ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Estrogens has traditionally been known as the female hormone, but this idea has been challenged in early 1990’s and an essential physiological role for estrogen in male fertility was identified. Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring non-steroidal plant chemicals that can act like the female hormone estrogen. The herbs ( anise alfalfa and vervain ) chosen in this study contain phytoestrogens. OBJECTIVE: Previous studies demonstrated controversy of the effects of phytoestrogens on the rat testes .Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the influence of typical dose of herbs containing phytoestrogen on the rat testis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four apparently normal mature male rats were divided into four groups of 6 animals each. The first "control" group received only 4ml of distilled water as a placebo. The second group received 40mg/kg of anise seed; the third group received 53.3 mg/kg of dried herb of vervain and the fourth group received 400 mg /kg of alfalfa seeds. All experimental groups received the doses through orogastric tube daily for fourteen days. Testicular histology was evaluated by light and enzyme histochemistry. Plasma FSH and testosterone concentrations were taken to support our results. RESULTS: Histological examination of anise, alfalfa and vervain – treated groups showed an increase in the height of germinal epithelia. There was marked lipoprotein lipase activity in the whole of the interstitial tissue which is more in amount in experimental groups than that in control group. Acid phosphatase granules were infiltered the seminiferous epithelia mildly in control group , moderately in anise and vervain groups and markedly in alfalfa group. The number of interstitial cells showing marked acid phosphatase activity was higher in all experimental groups than that in control group. Alkaline phosphatase exhibited intense activity in the boundary tissue of the seminiferous tubules in testes of control and experimental groups but it appeared thicker in the latter. CONCLUSION: The low dose and short duration of treatment used in our study made these phytoestrogen – containing herbs to have a stimulatory effect on leydig cell steroidogenesis. This study also demonstrated that aniseed being the most potent of the three herbs followed by alfalfa in stimulating testosterone synthesis. This is possibly attributed to the coumarin constituent of aniseed and alfalfa. KEY WORDS: phytoestrogen-containing herbs, testis, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, lipoprotein lipase
In the past infectious diseases affected the quality of lifestyle during home confinement. The study conducted examines the influence of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on lifestyle, mental wellbeing, nutritional status, and sleeping pattern.
An online multicategorical questionnaire was distributed to collect demographic information combined with the following tools: Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), WHO-5 wellbeing score, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A snowball non-discriminate sampling procedure was
The present work is qualitative descriptive. It aims to examine the idiosyncratic schema when deciphering the selected violence-based panel from Nasser Ibrahim’s caricatures. The researchers accordingly adopted part of Sharifian’s (2011) Cultural Schema model, particularly that part that is concerned with the examining the micro/idiosyncratic level of understanding. The study has revealed that the participants have not only differed among themselves regarding the way a figure is being denotatively conceptualized, they also highlighted different exact conceptualizations for the same figure, such as: using various adjectives that reflect various levels of intensity, emphasizing the behavioral aspect or the appearance of the figure, ado
... Show MoreThe current research includes a look at the participation of Iraqi women in the combat roles, which starts from the assumption of the democratic transition that must be led - in one of its aspect - until the army or the military foundation to become a "citizen army," the matter which is represented a demand increasingly needed in the experiences of Democratic transformation that facing serious security challenges such as in Iraq, this means that the army or security foundation - which is involved in counterterrorism - should not reflect a specific group in society , and hence embody the most important democratic principles, which are equality and equal opportunities, especially gender equality. On the other hand, the influence of armed conf
... Show MoreExtraction and Description of Urease Enzyme Produced from Staphylococcus saprophyticus and study of its effect on kidney and bladder of white mice
This research investigates the importance of social accounting and the auditor’s report. It basically checks if there is an impact of social accounting on the auditor’s report at the availability the INTOSAI standards No. (1700 and 1706). The study recruited 105 employees of the Federal Financial Supervision Office in Iraq. Data were collected using questionnaire. The questionnaire validity and reliability were checked to assure the truthfulness of the findings. The study found a positive correlation and a statistically significant effect between the accounting for social responsibility and the auditor’s report. It is necessarily recommended for the auditor and the bodies working in the Board of Supreme Audit to ensure the inclusio
... Show MoreImposed on foreign oil companies from important sources in the financing of the general budget in most countries of the world income tax is considered as well as be used to achieve political, economic and social goals, and has developed the concept of the tax until it became play an important role in influencing the economic conditions of a country, and the aim of this research is to statement imposed on foreign oil companies operating in Iraq in the financing of the state budget income tax contribution, as well as clarify the contracts type contracts with these companies, which is in favor of Iraq, together with the Income Tax Law No. (19) for the year / 2010, and instructed No. (5) for the year / 2011, which organized the tax process s
... Show MoreThe role of Iraqi newspapers in instilling political culture among the public after 2003, a field study on the audience of the city of Baghdad, University of Baghdad, College of Information, Department of Journalism, 2019,
The problem of research is to investigate the role of Iraqi newspapers in instilling the political culture of individuals after 2003, and monitor this role Through the contents and messages provided by the Iraqi newspapers to the public. the research is classified within descriptive research, it adopts the survey methodology and used the questionnaire tool. In fact, the questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 400 individuals that was selected according to the method of multi-stage cluster sample of those who re
The samples were collected monthly crustaceans Mjmafah foot of two stations in tributary Zab down and two others in the Tigris River for one year with effect from November 2001 until October 2002 recorded during the study period the current 41 units taxonomic and were higher density of Mjmafah foot Guy Tigris River before the mouth of the tributary