Toxoplasma gondii is a unique intracellular parasite, which infect a large proportion of the world population, but uncommonly causes clinically significant disease. The present study was performed to estimate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in 400 apparently healthy blood donor males, their ages were between 18 and 57 years using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, and to examine the effects of infection on total testosterone, free testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels in their sera. Seroprevalence showed 10 (2.5 %) and 121 (30 %) of them had IgM and IgG antibodies respectively. Both acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in males recorded higher significant (P < 0.05) mean concentration for total and free testosterone hormone, they were 12.188 ± 0.73, 7.837 ± 0.52 ng/ml and 44.121 ± 1.76, 27.984 ± 0.94 pg/ml respectively. The mean concentration of FSH revealed non-significant (P < 0.05) differences in both disease activities, they were 6.41 ± 0.47 and 6.515 ± 0.51 IU/ml respectively. © 2013, Indian Society for Parasitology.
The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790), which belongs to the family Curculionidae, order Coleoptera, is one of the most important palm pests, which leads to heavy losses in date palms. In the last few years, it has been recorded in Iraq, from Safwan city south of Iraq, where it was detected on date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera L, Arecales: Arecaceae). In the current study, specimens of adult weevils were collected from infested date palms (Phoenix dactylifera), that showed signs of infection in Safwan district, south of Basra province. The results of the investigation showed the presence of phoretic mites associated with the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier,
... Show MoreA new Schiff base ligand [2,3,8,9–tetra -phenyl-1,4,5,7,10,12-hexa azo-5,12- dihydro -6,11- dione 1,3,7,10-dudec-tetra-ene] [H2L] and its complexes In general formula [M(H2L)]Cl2 (where : M= CoII, NiII, and PdII) were prepared. This ligand was prepared in two steps,in the first step a solution of benzil in methanol was reacted under reflux with semicarbazidhydrochlorid to give an (intermediate compound)[benzyl bis–(Semicarbazone)] which was reacted in the second step with benzil giving the mentioned ligand. The
... Show MoreIn this study, a 3 mm thickness 7075-T6 aluminium alloy sheet was used in the friction stir welding process. Using the design of experiment to reduce the number of experiments and to obtain the optimum friction stir welding parameters by utilizing Taguchi technique based on the ultimate tensile test results. Orthogonal array of L9 (33) was used based on three numbers of the parameters and three levels for each parameter, where shoulder-workpiece interference depth (0.20, 0.25, and 0.3) mm, pin geometry (cylindrical thread flat end, cylindrical thread with 3 flat round end, cylindrical thread round end), and thread pitch (0.8, 1, and 1.2) mm) this technique executed by Minitab 17 software. The results showed th
... Show MoreA fixed callus weight of 150 mg was induced from immature embryos of three bread wheat Triticum aestivum L. genotypes (Tamos 2, El-izz and Mutant 1) cultured on nutrient medium {MS) containing Polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) supplemented with concentrations (0.0, 3.0, 6.0, 9.0 or 12.0%) to evaluate their tolerance to water stress. Cultures were incubated in darkness at temperature of 25?1 ?C. Callus fresh and dry weights were recorded and soluble Carbohydrate and the amino acid Proline concentrations were determined. Results showed that there were significant differences in studied parameters among bread wheat genotypes of which Tamos 2 was higher in callus average fresh and dry weights which gave 353.33 and 38.46 mg/cultured tube respecti
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to investigate the effect of sperm parameters on the response to in vitro sperm activation (ISA) and to compare sperm parameters according to the age and type of infertility.
One hundred twenty-eight subjects employed in this study, with age range (18-49) years and duration of infertility (1-28) years. From each subjects semen sample was obtained and seminal fluid analysis (SFA) was done. Simple medium for assisted reproductive techniques; (SMART) was used for in vitro sperm activation by direct swim-up technique and centrifugation Swim-Up technique. Sperm concentration, sperm motility (%), sperm grade activity (%), normal sperm morphology (%) and sperm agglutination (%) were assessed. Crude data were statisticall
The objective of this paper is to improve the general quality of infrared images by proposes an algorithm relying upon strategy for infrared images (IR) enhancement. This algorithm was based on two methods: adaptive histogram equalization (AHE) and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). The contribution of this paper is on how well contrast enhancement improvement procedures proposed for infrared images, and to propose a strategy that may be most appropriate for consolidation into commercial infrared imaging applications.
The database for this paper consists of night vision infrared images were taken by Zenmuse camera (FLIR Systems, Inc) attached on MATRIC100 drone in Karbala city. The experimental tests showed sign