In the present study, a high-surface area activated carbon was prepared by chemical activation of lemon peel with H3PO4 as the active agent. Then, the adsorption behavior of Malachite green dye and Pb(II) ions on the produced activated carbon was studied. Batch process was employed for sorption kinetics and equilibrium studies. Experimental data were �tted to various isotherm models. According to the Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacities of Malachite green dye and Pb(II) ions were found to be 66.67 and 90.91 mg g-1, respectively, at room temperature. Kinetic studies showed the adsorption process followed a pseudo second-order rate model. The sorption kinetics were controlled by intra-particle diffusion. The results indicated that the produced activated carbon can be economically and effectively used as an adsorbent for the removal of Malachite green dye and Pb(II) ions from wastewaters.

This study was design to evaluate the anti-candidal activity of Astragalus verus Olivier, Fabaceae (Av). The GC/MS analysis of essential oils of Av showed that aqueous extract contains thymol while hexadecanoic acid, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, diisooctyl ester and phytol were found as major components of methanol and acetone extracts. The aqueous extract showed anti-candidal activity in the concentration 320 mg/mL using disc diffusion method and its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 160 mg/mL. To induce cutaneous candidiasis, the dorsum of immunocompromised guinea pigs was infected with Candida albicans and animals were divided into five groups (n=5 for each): NC, received a vehicle; PC, received topical ketoconazole 2% and three other groups which received topical 10, 20 and 40% aqueous extract of Av. On ninth day postinfection, skins were cultured and colony forming unite per gram (CFU/g) skin was recorded. Systemic candidiasis was obtained by intravenous inoculation of C. albicans, 4000 CFU/g body weight. Here, animals have been divided into five groups like cutaneous candidiasis but their medications have been delivered in drinking water for ten days before induction of infection. On second day postinfection, all internal tissues were taken for determining CFU/g tissue. The aqueous extract (40%) prevented heavy burden of C. albicans in tissues and skin in oral and topical application, respectively. The results indicate that Av represents a potential source of anti-candidal drug.

In the proposed method, carbon tetrachloride and ethanol were used as extraction and dispersive solvents. Several factors that may be affected on the extraction process, such as extraction solvent, disperser solvent, the volume of extraction and disperser solvent, pH of the aqueous solution and extraction time were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, linearity was maintained between 1.0 ng mL-1 to 1.5 mg mL-1 for zinc and 1.0 ng mL-1 to 0.4 mg mL-1 for cadmium. The proposed method has been applied for determination of trace amount of zinc and cadmium in standard and water samples with satisfactory results.

The essential oils (EO) of Salix aegyptiaca L., Salicaceae (SA), leaves were extracted using the hydrodistillation method and their chemical composition was further determined by GC-MS. 1,4-Dimethoxybenzene was the main isolated compound. Other major isolated constitutes were phenylethyl alcohol, carvone, citronellol, methyleugenol, eugenol, n-tetradecane and 4'-methoxyacetophenone. Twenty rabbits were equally divided into four groups: Normal control (NC) which fed a standard diet and three cholesterol-fed groups: HC, HC+1.0% SA and HC+3.0% SA groups which received 0.0%, 1.0% and 3.0% EO, respectively for four weeks. The serum lipid and lipoprotein profiles and atherogenic index (AI) were measured weekly. The high cholesterol diet significantly raised the TC, LDL-C, VLDL-C, HDL-C, TG and AI level compared with NC group. HC+1.0% SA and HC+3.0% SA groups showed similar results compared with HC group. It can be concluded that the EO of SA leaves could not prevent dyslipidemia that occurred in rabbits following inclusion of cholesterol in diet in both dose-and time-dependent manners.