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
Oxidative stress and inflammation are connected to the development of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes. Diabetic-related oxidative stress is caused by the overproduction of oxidative-free radicals, which have been implicated in the mechanism of inflammation and damage to tissues. Our study aimed to investigate the effects of ubiquinone treatment on serum indicators of oxidative stress (malondialdehyde (MDA)), inflammation (interleukin 6 (IL-6)), vascular homeostasis (nitric oxide (NO)), and myopathy (myoglobin (MB)) in addition to measuring blood components parameters in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Rats were separated into three groups; negative control group (N), diabetic control group (D), and ubiquinone-treated diabet
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Various activities taking place within the city of Baghdad have significantly contributed to organic pollution in Rivers Tigris and Diyala. The present study aimed to assess some physical, chemical and biological aspects of six sites on Rivers Tigris and Diyala as they flow through the city of Baghdad. Monthly samples were collected for the period January to December, 2005. Marked differences in the physical and chemical characteristics of water were noted between the two rivers’ sites. Average values during the study period of dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, particulate organic matter, nitrate, phosphate and total dissolved solids for Tigris and Diyala were 7.8,4.7; 2.4,10.4; 350.1,921.4;7.8,13.9;1.2,4.8;814,2176 mg / l re
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Microwave heating is caused by the ability of the materials to absorb microwave energy and convert it to heat. The aim of this study is to know the difference that will occur when heat treating the high strength aluminum alloys AA7075-T73 in a microwave furnace within different mediums (dry and acidic solution) at different times (30 and 60) minutes, on mechanical properties and fatigue life. The experimental results of microwave furnace heat energy showed that there were variations in the mechanical properties (ultimate stress, yielding stress, fatigue strength, fatigue life and hardness) with the variation in mediums and duration times when compared with samples without treatment. The ultimate stress, yielding stress and fatigue streng
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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the most common endocrine disorder and one of the highly progressive diseases which is indicated by high blood sugar (hyperglycemia). The present study aims to study the effects of treatment with zinc and vitamin C on glycemic profile [fasting blood sugar (FBS), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C), and insulin hormone level] in type 2 diabetic patients. The study included 56 diabetic patients [30 without foot ulcers (15 without zinc and vitamin C supplements, 15 with zinc and vitamin C supplements) and 26 with foot ulcers (15 without zinc and vitamin C supplements, 11 with zinc and vitamin C supplements)]. Also, 15 healthy persons were used as a control group. The patients were enrol
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This research has been performed on the vegetative parts of the
Horsetail Equisetum arvense L. v.ilich grows naturally in Haj Umran , north of Iraq , to determine and estimate some active chemical compounds , besides studyi ng their inhi bitory effe(;tS upon some urinary tracts infections (UTI) bacteria through the
investigation on the inhibitory effects of water and ethanolic extracts of this plant .
The results revealed presr.:nr.:t: of some active chemical compounds such as: tannins, saponins, resins,
... Show MoreThe present work investigates the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by a biological method using L.Rosa flower extract and silver nitrate as precursors. Optimum conditions of synthesis were studies, such as pH, temperature, concentration of extract, concentration of silver nitrate, and stability with time. Characterization of AgNPs was carried out using UV-visible Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared and Transmission Electron Microscopy. The biosynthesized AgNPs exhibited inhibitory effects on creatine kinase activity in the sera of patients with myocardial infarction, compared with control subjects. Thermodynamic and kinetic studies of c
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TMA Technique was used to study the behavior of the thermal expansion (α) of the unsaturated polyester resin(UP) containing ratios wt % of different phenolic Bakelite. We can through this technique evaluate the coefficient of linear thermal expansion (α) on the one hand and the glass transition temperature(Tg) of his other hand of polymer composite prepared .Evidenced from this study that extravagant increases the ratio of phenolic Bakelite in polyester prepared led to a decrease in the Tg and it was observed that there is increase in the values of (α) in low temperture and decrease in high temperture due to transformation of polymeric material from elastic to plastic , and therefore, increase the ratio to 15% phenoli
... Show MoreReliable estimation of critical parameters such as hydrocarbon pore volume, water saturation, and recovery factor are essential for accurate reserve assessment. The inherent uncertainties associated with these parameters encompass a reasonable range of estimated recoverable volumes for single accumulations or projects. Incorporating this uncertainty range allows for a comprehensive understanding of potential outcomes and associated risks. In this study, we focus on the oil field located in the northern part of Iraq and employ a Monte Carlo based petrophysical uncertainty modeling approach. This method systematically considers various sources of error and utilizes effective interpretation techniques. Leveraging the current state of a
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In this paper, the effect of wear in the fluid film journal bearings on the dynamic behavior of rotor bearing system has been studied depending on the analytical driven of dynamic stiffness and damping coefficients of worn journal bearing. The finite element method was used to modeling rotor bearing system. The unbalance response, critical speed and natural frequency of rotor bearing system have been studied to determine the changes in these parameters due to wear. MATLAB software was used to find the analytical values of dynamic coefficients of journal bearing. The results of rotor mounted on fluid film journal bearings showed that the wear in journal bearing increases the amplitude of unbalance response and decrease critical speed, sta
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