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
It is well known that monotherapy does not provide therapeutic response in all hypertensive. Somepatients show an excellent response, while in others there is a poor response. Combinationantihypertensive therapy is administered when blood pressure is inadequately controlled bymonotherapy to achieve a balanced and additive antihypertensive effect with minimum adverse effects.Both angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and dihydropyridine type of calcium antagonistsare well established and widely used in monotherapy. An understanding of differences in themechanism of action of these agents allows a logical approach for the use of these agents as acombination therapy. This study was designed to evaluate the possible beneficial
... Show MoreIncident laser power and concentration effects on fluorescence emission from DCM dye in PMMA polymer have been investigated. Different concentrations of the dye were used. It was found that the fluorescence intensity increased with increasing of the concentration of the dye, with a red shift. In addition, it was found that the fluorescence intensity increased with the increase of the incident laser power I0.
The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of lead exposure on hemopoetic system (through the index delta-Aminolevulinic acid dehydratase ?-ALAD activity & hemoglobin concentration (Hb) ) and on iron status (levels of iron Fe, Ferritin Fr, Total iron binding capacity TIBC, percentage of transferine saturation TF%) in 44 Iraqi worker at lead batteries factory. Workers divided into two groups: smokers(n=21) mean aged (37.33±4.82 year)and non smokers(n=23) mean aged(40.78±7.89 year) and 45 healthy subjects mean aged (33.97±5.08)as control group . Activity of ?-ALAD ratio shows significant decrease (p ? 0.05) ,while Hb and hematocrit Hct were non significant (p ? 0.05) in smoker workers more than non smoker as compared to control . The r
... Show MoreBackground: Studies discussing the correlation between biochemical markers of bone turnover and the diagnosis of osteoporosis in postmenopausal Iraqi women are rare. This study is devoted to find out the significance of serum osteocalcin (OC) and osteopontin (OPN) levels with the incidence of osteoporosis and its major complication (fracture).Objectives: to investigate the significance of bone turnover biochemical markers; serum osteocalcin and serum osteopontin in evaluating osteoporosis for postmenopausal Iraqi women with and without history of vertebral fracture, as well as to explore the relationship of these markers with bone mineral density (BMD).Methods: Fifty seven postmenopausal women whose ages are fifty years old and over, cat
... Show MoreTo evaluate impact the difference in stages ofage and related incidence of hemodialysis patients.Two hundred and fifty patients undergoing hemodialysis were collected from general hospital in Baghdad city /Iraq. The samples with renal failure before hemodialysis were divided into (138) male,( 112)female. The sera were separated from samples to physiological investigation. We found that renal failure was more predominant among the patients ages group ranging from (51-70) years old. The results shows A significant increase in the levels of urea, creatinine, in younger patients (≤ 30 years) when compared with older patients (>70 years). Furthermore a significant decrease in serum levels of total protein in patients in older patients (>7
... Show MoreThe aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of N and Nβ -closed sets in terms of neutrosophic topological spaces. Some of its properties are also discussed.
Background: Obesity tends to appear in modern societies and constitutes a significant public health problem with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Objective: This study aims to determine the agreement between actual and perceived body image in the general population.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted with a sample size of 300. The data were collected from eight major populated areas of Northern district of Karachi Sindh with a period of six months (10th January 2020 to 21st June 2020). The Figure rating questionnaire scale (FRS) was applied to collect the demographic data and perception about body weight. Body mass index (BMI) used for ass
... Show MoreDigital tampering identification, which detects picture modification, is a significant area of image analysis studies. This area has grown with time with exceptional precision employing machine learning and deep learning-based strategies during the last five years. Synthesis and reinforcement-based learning techniques must now evolve to keep with the research. However, before doing any experimentation, a scientist must first comprehend the current state of the art in that domain. Diverse paths, associated outcomes, and analysis lay the groundwork for successful experimentation and superior results. Before starting with experiments, universal image forensics approaches must be thoroughly researched. As a result, this review of variou
... Show MoreLaser skin wound soldering offers many distinct advantages over conventional closure and laser welding techniques. Objective : to compare the histological effects of human skin wound soldering using 50 % human albumin solder and compound charcoal photosensitiser with 980 nm diode laser acting in various modes of action and parameters. Study Design/Materials and Methods: In this in vitro experimental study , Multiple 3-4 cm long full thickness incisions in a specimen of human skin were soldered using a 4 mm spot diameter beam of 980 nm diode laser(at different laser parameters and modes of action) with 50 % human albumin solder mixed with the compound charcoal at 5 % W/V concentration .After obtaining a successful wound soldering , the wo
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