Background: Herbal Essential Oils (EOs) are natural, volatile, and complex compounds that are defined by a strong odor. This study was conducted to investigate and compare antioxidant and antifungal properties of EO extracted from flowers and leaves of Origanum vulgare ssp. gracile from Iran. Methods: EOs of leaves and flowers of O. vulgare ssp. gracile were extracted using a modified Cleven...

The plate-dilution frequency technique described facilitates simultaneous enumeration of a wide range of physiologically different microorganisms in complex systems with a precision comparable to dilution tube (most probable number) methods. Replicate microsamples are inoculated from each member of a dilution series onto areas delineated on plates of prepoured solid media; the plates are incuba...

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the causing agent of many hospital infections and metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) are being reported with increasing frequency. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of metallo-&beta-lactamases (MBL) and VIM-1 gene in multidrug-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa isolates and to compare the methods of phenotypic and molecular detection. Materia...

The present study was carried out to find out the antimicrobial activity of aqueous, acetone and ethyl acetate extract of Morus nigra and Citrus limon. Antimicrobial analysis was done by using agar well diffusion method against bacterial pathogens. Ethyl acetate extract of Morus nigra exhibited the maximum zone of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus, while ethyl acetate extract of Citrus l...

A series of Schiff bases derived from 2-acetylpyridne and their metal complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, NMR, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectral studies. The complexes were screened for anti-bacterial activity against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Acinetobacter baumanni (AC), Klebsiella pneumonie (KB) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) using the disc diffusion and mic...

I describe a micro-scale method for determining lead in whole blood by utilizing a graphite furnace. Sample pretreatment consists of fivefold dilution with a dilute surfactant. The method is directly calibrated with lead standards prepared in dilute HNO3. To eliminate a small, nonspecific absorption signal from the blood matrix, simultaneous background correction is used. Interlaboratory co...