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: Spontaneous abortion means that a pregnancy is lost prior to viability, the loss of a fetus weighing less than 500 g, and the loss of an embryo or fetus at 20 weeks gestation or less (WHO, 2001). Glenville, (2001) has reported that suffering a miscarriage is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a woman, and to her husband. Many women conceive easily and are not emotionally or physically prepared for the shock of losing a baby. Objective: To know effects of spontaneous abortion upon physical status and spiritual beliefs , also find out the association between physical status and spiritual beliefs with study variable (demographic & reproductive). Methodology: A descriptive Analytical study was conducted on Non
... Show MoreBackground: Spontaneous abortion means that a pregnancy is lost prior to viability, the loss of a fetus weighing less than 500 g, and the loss of an embryo or fetus at 20 weeks gestation or less (WHO, 2001). Glenville, (2001) has reported that suffering a miscarriage is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a woman, and to her husband. Many women conceive easily and are not emotionally or physically prepared for the shock of losing a baby. Objective: To know effects of spontaneous abortion upon physical status and spiritual beliefs , also find out the association between physical status and spi
This research aims to know the role and impact of participation in the capabilities of human resources programs, and for the purpose of measuring it has been determined the dimensions of these two variables by relying on standards for this purpose, was chosen as the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research / device supervision and scientific calendar as one of the important departments in the ministry and includes a large number of individuals at different organizational levels for the purpose of answering a questionnaire prepared for the purpose of measurement and access to the results and the achievement of the objectives of the research and which ha
... Show MoreIn this paper, the dynamics of scavenger species predation of both susceptible and infected prey at different rates with prey refuge is mathematically proposed and studied. It is supposed that the disease was spread by direct contact between susceptible prey with infected prey described by Holling type-II infection function. The existence, uniqueness, and boundedness of the solution are investigated. The stability constraints of all equilibrium points are determined. In addition to establishing some sufficient conditions for global stability of them by using suitable Lyapunov functions. Finally, these theoretical results are shown and verified with numerical simulations.
Diabetic retinopathy is one of most important complications of diabetes mellitus that can be treated by Nd:YAG laser. Laser is used in ophthalmic practice for photocoagulation and photodisruption. The purpose of this study is to evaluate changes in immunological ,hematological and biochemical values after treatment of diabetic retinopathy by laser. Blood samples from 10 patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy were taken before and after laser treatment to coagulate retina to prevent leakage and hemorraghe to avoid deterioration of vision.In group one (4 patients = 40%), blood tests were done one day after treatment. In group two (6 patients =60%) tests were done 7 days after treatment with laser. The study showed no clear changes in
... Show MoreIn the present work, heterojunction diode detectors will be prepared using germanium wafers as a substrate material and 200 nm tin sulfide thickness will be evaporated by using thermal evaporation method as thin film on the substrate. Nd:YAG laser (λ=532 nm) with different energy densities (5.66 J/cm2 and 11.32 J/cm2) is used to diffuse the SnS inside the surface of the germanium samples with 10 laser shots in different environments (vacuum and distilled water). I-V characteristics in the dark illumination, C-V characteristics, transmission measurements, spectral responsivity and quantum efficiency were investigated at 300K. The C-V measurements have shown that the heterojunction were of abrupt type and the maximum value of build-in pot
... Show MoreTigris River is one of the main important surface water resources in Iraq. This necessitates continuous study of its quality . The present study is concerned with the characteristics and quality of Tigris water passing through in Baghdad city. (eight) samples were collected from the river in the area Grea't City. The study periods were carried over four season, which has been sampled once represent the every season. First sampling 12-11-2012 represent the autumn season The second sampling 20-1-2013 to represent the winter season. The third in 25-3- 2013 to represent the Springer season. The fourth during 29-5-2013 to represent the summer spring season. In order to specify the water quality, a group of physical and chemical analyses have bee
... Show MoreBackground: Candida albicans is a prevalent commensal that can cause severe health problems in humans. One such condition that frequently returns after treatment is oral candidiasis. Aim: the goal of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of 940 nm as a fungicidal on the growth of Candida albicans in vitro. Material and Methods: In vitro samples (fungal swabs) were taken from the oral cavity of 75 patients suffering from oral thrush. Following the process of isolating and identifying Albicans. The samples are divided into four groups:(Group 1): Suspension of C. albicans was put in a solution of saline as a control group. (Group 2): Suspension of C. albicans that had been treated with nystatin. (Group 3): Suspension of C. albica
... Show MoreThe current study aimed to use some bacterial isolates from the local soil of Baghdad city by study the effects of temperature, pH and incubation period on the growth rates of isolated bacteria and choose the optimal conditions for their diversity and for understanding bacterial growth and their requirements for survival and proliferation. This information can be applied to obtain their high growth rate for use in various fields such as agriculture, medicine and environmental sciences in the future. And it used to assess the degree of variation in across bacteria species in pH, temperature and incubation period. A number of local bacterial isolates as
Background: Candida albicans is a prevalent commensal that can cause severe health problems in humans. One such condition that frequently returns after treatment is oral candidiasis. Aim: the goal of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of 940 nm as a fungicidal on the growth of Candida albicans in vitro. Material and Methods: In vitro samples (fungal swabs) were taken from the oral cavity of 75 patients suffering from oral thrush. Following the process of isolating and identifying Albicans. The samples are divided into four groups:(Group 1): Suspension of C. albicans was put in a solution of saline as a control group. (Group 2): Suspension of C. albicans that had been treated wit
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