Kirkuk Journal of Science

The study investigates the effects of pomegranate peel extracts on some
virulence factors such as the production of some enzymes produced
by Proteus spp isolated from different clinical samples. Among 310
different clinical samples, 48 isolates of proteus were obtained, 14
isolates(29.16%)were obtained from urine, 15 isolates (31.25%) were
obtained from stool, 7 isolates (14.58%) from ear swabs, 4 isolates
(8.33%) were obtained from wounds, 5 isolates (10.41% (from burns
and 3 isolates) 6.25%) of the high cervical. The study showed that
from 48 isolates of Proteus spp 25 isolates (52.08%) identified as
P.mirabilis, 15 isolates (31.25%)of P. penerri, while 8 isolates of P.
vulgaris were obtained with a percentage of (16.66%) and it was
found that 18 isolates (72%) of P.mirabilis isolates were positive for
the production of beta-lactamase enzyme, 24 isolates (96%) are
positive for proteases and 14 isolates (56%) produced lipase, while
13 isolates from P. penerri (86.66%) produced beta-lactamases and
proteases and 10 isolates (66.66%) produced lipase, also found that
5 isolates (62.5%) of P. vulgaris produced Beta-lactamase and all the
isolates (100%) produced protease while 7 isolates (87.5%) produced
lipase. It was found that the hot aqueous extract of pomegranate
peels inhibited the production of beta-lactamase enzyme in 4 out of
7 isolates that produced this enzyme, while all tested isolates did
not produce lipase by using extracts of pomegranate peel extracts.
The isolates lost their ability to produce protease enzyme, except for
two isolates that were not affected by extracts of pomegranate peel fruits.

In this paper, we use maximum track length (Lmax) approach depending
on track diameter-length (D-L) correlation as another way to estimate Vb
directly from empirical measurements of the track diameters or lengths
without resorting to other methods. The lengths of the tracks have been
extracted using the (D-L) correlation which relied on the measurement
of the openings diameter of the etched tracks, in addition to using
the Track-Test program. 241Am(1µCi) source was used to irradiate the
plastic detector CR-39 with alpha particles of energies of 3.5-5.3 MeV
by means of normal incidence.The irradiated detectors were treated by
a chemical etchant for distinct intervals of time using an aqueous NaOH
solution of 6 N preserved at temperature (70±)
oC. An empirical formula
was applied to calculate Vb. The formula relies on two parameters, the
maximum length of the track (Lmax) and its saturation time (tsat). We
have seen that the magnitude of Vb is equal to 1.407 (µm/h), which can
be regarded as compatible with the values indicated by others using
different methods. It has been noticed that the maximum length of the
etched tracks is directly proportional to alpha energy while exponentially
to saturation time of the length.

The study of the F2-layer properties and the critical frequency(foF2) is
necessary to understand the dynamic features and thus more accurately
predict the behavior of the F layer,and this research aims to find the
relationship (correlation) and interdependence between the critical
frequency (foF2) of Ionospheric layer F2 and Sunspot number. In this
study the characteristics and behavior of oF2 layer during Solar cycle
24 were studied, the effect of Sunspots number (Ri) on the critical
frequency (foF2),were investigated for the years (2012, 2013, 2014)
which represents the ascending phase and 2014 represent the peak
phase of the solar cycle 24 over Kirkuk city (35° N, 44° E) by finding
the critical frequency (foF2) values, the layer’s impression times are
determined for the days of solstice as well as equinox,where the solar
activity was examined for the days of the winter and summer solstice and
the days of the spring and autumn equinoxes for a period of 24 hours by
applied the International Reference Ionosphere model IRI (2016). The
output data for foF2 were verified by using the IRI-Ne- Quick option by
specifying the time, date and Sunspot number parameters. Statistical
analysis was carried out through the application of the Minitab (version
2018) in order to find the correlation between the critical frequency (foF2)
of Ionospheric layer F2 and Sunspot number. It was concluded that the
correlation is strong and positive, this indicate that critical frequency
(foF2) increase with increasing Sunspots number (Ri) for solar cycle 24.