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 this research the effect of cooling rate and mold type on mechanical properties of the eutectic
and hypoeutectic (Al-Si) alloys has been studied. The alloys used in this research work were (Al- 12.6%Si
alloy) and (Al- 7%Si alloy).The two alloys have been melted and poured in two types of molds with
different cooling rates. One of them was a sand mold and the other was metal mold. Mechanical tests
(hardness, tensile test and impact test) were carried out on the specimens. Also the metallographic
examination was performed.
It has been found that the values of hardness for the alloys(Al-12.6%Si and Al-7%Si) which poured in
metal mold is greater than the values of hardness for the same alloy when it poured in a heated
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Low- and medium-carbon structural steel components face random vibration and dynamic loads (like earthquakes) in many applications. Thus a modification to improve their mechanical properties, essentially damping properties, is required. The present study focuses on improving and developing these properties, significantly dampening properties, without losing the other mechanical properties. The specimens used in the present study are structural steel ribbed bar ISO 6935 subjected to heating temperatures of (850, 950, and 1050) ˚C, and cooling schemes of annealing, normalizing, sand, and quenching was selected. The damping properties of the specimens were measured experimentally with the area under the curve for the loadi
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This study aimed to investigate the effect of water treated with a magnetic field with different induction on the histological structure of the kidney and testicular tissue of albino rats. For this purpose, fifty albino rats were divided into five equal groups, the first of which was used as a control group, drank clean tap water for four weeks, the other groups were given daily water treated with a magnetic field with an induction of 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 gauss. Then the animals were sacrificed and histological changes in the kidneys and testicles were examined. Histopathological examination of the kidneys of animals that were given water treated with a magnetic field with an induction of 500, 1000 and 1500 gauss revealed n
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The influence of different thickness (500,750, and 1000) nm on the structure properties electrical conductivity and hall effect measurements have been investigated on the films of copper indium selenide CuInSe2 (CIS) the films were prepared by thermal evaporation technique on glass substrates at RT from compound alloy. The XRD pattern show that the film have poly crystalline structure a, the grain size increasing with as a function the thickness. Electrical conductivity (σ), the activation energies (Ea1,Ea2), hall mobility and the carrier concentration are investigated as function of thickness. All films contain two types of transport mechanisms of free carriers increase films thickness. The electrical conductivity increase with thickness
... Show MoreThe durability of asphalt concrete is highly dependent on the geometry and mineralogy of coarse aggregates, yet their combined influence on mechanical and moisture resistance properties is still not fully understood. This study evaluates the effects of coarse aggregate geometry, specifically flat and elongated particle ratios and angularity, as well as mineral composition (quartz versus calcite), on asphalt mixture durability. The durability of mixtures was evaluated through Marshall properties as well as moisture susceptibility indicators, including the tensile strength ratio (TSR) and index of retained strength (IRS). Statistical analyses (ANOVA and t-tests) were also conducted to confirm the significance of the observed effects.
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This study presents a comprehensive set of laboratory works for the examined soil layers extracted from Baghdad city (specifically from Alkadhimya, Alaitaifiya, and Alhurriya) to illustrate their engineering properties. The researchers have adopted the unified soil classification system for soil classification purposes. Also, the direct shear test was performed for soil samples with various degrees of saturation (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). The test results have shown a significant reduction in cohesion property with higher moisture content within soil samples. Also, a noticeable reduction in angle of internal friction value has occurred with such changes. Furthermore, it has been found that the bearing capacity of unsaturated soi
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