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Main agent orange-red coloured pigment of henna is a molecule called Lawson which is responsible for anti-microbial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity. Chitosan is a biopolymer with high strength, biocom-patibility and biodegradability, non-toxicity and antimicrobial properties. Electrospinning is a method of producing su-bmicron polymeric fibers with high porosity and high surface/volume ratio. In this study, electrospinning of chitos-an/polyethylene oxide (Chit/PEO) nanofibers with the addition of henna extract to create nanofibers with antimicrobial properties were examined. Nanofibers was constructed by electrospinning of polymeric solution with proper size and si-ze distribution of Chit/PEO with a ratio 90/10. Then, Lawsonia inermis (henna) extract as an additive to Chit/PEO co-polymer was added and electrospined on the surface. After characterization of nanofibers using SEM, the antimicrobial properties of polymeric solution and nanofibers were investigated. The scanning electron micrographs showed that Ch-it/PEO nanofibres with a low percentage of henna extract have suitable diameters and size distribution similar to Ch-it/PEO nanofibres without adding extract. In bacteriological studies, it was found that chitosan polymer solutions cont-aining 1% of henna extract has bactericidal properties against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudo-monas aeruginosa bacteries better than polymer chitosan solution without adding the extract.

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The biosynthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) has been proposed due to its fast, clean, safe, and cost-effective production and being efficient alternative to conventional physicochemical methods. This study aimed to isolate and identify aquatic yeast strains for their potential to form Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs). A yeast strain, NS02, with high tolerance against zinc ion (5.25 mM) was isolated using the enrichment technique and was selected as efficient candidate for the biosynthesis of ZnONPs under cell-free extract (CFE) strategy. The preliminary evaluation on the formation of ZnONPs was performed by visual observation and UV-visible absorption spectra of the biosynthesized ZnONPs. The morphology, size and elemental distribution of the nanoparticles were determined by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). X-ray diffractometer (XRD) was used to identify the crystalline phase of the ZnONPs. Antibacterial activity of ZnONPs against pathogenic bacteria isolated from the clinical specimens was investigated using agar well diffusion method. The isolate NS02 was characterized based on their morphological properties and amplification the ITS-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA regions. The present study pioneered the capabilities of the native aquatic strain Rhodotorula pacifica for the extracellular synthesis of ZnONPs with CFE strategy. The biosynthesized ZnONPs had a growth inhibitory effect all tested clinical isolates due to their nanometric size and well-defined dispersity. This investigation is attempted to indicate the novel microbial sources of aquatic yeasts as biological plant in the synthesis of ZnONPs with antimicrobial activity under cell-free extract strategy.