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: coronavirus 19 is a beta-coronavirus, enveloped and roughly spherical with approximately 60 to 140 nm in diameter with positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome.
Objectives: Measurement of interleukin 6 (IL6) level in a group of patients with confirmed Covid19 infection and its correlation with many hematological and biochemical parameters , mainly lymphocyte , neutrophil count and their ratio , platelet count , serum ferritin , C reactive protein as well as D-dimer level
Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted on 60 PCR positive patients variably affected by COVID-19 , cases collected sequentially from June till November 20
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In this work, an experimental investigation has been done for heat transfer by natural-convection through a horizontal concentric annulus with porous media effects. The porous structure in gap spacing consists of a glass balls and replaced by plastic (PVC) balls with different sizes. The outer surface of outer tube is isothermally cooled while the outer surface of inner tube is heated with constant heat flux condition. The inner tube is heated with different supplied electrical power levels. Four different radius ratios of annulus are used. The effects of porous media material, particles size and annulus radius ratio on heat dissipation in terms of average Nusselt number have been analyzed. |
The present study aimed to examine the effect of endosulfan insecticide on some molecular and biochemical parameters in white mice. Thirty mice were separated randomly into three groups for treatment with endosulfan. One group (G1) served as the control, while the other two groups received intraperitoneal injections of endosulfan G2 (3 mg/kg) and G3 (17 mg/kg) twice a week for 21 and 45 days, respectively. A biochemical study by measuring liver function parameters, including (alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)) and kidney function parameters, including (Blood Urea and Creatinine) and malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase activity (CAT). This study also tested DNA damage by comet assay (normal%, low%, med
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The present study aimed to examine the effect of endosulfan insecticide on some molecular and biochemical parameters in white mice. Thirty mice were separated randomly into three groups for treatment with endosulfan. One group (G1) served as the control, while the other two groups received intraperitoneal injections of endosulfan G2 (3 mg/kg) and G3 (17 mg/kg) twice a week for 21 and 45 days, respectively. A biochemical study by measuring liver function parameters, including (alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)) and kidney function parameters, including (Blood Urea and Creatinine) and malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase activity (CAT). This study also tested DNA damage by comet assay (normal%, low%, medium%,
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Background:No previous Iraqi study was done on the estimation of post mortem interval (PMI) from the medico-legal point of view; depending on the biochemical changes of vitreous humor.Objectives:To find out the relationship between some biochemical changes in vitreous humor and post mortem interval.To find out a new formula for estimation of PMI from some biochemical changes in vitreous humor.Method:The study was conducted on one hundred twenty two cases referred to the medico-legal institute in Sulaimani province during the period between 1st of February and 30th of July 2012.Complete classical autopsy was performed for each case and vitreous humor was collected at autopsy from the posterior chamber of the eye and the samples after coll
... Show MoreBackground: Phytotherapy is the usage of herbal species with medicinal properties for the management of various diseases. Gingivitis and periodontitis are diseases that involve the role of both the bacteria and the host immune response. Over the years, various researches have shown the importance of herbal products in the management of periodontal diseases. Aims of the study: To evaluate the efficacy of locally applied Salvia officinalis gel as adjunctive in the treatment of chronic periodontitis. Subjects and methods: Fourteen patients (10 males and 4 females) with chronic periodontitis were enrolled in the present study with total number of twenty-eight periodontal pockets utilizing a split mouth design, the pockets were divided i
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Experimental investigations had been done in this research to demonstrate the effect of carbon fiber and Ceramic fillers contents on the tribological behaviour of (15% volume fraction) carbon-epoxy composite system under varying volume fraction, load, time and sliding distance. The wear resistance were investigated according to ASTM G99-05standard using pin on disc machine to present the composite tribological behaviour. The influence of three ceramic fillers, granite, perlite and calcium carbonate (CaCO3), on the wear of the carbon fabric reinforced epoxy composites under dry sliding conditions has been investigated. The effect of variants in volume fraction, applied load, time and sliding distance on the wear behaviour of po
... Show MoreThis work describes the weathering effects (UV-Irradiation, and Rain) on the thermal conductivity of PS, PMMA, PS/PMMA blend for packaging application. The samples were prepared by cast method at different ratios (10, 30, 50, 70, and 90 %wt). It was seen that the thermal conductivity of PMMA (0.145 W/m.K), and for PS(0.095 W/m.K), which increases by PS ratio increase up to 50% PS/PMMA blend then decreased that was attributed to increase in miscibility of the blend involved. By UV-weathering, it was seen that thermal conductivity for PMMA increased with UV-weathering up to (30hr) then decreased, that was attributed to rigidity and defect formation, respectively. For 30%PS/PMMA, there results showed unsystematic decrease in thermal conduct
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