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
The fundamental problem in determining the role of television programs in broadcasting the culture of community for peace through studying almosamig kareem program by studying the topics addressed in this program. It is a descriptive study and it follows the approach survey method. In this study, the spatial framework is limited to the program of almosamih kareem on YouTube, while the temporal framework is concerned with the episodes that are raised on YouTube from the second half of 2014 to 2015 of almosamih kareem program. The fundamental problem in determining the role of television programs in broadcasting the culture of community for peace through studying almosamig kareem program by studying the topics addressed in this
... Show MoreThe study aims to investigate the degree of student teachers at Sultan Qaboos University acquired skills in teaching Arabic via a virtual micro-teaching lab, as well as to reveal the difficulties they faced and their development proposals. To do this, the researchers developed a questionnaire divided into four dimensions: planning, implementation, evaluation, and
ethical values for the teaching profession, in addition to two open-ended questions to identify difficulties and suggestions. It was administered to (30) student teachers. The results revealed that the average degree of student-teacher acquisition of skills was high in its four dimensions. It ranged between (39.2) to (82.2), while the overall average was (56.2).
... Show MoreThis paper suggesting a new modern method to evaluate the performance of hotel industry at Jordan instead of the classical method used by the industry and that is Bench Marking , this method can be done by comparing the performance of hotel industry at two serial years which helps in calculating a standard performance .
The industry can use this standard to identify the variance, which make the evaluation of performance easier and support the efforts to develop the hotel industry at all levels and enable to give high quality services to customers.
The study believed that this situation would not be achieved unless the hotel industry will app
... Show MoreThe present work aimed to study the efficiency of nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) process for water recovery from electroplating wastewater and study the factors affecting the performance of two membrane processes. Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes are made from polyamide as spiral wound module. The inorganic materials ZnCl2, CuCl2.2H2O, NiCl2.6H2O and CrCl3.6H2O were used as feed solutions. The operating parameters studied were: operating time, feed concentrations for heavy metal ions, operating pressure, feed flow rate, feed temperature and feed pH. The experimental results showed, the permeate concentration increased and water flux decreased with increase in time from 0 to 70 min. The permeate concentrations incre
... Show MoreBackground: The marginal seal is essential for sealant success because penetration of bacteria under the sealant might allow caries onset or progression. The aim of the present study was to estimate and compare the microleakage of pit and fissure sealant after various methods of occlusal surface preparation. Materials and methods: Thirty non-carious premolars extracted for orthodontic reasons were equally divided into three groups. In group one, occlusal fissures were opened with round carbide bur, in group two, occlusal surfaces of the teeth were cleaned with a dry pointed bristle brush and samples of group three were cleaned with a slurry of fine flour of pumice in water using rubber cup. Then fissures of all teeth were etched using 35% p
... Show MoreThe research study includes shedding light on the sas dance in Iraq, as it is one of the popular legacies that are rich in the Mesopotamian civilization and because of the different practices it has in the different occasions on which these dances are held. Which is one of the kinetic arts widespread among the classes of Iraqi society. The researcher explained its features and artistic content that characterizes Iraqi music. The (methodological framework) reviewed the justification, importance and purpose of the research, and the limits of the research that included the (National Troupe of Folk Art) as a human limit to discover the artistic methods of the Sas dance and then define the terms of the search. The "theoretical framework" cont
... Show MoreThis study aims to establish an empirical correlation between biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the sewage flowing in Al-Diwaniyah wastewater treatment plant. The strength of the wastewater entering the plant varied from medium to high. High concentrations of BOD5 and COD in the effluent were obtained due to the poor performance of the plant. This was observed from the BOD5 /COD ratios that did not confirm with the typical ratios for the treated sewage. To improve the performance of this plant, regression equations for BOD5 and COD removal percentages were suggested which can be used to facilitate rapid effluent assessment or optimal process control. The equations relating the percentage removal of
... Show MoreThe second most commonly diagnosed cancer is colorectal cancer (CRC) is in female. The levels of progranulin, obestatin and liver enzymes including ALT, AST and ALP were measured in forty five sera in female patients suffering from CRC before chemotherapy initiation treatment as G1, G2 after first chemotherapy cycle and G3 after second chemotherapy cycle compared with thirty female as a healthy control G4. Results showed a high significant increased in progranulin concentration and a high significant decrease in obestatin in G2 than other groups. The correlation between progranulin and ALP was a significant negative (-ve) relation while obestatin with AST gave a significant positive (+ve) correlation in G. The results also showed non signif
... Show MoreA tetradentate (N2O2) Schiff base (H2Ldfm) was successfully synthesized via condensation of curcumin / diferuloylmethane (dfm) and L-leucine amino acid (HL). There were three different methods that used for synthesizing H2Ldfm; (refluxing, grading, and fusion). Ten different metal complexes were also successfully synthesized by combination of the Schiff base (H2Ldfm) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligand to form a hexadentate (N4O2) mixed ligands (Ldfm , phen) with ten different metal salts (M) where{ M= Al(III), Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Ag(I), Cd(II), Hg(II), and Pb(II)}. The molar ratio of reactants was (1:1:1) (M: H2Ldfm : phen). The new Schiff base and its new complexes were characterized by different physicochemical tec
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