sulfadiazine. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of sulfadiazine in its pharmaceutical preparations ( tablet, and burn cream ).

New α-(2-pyridyl)benzylidine (5-nitropyrid-2-yl)amine (L) ligand has been synthesized by condensation of 2-benzoyl pyridine and 2-amino-5-nitro pyridine in 1:1 molar ratio in ethanol. Further the Co+2,Ni+2 and Cu+2 complexes were synthesized by reacting above ligand with metal chloride in (1:1) (1:2) or (2:2) (Ligand:metal) molar ratio in ethanolic medium. The ligand and their complexes were characterized by electronic and IR spectra, magnetic susceptibility measurements, molar conductance and metal content analysis. The complexes (1-3) and (7-9) are found to be non ionic in nature while the complexes (4-6) are found to be (1:2) electrolyte. The magnetic moment and electronic spectral studies show a tetrahedral geometries for the complexes (1-6) and octahedral geometries for the rest of the complexes.

In this study, the electron energy distribution function in capacitively coupled radio frequency dry air discharge in three different regions along discharge tube was measured. It was observed that all regions do have Fermi electron energy distribution function which increases in magnitude with increasing the applied power, and decreasing with increasing the internal pressure. This function magnitude reaches its highest value near the powered electrode, while it decreases towards the earthed one.

In this research, our concentration was directed to study the effect of weight fraction of the reinforcement materials (E-Glass) chopped strand laminates fibers, (E-Glass) continuous fibers and Glass powder, on the alternating bending fatigue behavior of the unsaturated polyester matrix (polymeric composite).
The result of this study reveals that the variation of the weight fraction percentage of the reinforcement materials could affect the fatigue resistance of the produced composite.
It has been noticed that the increase in the weight percentage fraction of both, glass laminates fibers (No. of laminates) and the glass continuous fibers, contributed effectively to improve the fatigue resistance, this reflects the longer fatigue life of the composites, that increase in the fatigue life could approach to more than hundred times, in the case of using glass laminate fibers and to more than twenty four times, in the case of using glass continuous fibers, at the same stress levels (9MPa), and the same percentage of weight fraction (6wt%).
The result obtained of fatigue test in the case of using glass powder, suggests that the fatigue life depends on the percentage of weight fraction. The results also reveal an improvement in fatigue life three times longer for the weight fraction (2.5wt%), of glass powder, but the higher weight fraction (6wt%), reduced the fatigue life to a third compared to unreinforced base matrix.