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
A two-year study (harvest years 2019 and 2020) was conducted to investigate the effect of a commercially available biofertilizer, in combination with variable nitrogen (N) rate, on bread baking quality and agronomic traits in hard winter wheat grown in conventional (CONV) and organic (ORG) farming systems in Kentucky, USA. The hard red winter wheat cultivar ‘Vision 45’ was used with three N rates (44, 89.6 and 134.5 kg/ha as Low, Med and High, respectively) and three biofertilizer spray regimes (no spray, one spray and two sprays). All traits measured were significantly affected by the agricultural production system (CONV or ORG) and N rate, although trends in their interactions were inconsistent between years. In Y2, yield was
... Show MoreHealthcare professionals routinely use audio signals, generated by the human body, to help diagnose disease or assess its progression. With new technologies, it is now possible to collect human-generated sounds, such as coughing. Audio-based machine learning technologies can be adopted for automatic analysis of collected data. Valuable and rich information can be obtained from the cough signal and extracting effective characteristics from a finite duration time interval that changes as a function of time. This article presents a proposed approach to the detection and diagnosis of COVID-19 through the processing of cough collected from patients suffering from the most common symptoms of this pandemic. The proposed method is based on adopt
... Show MoreIn this research work a composite material was prepared contains a matrix which is unsaturated polyester resin (UPE) reinforced with carbon nanotube the percentage weight (0.1, 0.2, 0.4.0.5) %, and Zn particle the percentage weight (0.1, 0.2,0.4,0.5)%.
All sample were prepared by hand lay-up, process the mechanical tests contains hardness test, wear rate test, and the coefficient of thermal conductivity. The results showed a significant improvement in the properties of overlapping, Article containing carbon nano-tubes and maicroparticles of zinc because of its articles of this characteristics of high quality properties led to an, an increase in the coefficient of the rmalconductivity, and increase the hardness values with increased pe
The first chapter the importance of research and need for education scientists see that the roots of the use of a specimen Wheatley in learning and teaching back to Grayson Wheatley, one of the largest supporters of a modern construction, which lay the groundwork for the specimen stage and the form in which it is. That was attributed to him, often called his name called while some educators based learning strategy on the issue. He sees the learner in this model make him a meaningful understanding of problems during his progress, thereby acting with his colleagues to find solutions to them in small groups. He
Borders Search: Search by students is determined by th
... Show MoreA field experiment was conducted during the autumn of 2021 at the Agricultural Research Department station / Abu Ghraib to evaluate the soil moisture, water potential distribution, and growth factors of maize crops under alternating and constant partial drip irrigation methods. In the experiment, two irrigation systems were used, surface drip irrigation (DI) and subsurface irrigation (SD); under each irrigation system, five irrigation methods were: conventional irrigation (CI), and 75 and 50% of the amount of water of CI of each of the alternating partial irrigation APRI75 and APRI50 and the constant partial irrigation FPRI75 and FPRI50 respectively. The results showed that the water depth for conventional irrigation (C1) was 658.3
... Show MoreThis article aims to identify the views of media elites on citizen journalism, a new media genre that strays away from the foundations and ethics of professional journalism, thus calling for in-depth exploration and scrutiny into the genre and its commitment to the professional standards of journalism.
For this purpose, the researcher opted for the survey method by distributing a questionnaire to a purposive sample consisting of 407 media elites. The research is also based on Habermas' public sphere theory.
The present study aimed to investigate the effects of level pH and the growth phases of Coelastrella saipanensis on Chlorophyll a,b, total, and Carotene. The algae were cultured in BG11 media and grown at different pH levels. We measured chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll, growth phases, and carotene concentrations. The results showed that at pH 8.5, the measurements of photosynthetic pigments-chlorophyll a, Chlorophyll b, and the total chlorophyll (0.183, 0.268, and 0.433 mg L-1, respectively). The highest values of chlorophyll a (0.185 mg L-1), and b (0.339 mg L-1), and the total chlorophyll (0.492 mg L-1) were recorded in the stationary phase. In addition, the study found that at pH 8.5 and the beginning of the stationary phase,
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