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
Pregnancy and childbirth are physiological states characterized by sudden hormonal and immunologically described changes. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of maternal variables (age, previous abortion, placental position, and fetal position) on some physiological biomarkers, such as oxytocin (OT), prolactin (PRL), cortisol, and insulin growth factor 2 (IGF -2) and some immune biomarkers such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in Iraqi women undergoing caesarean section (CS). Blood samples were collected from 48 pregnant women in the age range (16-43 years) and serum was obtained to determine the levels of the above biomarkers. The effect of
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Development of NSAIDS based on inhibiting cyclooxygenase activity. However, the different physiological consequences arrised by appearance of new drugs with different selectivity to COX-2 enzyme upon their administration with their relevant affects on some cardiovascular risk factors. To study the potential effects of relatively diclofenac and highly specific celecoxib COX-2 inhibitors on lipid profile and serum C-reactive protein in type 2 diabetes, whom have hyperlipidemia to be compared by their effects with normolipidemic patients. A total number of 34 type 2 diabetics (14 normolipidemics and 20 hyperlipidemics) treated with either diclofenac 100mg/day or celecoxib 200mg/day for eight weeks. Analysis of results indi
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In this research, analytical study for simulating a Fabry-Perot bistable etalon (F-P cavity) filled with a dispersive optimized nonlinear optical material (Kerr type) such as semiconductors Indium Antimonide (InSb). An optimization procedure using reflective (~85%) InSb etalon (~50µm) thick is described. For this etalon with a (50 µm) spot diameter beam, the minimum switching power is (~0.078 mW) and switching time is (~150 ns), leading to a switching energy of (~11.77 pJ) for this device. Also, the main role played by the temperature to change the etalon characteristic from nonlinear to linear dynamics.
In this paper, Bayes estimators of the parameter of Maxwell distribution have been derived along with maximum likelihood estimator. The non-informative priors; Jeffreys and the extension of Jeffreys prior information has been considered under two different loss functions, the squared error loss function and the modified squared error loss function for comparison purpose. A simulation study has been developed in order to gain an insight into the performance on small, moderate and large samples. The performance of these estimators has been explored numerically under different conditions. The efficiency for the estimators was compared according to the mean square error MSE. The results of comparison by MSE show that the efficiency of Bayes est
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In this paper, Bayes estimators of the parameter of Maxwell distribution have been derived along with maximum likelihood estimator. The non-informative priors; Jeffreys and the extension of Jeffreys prior information has been considered under two different loss functions, the squared error loss function and the modified squared error loss function for comparison purpose. A simulation study has been developed in order to gain an insight into the performance on small, moderate and large samples. The performance of these estimators has been explored numerically under different conditions. The efficiency for the estimators was compared according to the mean square error MSE. The results of comparison by MSE show that the efficiency of B
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This work has been done to prepare a series of new alkene compounds derived from 4-thiozolidinones by substituting different aldehydes, P-acetamido-phenol, and 2-mercapto-benzoimidazole, which were used as starting materials to form ester [I]a,b and then make hydrazides [II]a,b, which were used to prepare 1, 3, and 4-oxadiazoles [III]a,b, which were then used for prepared Schiff bases [IV]a-f, The next step was the synthesis of 4-thiazoldinone derivatives [V]a-f from Schiff bases. The final step was the synthesis of alkenes [VII]a-f, the prepared derivatives were identified with spectral methods (FT-IR, 1H-NMR, mass, and CHNS). The antibacterial activity of the prepared derivatives was evaluated against four types of bacteria, pos
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The impact of digital transformation on the relationship between commercial bank customers’ empowerment and competitive advantage
E-commerce is the most important result of information technology in this day and age, has resulted in the use of commercial transactions to changes in economic, social, and psychological, and produced a new type of shopping, jobs, and create new job opportunities, and changed the traditional work environment. The challenge currently facing economic units is how to transfer this technology and its integration within the community, especially after the massive developments that have occurred in the areas of commercial and congested markets units, the economic and the products and services the many and varied and intensified competition among these units to achieve a profit, leading to the emergence of e-commerce as on
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