Background: Thymus vulgaris is a plant rich in essential oils acclaimed for the management of oxidative stress and inflammation in the organs. Meanwhile, the heavy metal lead is widely distributed in nature and continued exposure to lead acetate causes reduced fertility.Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of T. vulgaris on ovarian and uterine structural and functional characteristics in female rats exposed to lead acetate. Methods: Three groups of 18 mature Wistar albino female rats (Rattus norvegicus), 15 weeks old and weighing between 200 and 210 g, were established and handled for 60 days as follows: Group A (control group) received 0.5 mL of distilled water (DW) daily; group B received 5 mg/kg body weight (BW) of lead acetate via oral gavage; and group C received 5 mg/kg BW of lead acetate via oral gavage followed by 75 mg/kg BW of T. vulgaris extract 2 hours later. Blood and tissue samples (uterus and ovary) were collected from euthanized animals.Results: Lead acetate caused oxidative stress, as indicated by increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. It also caused a decrease in serum estrogen and an increase in progesterone levels. Meanwhile, T. vulgaris caused a decrease in progesterone and MDA levels and an increase in estrogen levels and SOD activity. The histological changes of the ovary and uterus in the lead acetate group showed vascular degeneration and necrosis, and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) revealed an increase in positive cells. All these changes were restored to normal by T. vulgaris.Conclusion: Using alcoholic extracts of T. vulgaris acts as an antioxidant, helping to restore ovarian and uterine structure and function to near-normal levels in lead acetate-exposed rats.
The insulation system of a machine coil includes several layers made of materials with different characteristics. The effective insulation design of machine coils, especially in the machine end winding, depends upon an accurate model of the stress grading system. This paper proposes a modeling approach to predict the transient overvoltage, electric field, and heat generation in machine coils with a stress grading system, considering the variation of physical properties in the insulation layers. A non-uniform line model is used to divide the coil in different segments based on material properties and lengths: overhang, stress grading and slot. The cascaded connection of chain matrices is used to connect segments for the representation of the
... Show MoreAn experimental study was carried out to improve the surface roughness quality of the stainless steel 420 using magnetic abrasive finishing method (MAF). Four independent operation parameters were studied (working gap, coil current, feed rate, and table stroke), and their effects on the MAF process were introduced. A rotating coil electromagnet was designed and implemented to use with plane surfaces. The magnetic abrasive powder used was formed from 33%Fe and 67% Quartz of (250µm mesh size). The lubricant type SAE 20W was used as a binder for the powder contents. Taguchi method was used for designing the experiments and the optimal values of the selected parameters were found. An empirical equation representing the r
... Show MoreDuring COVID-19, wearing a mask was globally mandated in various workplaces, departments, and offices. New deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) based classifications were proposed to increase the validation accuracy of face mask detection. This work introduces a face mask model that is able to recognize whether a person is wearing mask or not. The proposed model has two stages to detect and recognize the face mask; at the first stage, the Haar cascade detector is used to detect the face, while at the second stage, the proposed CNN model is used as a classification model that is built from scratch. The experiment was applied on masked faces (MAFA) dataset with images of 160x160 pixels size and RGB color. The model achieve
... Show MoreIn this research, beam expander, BEX, is explained and designed for illuminating the
remote flying target. The BEX is optically designed to be suited for Nd:YAG laser of given
specifications. The BEX is modified to be zoom one to meet the conditions of preventing the
receiving unit; i.e the photodetector, from getting saturated at near and far laser tracking.
Decollimation could be achieved by automatic motor, which controls zoom lens of the BEX
according to the required expansion ratio of beam expander
In this paper, chip and powder copper are used as reinforcing phase in polyester matrix to form composites. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength and impact test of polymer reinforcement copper (powder and chip) were done, the maximum flexural strength for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (85.13 Mpa) and (50.08 Mpa) respectively was obtained, while the maximum observation energy of the impact test for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (0.85 J) and (0.4 J) respectively
Throughout this paper, a generic iteration algorithm for a finite family of total asymptotically quasi-nonexpansive maps in uniformly convex Banach space is suggested. As well as weak / strong convergence theorems of this algorithm to a common fixed point are established. Finally, illustrative numerical example by using Matlab is presented.