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
This study was established to investigate the correlation between the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1) and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Blood samples were collected from 55 female patients with inflammatory OA and controls for estimation of serum (MMP-1) levels. In the current study, there is significant increase (p<0.001) in the mean of serum MMP-1 levels in osteoarthritis females (4027.73 ± 1345.28 pg/ml) than that in control females (798.76 ± 136.79 pg/ml). It was concluded that MMP-1 may be associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.
The importance of the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an is that it is a necessity that accompanies Muslim throughout his life, it helps him to solve his problems, it is a way of gaining advanced knowledge, it facilitates the Muslim's understanding of the Holy Qur’an and to know God’s Almighty’s intent in His verses. Since there are so many needs that a person strives to achieve, therefore, the interpretation of the Holy Qur'an would be satisfactory to him and it facilitates the fulfillment of these needs within the limits of legal laws. The aim of the researcher is to get acquainted with the method of that honoured interpreter in his interpretation, and his ability to benefit Muslims in explaining the verses and come to a solutio
... Show MoreWe present a reliable algorithm for solving, homogeneous or inhomogeneous, nonlinear ordinary delay differential equations with initial conditions. The form of the solution is calculated as a series with easily computable components. Four examples are considered for the numerical illustrations of this method. The results reveal that the semi analytic iterative method (SAIM) is very effective, simple and very close to the exact solution demonstrate reliability and efficiency of this method for such problems.
Abstract
The aim of the present work is to control of metal buried corrosion by alteration the media method. This method depended on the characteristics of each media. The corrosion rates in different media (soil, sand, porcelanite stone and gravel) for specimens of low carbon steel were measured by two methods weight loss method and polarization method, weight loss measured by buried specimens in these medias separately for 90 days. The polarization method includes preparing of specimen and salt solutions have electrical resistivity equivalent electrical resistivity of these media. The corrosion rate of two method results in (soil > sand> porcelainte stone> gravel). The lower corrosion rate happene
... Show MoreFinance is considered as an important and essential element when developing any housing policy which has a basic role creation of channels and effective means of saving money for individuals and institutions involved in the construction of housing units , and in particular that there is a deficit of residential dramatically in Iraq offset by a significant decline in the rates of construction housing and the accumulation of housing need in the coming years , the importance lies of the subject in creating mechanism for financing this sector and the impact of such a mechanism in solving the problem of the deficit number of housing units, through studying the experiences of some countries in the policies of housing finance to take advantage
... Show MoreBackground: Different diagnostic definition and criteria have been recommended by different expert groups for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, however, it’s prevalence in the same population could differ depending on the definition used yielding different results. In Iraq, there is a lack of research comparing these different diagnostic definitions. Objective: To find out the most suitable metabolic syndrome definition to be used for Iraqi people. Methods: 320 participants were recruited for this study, 53.4% men and 46.6% women, aged between 25-85 years, visiting Baghdad Teaching Hospital, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to different definitions were compared and the agreement was assessed by the Kappa st
... Show MoreMobile Wireless sensor networks have acquired a great interest recently due to their capability to provide good solutions and low-priced in multiple fields. Internet of Things (IoT) connects different technologies such as sensing, communication, networking, and cloud computing. It can be used in monitoring, health care and smart cities. The most suitable infrastructure for IoT application is wireless sensor networks. One of the main defiance of WSNs is the power limitation of the sensor node. Clustering model is an actual way to eliminate the inspired power during the transmission of the sensed data to a central point called a Base Station (BS). In this paper, efficient clustering protocols are offered to prolong network lifetime. A kern
... Show MoreA simple and rapid spectrophotometric method for the determination of sulphite SO3-2 is described. The method is based on the rapid reduction of known amount of chromate CrO4-2 in the presence of sulphite in acidic medium of 2N H2SO4. The amount of excess of chromate was measured after it reactions with 1,5-diphenylcarbazide which finally gives a pink-violet, water soluble and stable complex, which exhibit a maximum absorption at 542 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range from 0.004-6.0 µg of sulphite in a final volume of 25 ml with a molar absorbtivity of 4.64×104 l.mol-1.cm-1, Sandal's sensitivity index of 0.001724 ?g .cm-2 and relative standard deviation of ±0.55 - ±0.83 depending on the concentration level. The present
... Show MoreHypothyroidism is a condition in which thyroid hormones levels decreased in the blood. These hormones are necessary for energy production and body viability. In many occasions this condition is accompanied or followed by different metabolic disorders. The current study is conducted in the "Specialized center for endocrinology and diabetes" and carried on 70 hypothyroid patients and 60 randomly chosen individuals with normal thyroid function .Both groups were submitted to laboratory tests to evaluate thyroid function (T3,T4.TSH). The study involved evaluation of the relationship between hypothyroidism and insulin resistance (IR) . Health problem related to many diseases , became common lately. Insulin resistance diagnosed through
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