Background: The discriminative power of the classical WHO parameters in relation to male fertility is quite low, because they only address few aspects of sperm quality and function. This has led investigators to focus their attention on the male gamete and in particular its genome.Objective: To explore which of the sperm DNA damage parameters measured by comet assay are more reliable, and their relations with the standard semen parameters.Methods: Study was done on 40 infertile men selected from couples attending the Institute of Embryo Reasearch and Infertility Treatment at Al-Kadhimiya City/ Baghdad in the period between February 2009 and May 2009, with a history of infertility of ≥1 years; and 15 healthy volunteers of proven fertili

Background: Arterial stiffness is related with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease events. Patients with atherosclerotic disease show to have larger diameters, reduced arterial compliance and lower flow velocities. Aim of study : To compare between patients of two age groups with concomitant diseases diabetes and hypertension in regard to intima media thickness and blood flow characteristics in order to estimate the blood perfusion to the brain via the common and internal carotid arteries. Subject and Methods : 40 patients with (diabetic and hypertension) diseases were enrolled , they were classified according to age. Color Doppler and B mode ultrasound was used to determine lumen Diameter (D), Intima – media thickness (IMT)

Objective: This experiment was conducted to study the effects of ionized water on certain egg quality traits and the levels of proteins and enzymes in the blood of the Japanese quail Coturnix japonica . Materials and Methods: One hundred 42-day-old quail were randomly distributed among five treatment groups with four replicates for each group. The following treatments were used: T1 (control): The birds were provided normal water, T2: The birds were provided alkaline water (pH = 8), T3: The birds were provided alkaline water (pH = 9), T4: The birds were provided acidic water (pH = 6) and T5: The birds were provided acidic water (pH = 5). A Complete Randomized Design (CRD) was used to investigate the effects of the studied treatments on diffe

Background: Change in palatal vault shape and Reinforcement of high impact acrylic denture base resin may in turn affect the dimensional accuracy of acrylic resin and affecting the fitness of the denture. The aim of study is to evaluate the effect of fiber reinforcement for high-impact acrylic resin denture base with different palatal vault shapes on linear dimensional change and effect of palatal vault shapes on linear dimensional changes of non-reinforced and fiber reinforced high impact denture base acrylic resin Material and method: Three different palatal vault shapes were prepared on standard casts using CNC (computer numerical control) machine. 60 samples of heat polymerized high impact acrylic resin maxillary denture base were fabri

Background: Change in palatal vault shape and Reinforcement of high impact acrylic denture base resin may in turn affect the dimensional accuracy of acrylic resin and affecting the fitness of the denture.This study evaluated tostudy the effect of fiber reinforcement for high-impact acrylic resin denture base with different palatal vault shapes on adaptation or gap space between the denture base and the stone cast and compare with non-fiber reinforcement and effect of palatal vault shapes on adaptation of non-reinforced and fiber reinforced high impact denture base acrylic resin Material and method: Three different palatal vault shapes were prepared on standard casts using CNC (computer numerical control) machine. 60 samples of heat polymeri

The aim of this research is to study the effect of welded joint design (Butt joint and lap joint) on thejoint strength during tension and fatigue loading with different current of welding (40,50,60,70,80) ^per, and different type of wire welding. The result of this research is showed that the effect of fatigue loading on the type of joint is more than the effect of tension loading on it. And the butt joint welding is better than the lap joint welding during the fatigue loaded.The experimental results of the effect of W'elding current showed that more increasing and more decreasing the value of the heat input, during the welding was found to produce mechanical brittleness on the buttjoint welding during the static and dynamic loading. Also i

ABSTRACT Background: This study measured the effects of three parameters pH value, length of immersion and type of archwire on metal ions released from orthodontic appliances. Materials and Methods: Ninety maxillary halves simulated fixed orthodontic appliances that were immersed in artificial saliva of different pH values (6.75, 5 and 3.5) during 28 day period. Three types of archwires were used: stainless steel, nickel titanium and thermal activated nickel titanium. The quantity of nickel and chromium ions was determined with the use of atomic force spectrophotometer while iron ions by spectrophotometer. Each orthodontic set was weighted two times, before the ligation and immersion in the artificial saliva and after 28 days at the end of

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS) and adhesive remnant index (ARI) of different orthodontic adhesive systems after exposure to aging media (water storage and acid challenge). Materials and methods: Eighty human upper premolar teeth were extracted for orthodontic purposes and randomly divided into two groups (40 teeth each): the first group in which the bonded teeth were stored in distilled water for 30 days at 37°C, and the second group in which the bonded teeth were subjected to acid challenge. Each group was further subdivided into four subgroups (10 teeth each) according to the type of adhesive system that would be bonded to metal brackets: either non-fluoride releasing adhesive (NFRA),

The current study was conducted for studying the impact of cold plasma on the expression level of three genes that participate in the biosynthesis of the phenylpropanoid pathway in Ocimum basilicum. These studied genes were cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (c4h), 4-coumarate CoA ligase (4cl), and eugenol O-methyl transferase (eomt). Also, the cold plasma impact was studied on the essential oil components and their relation with the gene expression level. The results demonstrated that cold plasma seeds germination of the treated groups 2 (initially for 3 minutes and 3 minutes after 7 days) ,and group 3(initially for 5 minutes and 3 minutes after 7 days)  were faster than the control group. Also, the height average of the mature plants of

ABSTRACT Background: Color changes that are detectable to human eye can affect the esthetic appearance of ceramic veneers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of artificial accelerated aging on the color of ceramic veneers cemented with different resin cements. Materials and Methods: Sixty discs were prepared with 0.5 mm thickness, 30 discs made from IPS e.max press (Ivoclar Vivadent) and 30 discs were made from VITA Enamic (VITA Zahnfabrik). The discs were cemented with three resin cements: Variolink Veneer MV 0 shade (Ivoclar Vivadent), Rely X veneer Translucent shade (3M ESPE) and NX3 Nexus Clear shade (Kerr Corporation) with 0.1 mm thickness. The spectrophotometer Easyshade Advance was used to measure the co