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
Background: Nanoparticles are clusters of atoms in a size range from (1-100) nm. Nano dentistry creates amazing useful structures from individual atoms or molecules (nanoparticles), which provides a new alternative and a possibly superior strategy in prevention and treatment of dental caries through management of dental plaque biofilms. The aim of the study was to test the sensitivity of Streptococcus mutans to different concentrations of hydroxyapatite and iron oxide nanoparticles suspension solutions, in comparison to chlorhexidine, and de-ionized water, in vitro. Materials and methods: Agar well technique was applied to test the sensitivity of Streptococcus mutans to different concentrations of hydroxyapatite and iron oxide nanoparticle
... Show MoreHeat transfer process and fluid flow in a solar chimney used for natural ventilation are investigated numerically in the present work. Solar chimney was tested by selecting different positions of absorber namely: at the back side, front side, and at the middle of the air gap. CFD analysis based on finite volume method is used to predict the thermal performance, and air flow in two dimensional solar chimney under unsteady state condition, to identify the effect of different parameters such as solar radiation. Results show that a solar chimney with absorber at the middle of the air gap gives better ventilation performance. A comparison between the numerical and previous experimental results shows fair agreement.
This study was designed to show the inhibitory effect of different concentrations of alcoholic extract of Borage officinalis on the Monoamine oxidase (MAO) and Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzymes in human serum. The results obtained from the study exhibited that alcoholic extract of Borage officinalis caused inhibition to enzymes activity with all concentrations of the extract. The results also showed that when the concentration of the extract was (0.001 mg/ml), the percentage of inhibition was (4.3% with MAO and 15.2% with AChE) and this percentage increases until reaching up to (74.7% with MAO and 84.18% with AChE) when the concentration of the extract was (0.1 mg/ml). From the kinetic parameters, studies found that alcoholic extract o
... Show MoreIn this research, the influence of the fermentation treatments and baking in Iraqi’s flour type (Ibaa 99, Al-rashed, Tamus, Abu-grabe) and Turkish flour type (Muaamel) on phytic acid was investigated. In whole wheat flour, the phytic acid was (1500, 1290, 1450, 1230, 1440 ( mg/ 100 g flour respectively, and the inorganic phosphorous was (29.18, 25.15, 23.89, 20.85, 22.83) mg/100 g flour respectively. The dough prepared from flour with a higher phytic acid content also contained higher amount of phytic acid. During fermentation, degradation of phytic acid occurred. The cumulative loss of phytic acid after fermentation in all type of dough was ~ 23, 22, 34, 26 and 27% respectively،While increased of inorganic phosphorous occurred. The c
... Show MoreA simple, environmentally benign, cost-effective, and sensitive colorimetric determination for the pharmaceutical drug dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DXP) has been developed by the formation of a colored complex with fluoranil. The process was sensitive and linear over the range 1 to 40 μg/mL, excellent correlation coefficient 0.9989, recovery% 99.80 ± 1.3, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.23 and 0.9 μg/mL, respectively, and good RSD ~1.63%. The experimental conditions were optimized after an intensive study. The approach was validated statistically for the quantification of the analyte in its pure and/or pharmaceutical form. Despite the proposed approach is selective, it still can be applied for
... Show MoreThe issue of insurance against unlawful risks raises a jurisprudential and judicial debate between two opposing trends: the first considers coverage of these risks invalid due to their impact on public order or morals, while the second—which this research analyses—calls for the possibility of covering these risks in specific circumstances, based on contractual considerations in accordance with the principle that the contract is the law of the contracting parties, and based on the obligation to compensate the harmed third party—the victim—who has no connection to the unlawful act. In this context, our research highlights that contractual considerations can justify coverage of some unlawful risks, provided that the goal is to achieve
... Show MoreWe propose an intraguild predation ecological system consisting of a tri-trophic food web with a fear response for the basal prey and a Lotka–Volterra functional response for predation by both a specialist predator (intraguild prey) and a generalist predator (intraguild predator), which we call the superpredator. We prove the positivity, existence, uniqueness, and boundedness of solutions, determine all equilibrium points, prove global stability, determine local bifurcations, and illustrate our results with numerical simulations. An unexpected outcome of the prey's fear of its specialist predator is the potential eradication of the superpredator.
Nearly a century and a half has passed since Sarah Orne Jewett published her much anthologized short story “A White Heron” (1886), but commentators on the tale missed one of the most important points in the text. It is the story’s similarity to the traditional Euro-centric fairy tale of “Little Red Riding Hood”. As an author, writing at the end of the ninetieth century, a time that witnessed the demise of the Romantic movement in America and the beginning of the age of Realism, Jewett did not romanticize her characters, despite the idyllic landscape in which “A White Heron” is set. Her story can be analyzed as a text that aims at disseminating ecological awareness among her young readers. This study focuses on Jewett
... Show MoreMany consumers of electric power have excesses in their electric power consumptions that exceed the permissible limit by the electrical power distribution stations, and then we proposed a validation approach that works intelligently by applying machine learning (ML) technology to teach electrical consumers how to properly consume without wasting energy expended. The validation approach is one of a large combination of intelligent processes related to energy consumption which is called the efficient energy consumption management (EECM) approaches, and it connected with the internet of things (IoT) technology to be linked to Google Firebase Cloud where a utility center used to check whether the consumption of the efficient energy is s
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