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
The need to overcome the failure of orthodontic micro-implants which might reach to 30% has led to the development of different methods, one of which is nanoparticle deposition.
To evaluate the anti-microbial efficiency of TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles (NP) when used as a coating for orthodontic micro-implants.
Thirty titanium alloy micro-implants were used in the presented study. They were divided into three
In the present work a comparative study for thermal and electrical performance of different hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collectors designs for Iraq climate conditions have been carried out. Four different types of air based hybrid PV/T collectors have been manufactured and tested. Three collectors consist of four main parts namely, channel duct, glass cover, axial fan to circulate air and two PV panels in parallel connection. The measured parameters are, the temperature of the upper and the lower surfaces of the PV panels, air temperature along the collector, air flow rate, pressure drop, power produced by solar cell, and climate conditions such as wind speed, solar radiation and ambient temperature. The thermal and hydraulic performances o
... Show MoreBackground: Incorporation of chemical additives has long been a technique used to improve properties of the gypsum products. The purpose of this work was to study the effects of adding a combination of gum Arabic and calcium hydroxide to a type III dental stone and type IV improved die stone with different proportion. The effect on water/powder ratio, and surface hardness was determined. Material and method: Both material stone and die stone were blended with two proportion of additives so that each material was mixed twice but with different proportion of gum Arabic (0.1% and 0.2%) and calcium hydroxide (0.5 % and 0.3%). Data for hardness were subjected to two-way analysis of variance. Results: The results revealed that the chemical additi
... Show MoreBackground: Saliva is one of the most important etiological host factors in relation to dental caries. It affects the carious process by its organic and inorganic constituents; in addition to its physiological functions as (flow rate, pH and buffer capacity). The aims of this study were to determine the concentrations of major elements (calcium and phosphorus) and trace elements (ferrous iron, nickel, chromium and aluminum) in saliva among a group of adolescent girls, and to explore the relation of these elements, flow rate and pH with dental caries. Material & Methods: The study group consisted of 25 girls with an age of 13-15 years old. Dental caries was diagnosed by both clinical and radiographical examinations following the criteria of
... Show MoreThirty nine (12.8%) isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from 304 healthy human (Nasal swabs). It was found that percentage of males that have S. aureus is more than female's percentage. These isolates (39) were tested with different tests. Twenty seven isolates (69.23 %) were positive for Staphylococcus protein —A (SPA) ,thirty seven ( 94.8 %) were positive for tube coagulase , thirty five ( 89.7 % ) were positive with clumping factor and thirty two ( 82.05 %) had 13 — hemolytic on blood agar. It was found that 100% of the isolates (39 isolates) were positive with one, two or three tests (tube coagulase, clumping factor and SPA).
Two field experiments were conducted during the season 2021-2022 in central Iraq represented by the Al-Muthanna governorate - Al-Majd District and Al-Qadisiyah governorate / Al-Nouriah Research Station to determine the productivity of the Baghdad 3 cultivar from spray foliar fertilization of Macro and Micro elements with alcoholic sugars and half the fertilizer recommendation for addition floor, three treatments were used for fertilization: T1 as the control treatment and T2 with alcoholic sugar fertilization at a concentration of 20 g.L-1 + the fertilizer combination of Macro and Micro elements, and T3 with alcoholic sugar fertilization at a concentration of 40 g.L-1 + the fertilizer combination of Macro and Microelements, at irrigation 55
... Show Moreهدف البحث الى بيان طبيعة ارتباط والتأثير بين الضغوط التنافسية (المتغير المستقل) والتجديد الاستراتيجي (المتغير التابع) ، تم تطبيق البحث في فنادق الدرجة الممتازة في بغداد. وبلغت عدد افراد عينة البحث (99) مديراً يعملون في (6) فنادق من الدرجة (الممتازة) ببغداد، وهي (فندق الرشيد، فندق عشتار، فندق ميريديان، فندق المنصور، فندق بابل، وفندق بغداد) وتم اجراء التحليل الاحصائي باستخدام البرنامج الاحصائي AMOS وظهرت وجود تنافسي
... Show MoreExpected to The organizational commitment by employees increases their loyalty towards their organization and thus contribute to enhancing their performance , therefore this study aimed to discover the relationship and the impact between the organizational commitment (emotional commitment, standard commitment, continuous commitment) and the performance of employees in the company researched, additional to know the available organizational commitment levels of employees in the company researched and its impact on the performance of employees, Research was conducted at the General Company for products in the dairy to achieve the goals of research has been developed questionnaire conation (22 ) items to collect data from the study s
... Show MoreThis study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective activity and antioxidant enzymes of purified Bauhinia variegate leaves extract and purified flowers extract were administered (200 mg/kg, orally once daily) to reduce the effect of carbon tetrachloride-damage in rat’sliver for three weeks. Thereafter, the levels of some serum biochemical factorssuch as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase,and the activity of three different antioxidant enzymes (glutathione, superoxide dismutase, and catalase) were investigated.Liver homogenate can used to estimated antioxidant parameters: glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase. The purified Bauhinia variegate leaves and purified flowers significantly
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