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
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Background: Hypothyroidism is a clinical syndrome prevalent in women, even those of reproductive age. Ovarian reserve can be defined as the number and quality of follicles in the ovary at any given time. Evaluation of ovarian reserve is recommended for patients at risk of decreased ovarian reserve. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effect of hypothyroidism on ovarian reserve in Iraqi women by hormonal measurements of serum anti-mullerian hormones AMH, FSH, and LH. Subjects and methods: This case–control study was carried out at the Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, in collaboration with Endocrinology and Diabetes Clinic, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, and National Center for Teaching Labo
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Zinc Oxide thin film of 2 μm thickness has been grown on glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique at substrate temperature of 500 oC under the vacuum pressure of 8×10-2 mbar. The optical properties concerning the absorption, and transmission spectra were studied for the prepared thin film. From the transmission spectra, the optical gap and linear refractive index of the ZnO thin film was determined. The structure of the ZnO thin film was tested with X-Ray diffraction and it was formed to be a polycrystalline with many peaks.
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This intervention study is composed on 55 patients at Saddam Center for Cardiac Surgery (Aben-Albetar) throughout the period from 1st of July 1997 to 15th of January 1999. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of constructed nursing education program on reduction of complications and improving recovery among patients with Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery through the application of repeated measures. The sample is divided into 27 patients who received the nursing educational program (study group) and 28 patients who continued to receive regular care (controls). Based on previous research meth
Copper electrodeposition by electrorefining process in acidic sulfate media contains 40 g/l of cupric ions and 160 g/l of sulfuric acid was achieved to study the influence of the operating parameters on cathode purity, surface morphology, deposition rate, current efficiency and power consumption. These operating parameters and there ranges are: current density 200, 300 and 400 A/m2, electrolyte temperature 35, 50 and 65 oC, electrodes spacing 15, 30 and 45 mm and electrolyte residence time 6, 4 and 2 h were utilized. XRF, SEM and EDX analyses were attained to clarify the properties of the produced cathode.
The research aims to determine the factors affecting the woman’s use of electronic marketing in social networking sites, and to know the extent of the sample’s use of social networking sites for electronic shopping purposes. The research tool used the questionnaire form that was designed in its final form after presenting it to the arbitrators and it included a set of questions and a five-Likert scale, and used the spss statistical program to perform the statistical operations that were laid out in tables showing the frequencies, percentages and percentages Salary, mean, standard deviation, and correlation using the Spearman correlation coefficient, the Ka2 square test, the F test, the Alpha Cronbach test, and arrived at Searching to
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The problem of the research is that some companies lack the mechanisms and policies that to enhance the loyalty of these valuable resources, which led to difficulties in generating knowledge, producing, storing, investing and investing information to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, companies are still working with the traditional wage system (monthly salaries), which makes people not think about adding value to work. The research aims to determine the level of variables for researchers to clarify the impact of the organizational innovation climate on sustainable competitive advantage. The Qualitative approach is used based on research. The research was applied
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Widespread use of antihypertensive agents in clinical practice necessitates the knowledge of their pleiotropic effects. At the present time there are no sufficient evidences of positive effect of these medications on bone coming from randomized controlled trials; knowledge of additional effects of those drugs on the bone metabolism will allow doctors to choose optimal treatment of hypertension, taking into account the state of bone tissue. At the same time it will also allow to prevent osteoporosis in patients having osteoporosis risk factors or initial signs of bone loss.
Ten elderly hypertensive women age > 60 years old (64.2±3.6) treated with captopril for a 5-6 years ago while they attending Al Yarmouk Teaching Hospital i
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