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
As a star explode as a supernova its ejecta will directly interact with relativelylow density interstellar medium with high shock wave velocity, and due to thisinteraction many of forbidden emission lines will give a raise from both theexcitation and ionization of the atom in the region. So, the study of these emissionlines can reveal many physical properties of the region, in this case the remnant ofthe supernova, such as temperature, density, composition, and many other importantphysical processes. In this paper the optical spectrum of the young galacticsupernova remnant which is the Crab Nebula has used, in order to calculate it’selectron temperature (Te) and electron density (ne) by using the [OIII] and [SII]forbidden lines. From the
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The genus Ziziphus is one of the Family Rhamnaceae and consists of more than 170 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. All the species in the genus are of economical and medical importance. This study was conducted to identify the morphologically and anatomically features of the genus in Iraq. The field survey was conducted across the study area where 4 species (Ziziphus jujube, Z. mauritiana, Z. nummularia and Z. spina-christi) were collected and used in the study. The result showed that there is variation in morphological and anatomical features among the species in the stem cross-section and longitudinal section of leaves also the differences appeared in the epidermis of leaves.
The spectroscopic properties, potential energy curve, dipole moments, total charge density, Electrostatic potential as well as the thermodynamic properties of selenium diatomic halides have been studied using code Mopac.7.21 and hyperchem, semi-empirical molecular orbital of MNDO-method (modified neglected of differential overlap) of parameterization PM3 involving quantum mechanical semi-empirical Hamiltonian. The relevant molecular parameters like interatomic distance, bond angle, dihedral angle and net charge were also calculated.
Some of the characters of the Staphylolysin A and D enzymes purified from Pseudomonas aeruginosa P16 and P5 respectively were studied, the molecular weights of Staphylolysin A and D were 20.417 kilo dalton and 23.988 kilo Dalton respectively by SDS- polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis. The optimum pH for staphylolysin A activity was found to be 8 which gives higher activity reaches 150 unit/ml, and for enzyme stability was 7.5-8.5 in which the enzyme nearly retained its full activity, while it was 9.5 for staphylolysin D that gives higher activity of 16 unit/ml,and 8.5-9.5 for enzyme stability in which the enzyme nearly retained its full activity, Maximum activity of two enzymes was obtained at 40C in which the specific activity for st
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Placenta previa refers to placenta which is totally or partly implanted in lower segment of the uterus. Mortality and morbidity of mother increase with placenta previa due to the increase in the incidence of bleeding during pregnancy. This study aims to define placenta previa prevalence among pregnant women at AL-Fallujah teaching hospital and to determine the risk factors and their association with placenta previa incidence in al-Fallujah city population. This retrospective cohort study investigated medical registry of 6339 gravid women in al-Fallujah teaching Hospital in Iraq. We find 13 cases of placenta previa (0.21%) amongst the 6339 cases registered. The risk factors that strongly appeared to affect the complication of pregnancy with
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