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.
In the last few decades, growing interest has been shown in the development of new solar selective coatings based on transition metal nitride and/or oxinitride for solar absorbing applications. Solar thermal collectors are well thought out to be the most effective process of converting and harvesting solar radiation. In this investigation, Cu/TiON/CrO2 multilayered solar selective absorber coatings have been coated onto Al substrates using the dip-coating process followed by an annealing process at (400, 450, 500, 550, and 600 °C. The XRD analysis showed excellent crystalline quality for the prepared thin films along with enhanced surface features as proved by FESEM images, and the grains are in the range of (27–81) nm. The optical in
... Show MoreFourty three isolates ( 20.7%) characterized as Staphylococcus aureus , were isolated from 207 different clinical sources (blood , nose, , wound , urine , vaginal, ear and eye) in different percentages (30.23, 18.60, 16.28, 13.95, 15.15, 6.96 and 2.33 %), respectively. The staphyloxanthin (STX) production of S. aureus isolate was estimated 72.1% .The optimal conditions for pigment production by S. aureus AE36 , were detected and was noticed that the milk agar medium revealed the highest production of pigment which was estimated to be 165.21unit/cell, at pH 8 for 72 hr at 370C. The Staphyloxanthin pigment was extracted using methanol and was purified partially by organic solvents and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). The results revealed t
... Show MoreS rum total. siic acid (TSI\) ·and lipid bound sialic acid {LSA) levels were detennined by spec.tr0photoinetric me(hods in 23 patients with oral cavity cancer(OCC). Of them 5 patients· have carcinoma ·of the anterior 2/3 of the tongue with an avetage age of { 60±8:0 year:;;}' and 2 males patients with carcinoma of the inner surface of the cheek with an average age {68±8.0 years·} and 8 patients had carcinomtl of rhflo"Qr of the mouth ,y-tt.h an av.erage {'62±9.0 ye.ars} a11d 8 patients with carcii1otna of the hard palate with an average age {58±8.0 years}. They were compated witn 32 healthy controls; &
... Show MoreBackground: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains a lethal and deforming disease, with a significant mortality and a rising incidence in younger and female patients. It is thus imperative to identify potential risk factors for OSCC and oral PMDs and to design an accurate data collection tool to try to identify patients at high risk of OSCC development. 14 factors consistently found to be associated with the pathogenesis of OSCC and oral PMDs. Eight of themwere identified as high risk (including tobacco, alcohol, betel quid, marijuana, genetic factors, age, diet and immunodeficiency) and 6 low risk (such as oral health, socioeconomic status, HPV, candida infection, alcoholic mouth wash and diabetes) were stratified according to severit
... Show MoreThis research is carried out to investigate the behavior of self-compacting concrete (SCC) two-way slabs with central square opening under uniformly distributed loads. The experimental part of this research is based on casting and testing six SCC simply supported square slabs having the same dimentions and reinforcement. One of these slabs was cast without opening as a control slab. While, the other five slabs having opening ratios (OR) of 2.78%, 6.25%, 11.11%, 17.36% and 25.00%. From the experimental results it is found that the maximum percentage decrease in cracking and ultimate uniform loads were 31.82% and 12.17% compared to control slab for opening ratios (OR
... Show MoreThis research was carried out to study the effect of plants on the wetted area for two soil types in Iraq and predict an equation to determine the wetted radius and depth for two different soil types cultivated with different types of plants, the wetting patterns for the soils were predicted at every thirty minute for a total irrigation time equal to 3 hr. Five defferent discharges of emitter and five initial volumetric soil moisture contents were used ranged between field capacity and wilting point were utilized to simulate the wetting patterns. The simulation of the water flow from a single point emitter was completed by utilized HYDRUS-2D/3D software, version 2.05. Two methods were used in developing equations to predict the domains o
... Show MoreThis research investigates the adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetics of nitrogen from air using packed bed of Li-LSX zeolite to get medical oxygen. Experiments were carried out to estimate the produced oxygen purity under different operating conditions: input pressure of 0.5 – 2.5 bar, feed flow rate of air of 2 – 10 L.min-1 and packing height of 9-16 cm. The adsorption isotherm was studied at the best conditions of input pressure of 2.5 bar, the height of packing 16 cm, and flow rate 6 Lmin-1 at ambient temperature, at these conditions the highest purity of oxygen by this system 73.15 vol % of outlet gas was produced. Langmuir isotherm was the best models representing the experimental data., and the m
... Show MoreAl-Dalmaj marsh and the near surrounding area is a very promising area for energy resources, tourism, agricultural and industrial activities. Over the past century, the Al-Dalmaje marsh and near surroundings area endrous from a number of changes. The current study highlights the spatial and temporal changes detection in land cover for Al-Dalmaj marsh and near surroundings area using different analyses methods the supervised maximum likelihood classification method, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Geographic Information Systems(GIS), and Remote Sensing (RS). Techniques spectral indices were used in this study to determine the change of wetlands and drylands area and of other land classes, th
... Show MoreThis study conducted an analytical investigation on the behavior of concrete beams with openings reinforced by glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. In this study, five proposed beams reinforced by GFRP bars as flexural and shear reinforcement with openings were numerically examined. The variables were the opening orientation (vertical and horizontal) and the number of openings. These openings were located within the flexural zone of the proposed beams. The result shows that the vertical openings had a significant effect over the horizontal openings on reducing the ultimate load and increasing the mid-span deflection compared with the control beam. Moreover, the results showed t