Al-Kufa University Journal for Biology

Scientists from all over the world are currently investigating medicinal plants. Plants have long been used as a source of medicine by humans due to their low cost and long history of use. Due to technological limitations, most traditional medicines in the past were derived from plants. In this study, the anti-bacterial and phytochemical properties of Lantana camara extracts from Iraq were analyzed. The extract composition was analyzed using GC/MS. The agar well diffusion method and broth dilution assay to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of each extract. The aerial parts of the Lantana camara herb were extracted with n-hexane, ethanol, and methanol. The beneficial phytochemicals in L. camara include triterpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, steroids, and tannins. The anti-bacterial activity of extract's was evaluated., The n-hexane extract was found to have a 400 μg/mL minimum inhibitory concentration (MBC), against Proteus valguris, while the ethanolic and methanolic extracts showed similar anti-bacterial activity at 100 μg/mL., While the lowest inhibitory concentration of n-hexane and ethanolic extracts was 400 μg/mL, and methanolic extract was 200 μg/mL. against Bacillus subtilis. This means that the methanolic extract is more effective and inhibits bacterial growth at lower concentrations. This article will be useful for researchers studying the biological activity, phytochemical composition, and anti-bacterial activity of Lantana camara.

Some living organisms have been eliminated in some ecosystems, while some diseases have recently been caused due to extreme climate changes nowadays which have been affected by greenhouse gases which disturb the ecosystems. To an extent, the temperature of Earth's planet has increased markedly over the last 100.000 years. This increment can strongly affect the normal existence of a large number of living beings such as animals, plants, and microorganisms. Human life span has been decreased due to the harsh conditions in ecosystems and as one of the consequences of global warming; besides the pathogens, like bacteria, viruses and parasites, have become more resistant to disinfectants and to novel antimicrobial agents much more than before. The production and cultivation of some crops and numerous plant species become harder as a result of high salinity and decreases rainfall. Since 2007, forestation and drought have been the most obvious manifestations in many countries, especially in Iraqi lands leading to the migration of people and some animals like birds away from them. Cattle and some animals like deer and fish have been in a limited number tending to extinction in some Iraqi areas. This review has been prepared to document the global and local impacts of climate change on biodiversity.

The current study sheds light on the effect of oxidative stress on the development of atherosclerosis. Thirty-eight males and twenty-two females with atherosclerosis were chosen as the patient group, whose samples were collected from the "Open-Heart Unit in Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital in Najaf City". Thirty healthy people who do not suffer from vascular disease, hypertension or diabetes, with similar ageing of patients, were selected as a control group.
Total antioxidant capacity, Insulin, cholesterol, hemoglobin and platelets were measured in atherosclerosis patients and the control group. The results show a significant increase in full antioxidant capacity, Insulin, cholesterol, haemoglobin and platelets in patients with atherosclerosis compared with the control group; the results also showed a significant increase in hemoglobin and platelet count in males with atherosclerosis compared with females. There is a positive relation between T-AOC and Insulin in atherosclerosis patients, while there is no relationship between T-AOC and both (Hb & PCV) in atherosclerosis patients.

Phylogenetic relationships for the widely distributed genus Hypericum (St. John's wort) had already been focused on morphology, with just a few species having been studied molecularly. We're currently in the midst of a long-term study of the genus Hypericum, and we've been analyzing some pretty interesting data. Specifically, we've been looking at the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer sequences and 28SrRNA of eight different species of Hypericum, as well as one species of Thornea calcicola (which serves as our outgroup). It's all part of our larger effort to better understand the evolutionary relationships between these species. The subsequent parsimony analysis and Bayesian inference support the actual categorization and interspecific affinities. The molecular evidence supports the monophyletic assemblage of the sections in the ITS and 28SrRNA region trees, which indicate four distinct clades with little variation in the positions of the individual species in both trees. We identified traits that support significant clades within the genus Hypericum using Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian approaches to reconstruct ancestral states of the chosen features. The findings support using ITS and 28SrRNA sequencing analysis to clarify the evolutionary connections within the numerous members of the genus Hypericum. It's great to know that the phylogenetic relationships among Hypericum species have been mostly resolved via ITS phylogeny. This means that we have a better understanding of the evolutionary relationships between these species. With this information, we can make more informed decisions about how to classify and study these plants.

This work aimed to study the effect of body weight gain in individuals with or without diabetes mellitus Type 2 (DMT2) on the nervous system. Seventy-five subjects participated in this study, including 25 obese patients with DMT2 (BMI≥30kg/m2), 25 obese individuals without diabetes (BMI≥30kg/m2) and normal-weight healthy (BMI˂25kg/m2). In addition to body mass index (BMI), the west/hip ratio (WHR) and total body fat (TBF%) were calculated. 10ml of blood was collected from participants and used to determine the levels of HbA1C, noradrenaline (NA), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and fasting blood glucose (FBG). The level of NGF increased while BDNF and NA levels decreased in obese with and without diabetes compared to control. Interestingly, BDNF level was significantly higher in the obese with diabetes than without. Moreover, TBF% and WHR values were significantly higher in the obese with diabetes when compared with those without diabetes. At the same time, there were no significant differences between BMI value in these two groups. BMI, TBF% and WHR significantly correlate with FBG, HbA1C and NGF and negative significant correlation with BDNFdoes not correlate; only WHR has no correlationdoes and does not correlate with NA. As well as, HbA1C has a significant correlation with the nerve markers, positive with BDNF and NGF and negative with NA, while FBG did not correlate with them. In conclusion, neurotransmitters and neurotrophin levels could use as risk factors for diabetes, and obesity could be considered as a risk factor for neuropathy as much as diabetes.

In diagnosing diseases, researchers and specialists usually rely on direct viewing with a microscope at a tissue sample to identify good tissue from the patient. Therefore, this paper was concerned with improving the accuracy and illustrate of biological tissue images by relying on a computer program, which is MATLAB, to perform image processing operations for images obtained from the microscope camera to illustrate it in a good way, so that specialists can make the best diagnosis using these results. Since there are many images of tissues that differ in terms of lighting, this paper relied on several illustration processes in two programs. The first focused on using histograms, it was based on a comparison between the original image and the image that was processed by spreading the histogram lighting once, and again with an image that was processed several times to get the best result, in addition to comparison with binary images and grayscale images. The second focused on detecting the edges of the image and using the complementary image. Several types of edge detection were used, the first using the detection function, the second using the Sobel filter, and the third using the Canny filter, through the results of the histogram and visual observation, it was found that the method of distributing histogram lighting is the best in obtaining distinctive results, after that complement of the image.