ALOE IRAFENSIS AN ENDEMIC PLANT OF YEMEN: PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIBACTERIAL, ANTIOXIDANT, AND WOUND-HEALING ACTIVITIES

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the phytochemical constituents and assess the antibacterial, antioxidant, and wound-healing properties of the methanol extracts of Aloe irafensis. Methods: Methanol extracts of A. irafensis’s latex, gel, and green skin were screened for their phytochemical constituents. All three extracts were investigated regarding their antibacterial potential using disc diffusion and microdilution assays, and their antioxidant activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl free-radical scavenging assay. Histopathological study of wound healing area was performed for the latex extract in male albino rats. Results: The methanol extracts of A. irafensis revealed the presence of carbohydrates, steroids, phenols, tannins, and anthrones. The latex extract showed greater inhibition zones against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (24 and 17 mm, respectively) and minimum inhibitory concentration values of 1.25 and 2.50 mg/ml, respectively. The latex extract showed the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 of 65.54 μg/ml), followed by green skin (IC50 of 89.48 μg/ml). The latex extract significantly accelerated the rate of wound healing in rats (p<0.01), compared to fucidin ointment, a reference control. Histological findings showed remarkably less scar width at wound closure site in the latex extract-treated wounds. Granulation tissue contained fewer inflammatory cells and more fibroblasts in wounds treated with the latex extract compared to those treated with the vehicle. Conclusion: A. irafensis latex extract is a potential source of bioactive compounds that can be used as antioxidant, antibacterial, and wound healing agents

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHIC OF PRUNUS DULCIS (ALMOND) MEDICINAL PLANT LEAVES USED IN FOLK MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND BURNS IN HUFASH DISTRICT AL MAHWEET GOVERNORATE–YEMEN

Objective: Prunus dulcis (Almond) belongs to the family Rosaceae and is rich in polyphenols, including hydroxybenzoic acids and aldehydes, flavonol and flavanone aglycones, and glycosides. The objective of current study was phytochemical screening of chemical constituents of Prunus dulcis extract.   Methods: In this study methanolic and aqueous extracts of one plant namely Prunus dulcis were screened for the presence of phytochemical constituents and tested for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the results showed presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, glycosides, resins, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, phenols, and amino acid were present in the methanol extract, with absence of glycosides, and amino acids in the aqueous extracts in leaves plant.   Results: TLC tests conducted revealed Rf values in the leaves for alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenols and saponins(0.92-0.96-0.96-0.95-0.96) respectively. The antimicrobial activity extracts against four bacterial isolates Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella sp. and a single fungal isolate Candida albicans with concentrations (0.5 mg/ml, and 1,0 mg/ml) of the extract were added to the disc and respective solvent was used as negative control. The antioxidative activity of leaf was evaluated by using 1,1-  diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), the results showed are 85.5%, lowest from standard, ascorbic acid 87.5%.   Conclusion: The present study showed that prunus dulcis are rich sources of useful secondary metabolites, suitable for use for medicinal purpose like treat wounds and burns diseases.                                      Peer Review History: Received 18 March 2019;   Revised 20 April; Accepted 5 May, Available online 15 May 2019 Academic Editor: Dr. Marwa A. A. Fayed, University of Sadat City, Egypt, [email protected] Received file:                Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 8.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Rana Ahmed MohamedEl-Saied El-Fitiany, Ahram Canadian University, Giza, Egypt, [email protected] Dr. Mohamed Said Fathy Al-Refaey, University of Sadat City, Menofia, Egypt, [email protected]  Similar Articles: PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-DIABETIC POTENTIALS OF PERSEA AMERICANA MILL. (LAURACEAE) FRUIT EXTRACT PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND IN-VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY POTENTIAL EVALUATIONS OF METHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF COCOS NUCIFERA (L.) LEAVE

ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PSIDIUM GUAJAVA. (GUAVA) MEDICINAL PLANT LEAVES USED IN FOLK MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND BURNS IN HUFASH DISTRICT AL MAHWEET GOVERNORATE–YEMEN

Objective: Psidium guajava (PG) belongs to the family Myrtaceae that is believed to have active components that help to treat conditions like malaria, gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhea, dysentery, wounds, ulcers, toothache, coughs, sore throat, inflamed gums, and a number of other condition. The objective of current study was phytochemical screening of chemical constituents of Psidium guajava extract.Methods: In this study methanolic and aqueous extracts of one plant namely Psidium guajava, were screened for the presence of phytochemical constituents and tested for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity.Results: TLC tests conducted revealed Rf values in the leaves for alkaloids, Flavonoids, Tannins, Phenols and Saponins(0.96-0.97-0.99-0.97-0.99) respectively. The antimicrobial activity extracts against four bacterial isolates Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella sp. and a single fungal isolate Candida albicans with concentrations (0.5 mg/ml, and 1,0 mg/ml) of the extract were added to the disc and respective solvent was used as negative control. The antioxidative activity of leaf was evaluated by using 1,1- diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), the results showed are 88.4%, highest from standard, ascorbic acid 87.5%.Conclusion: The qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the results showed presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, glycosides, resins, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, phenols, and amino acid were present in the methanol extract, with absence of glycosides, and amino acids in the aqueous extracts in leaves plant.                               Peer Review History: Received 24 March 2019;   Revised 10 April; Accepted 20 April, Available online 15 May 2019 Academic Editor:  Dr. Iman Muhammad Higazy, National Research Center, Egypt, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file:                Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Ahmad Najib, Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Makassar, Indonesia, [email protected] Dr. Md. Shahidul Islam, USTC, Chittagong, Bangladesh, [email protected] Similar Articles: PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF COLOCASIA ESCULENTA (TARO) MEDICINAL PLANT LEAVES USED IN FOLK MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND BURNS IN HUFASH DISTRICT AL MAHWEET GOVERNORATE–YEME

Predicting Soil-Water Characteristic Curves of Clayey Sand Soils Using Area Computation

The soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) for soils are important for geotechnical engineers in the prediction of clay behavior in case of partially saturated conditions. In the wastewater and waste containment industry, variable clay content is considered. It is not practical to run a time-consuming test several times to obtain the soil-water characteristic curves for every proportion. This study is aimed at introducing a practical procedure to predict the response of clay of known mineralogy and geological setting when clay content within a liner is variable. Fitting curves were performed using Fredlund and Xing’s (1994) equations. The general trends were established for selected clay of known high content of smectite minerals. Obtained curves were examined, and areas under the suction curve were integrated from the starting point to the inflection point for clay-sand material with 5%, 10%, 15%, 30%, 60%, and 100% clay content. This area can be used to estimate the profile of the SWCC for higher or lower clay content based on an area factor determined for a specific clay type or clay of known mineralogy. Other clay of similar nature, but not typical mineralogy, were compared in order to observe and validate the use of the area method in predicting the SWCC for similar soils

Sustainable and Stable Clay Sand Liners over Time

The washout of fine materials from liners consisting of clay–sand mixtures is expected to influence the hydraulic conductivity. Clay sand liners must be assessed for efficiency when initially subjected to flood or standing water as the wetting under a hydraulic gradient can cause fine material to move and migrate away from the mixture. During wetting and drying complex expansion and shrinkage, changes take place. These changes affect the hydraulic conductivity and are likely to go out of the design range set out for the facility. The research covers the behavior of two clay sand liners tested over an extended time. The hydraulic conductivity measured under a specific hydraulic gradient was measured continuously following the establishment of the test set-up. Self-recording sensors were used to measure the temperature during the tests. The results indicated that the hydraulic conductivity reduces after an initial period of increase and fluctuation caused by the loss of mass because of fine material migration and swelling initiated due to the high content of smectite minerals. The testing and monitoring continued for more than 400 days. The permanent reduction in the hydraulic conductivity occurs after the initial period of repeated rise and fall. The extent of the initial period for the two tested mixtures is subject to the fine content mass and the clay mineralogy. The continuous reduction in the hydraulic conductivity after the initial period is due to the rearrangement of particles and compression in the sand–clay mixture

Predicting Hydraulic Conductivity for Flexible Wall Conditions Using Rigid Wall Permeameter

The hydraulic conductivity is known as the soil properties that mostly vary over an order of magnitude. There are many laboratory test methods to determine the hydraulic conductivity of the soil. Each test has its own merits, drawbacks and limitations. One of these methods is the measurement using a rigid wall permeameter (RWP), which is a common practice to obtain the fluid transmissibility characteristics of the soil matrix. This type of permeameter has the advantages of low cost, simplicity of test equipment, and adaptability to many different types of permeant liquids. Another method is the measurement through a flexible wall permeameter (FWP). The hydraulic conductivity measured using the FWP is conducted in a confined cylinder in which water flow is forced into one direction. The main disadvantage of this type is being relatively more expensive and needs more time to perform the test compared to the RWP. This study is aimed at comparing three testing conditions to obtain an adjustment factor for the hydraulic conductivity test normally carried out in practice in order to cut down the time needed to perform the test as well as its cost. Different mixtures of sand and expansive clay addition were considered to examine the effect of expansive clay content on the values of the hydraulic conductivity. Tests results revealed that the clay content had a significant effect on the swelling potential, which was attributed to structural changes in the mixtures. The hydraulic conductivity of mixtures decreases with the increase in clay content. The hydraulic conductivity of mixtures tested using FWP was observed to be lower than that of mixtures tested using RWP at similar clay contents. The tests conducted enabled establishing a correction factor to adjust the hydraulic conductivity normally obtained in practice using rigid wall cells

Effect of Unit Weight on Porosity and Consolidation Characteristics of Expansive Clays

This study investigated the relationship between pore characteristics and unit weight of clayey soils. This relationship was particularly important in case of expansive soils, as the pore characteristics determine moisture flux boundaries, which in turn represent volume change behavior. Current research tried to evaluate the effect of compaction unit weight on the pore size and pore volume along with consolidation and swell characteristics on two expansive clays from semi-arid environment. The two selected clays represent soils with different degrees of expansion, particle size and mineralogy. Pore size characterization for these two soils was performed using Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry, while swell and consolidation characteristics were determined using a conventional oedometer test. Samples for both tests were compacted at different unit weights including, 100, 95, 90, 80, 75, and 70 % of maximum dry unit weight (MDUW) obtained from standard proctor. The compaction water content was kept constant for all unit weight levels. Both pore volume and pore size distribution was analyzed with varying unit weight characteristics and particle sizes. In addition, swell strains and compression indices were studied with varying unit weight of compacted specimens. It was observed that, in the case of samples compacted at 100 % MDUW, about 50 % of the pores were larger than 0.1 µm, and this value increased with reduction in unit weight. Current research is of practical importance, especially in the wake of microbial treatments for clayey soils where the passage of microbes depends on the pore size and more specifically pore throat size

Effect of Density on the Pore Size and Pore Volume of Expansive Clays

It is a well established fact that, both pore size and volume govern the density and particle size characteristics of any soil. For clayey soils, higher densities followed by lesser particle size result in low pore volumes. However, not many studies were conducted on how these pore characteristics alter with variations in density and particle size. This paper presents the results of a study conducted to understand the effect of compaction effort on the pore size and pore volume characteristics on two semi-arid expansive clays. These two clays selected represent soils with different degrees of expansivity, particle sizes and mineralogy. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry tests were conducted to study the pore size characteristics at 100, 95, 90, 85, 80, 75 and 70% of maximum dry density (MDD) at corresponding optimum moisture content values. Both pore volume and pore size were analysed with varying density characteristcs and particle sizes. It was observed that in case of samples conducted at 100% MDD, about 50% of the pores were larger than 0.1 μm and this value increased with reduction in density. The current observations assume practical importance especially in the wake of microbial treatments for soils where the the passage of microbes depends on the pore size and more specifically pore throat size

Effect of polypropylene fibre reinforcement on the consolidation, swell and shrinkage behaviour of lime-blended expansive soil

In this article, synthetic fibres in the presence of lime stabilisation are proposed as an alternative to overcome the issues related to shrink-swell distress in expansive soils. Two types of synthetic fibres, Fiber Cast® (FC) and Fiber Mesh® (FM), were studied by conducting one-dimensional fixed ring Oedometer swell-consolidation and bar linear shrinkage tests. Three dosages (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% by weight of soil) and two lengths of the fibres (6 and 12 mm) were evaluated with and without lime treatments. The results indicated that FC fibres had better swell restricting performance in the absence of lime treatment, while in the presence of lime both fibres had similar performance in reducing swelling. Shrinkage tests results showed that irrespective of dosage levels, both the fibres had pronounced effect in reducing the linear shrinkage strains up on lime treatment. Non-linear best fit equations have been proposed to relate compression index (Cc) and recompression index (Cr) of expansive clay deposits with and without lime treatment to amount and dosage of FC and FM reinforcements. The proposed non-linear fit provides a mean for recognising, more efficiently, the patterns in the experimental data and predicting the compression indices, Cc and Cr reliably