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
Enhancement of the performance for hybrid solar air conditioning system was presented in this paper. The refrigerant temperature leaving the condenser was controlled using three-way valve, this valve was installed after the compressor to regulate refrigerant flow rate towards the solar system. A control system using data logger, sensors and computer was proposed to set the opening valve ratio. The function of control program using LabVIEW software is to obtain a minimum refrigerant temperature from the condenser outlet to enhance the overall COP of the unit by increasing the degree of subcooled refrigerant. A variable load electrical heater with coiled pipe was used instead of the solar collector and the storage tank to simulate the sola
... Show MoreSTAG proteins, which are part of the cohesin complex and encoded by the STAG genes, are known as Irr1/Scc3 in yeast and as SA/STAG/stromalin in mammals. There are more variants as there are alternate splice sites, maybe three open reading frames (ORFs) code for three main proteins, including: SA1 (STAG1), SA2 (STAG2) and SA3 (STAG3). The cohesin protein complex has various essential roles in eukaryotic cell biology. This study compared the expression of the STAG1 gene in four different breast cancer cell lines, including: MCF-7, T-47D, MDA-MB-468, and MDA-MB-231 and normal breast tissue. RNA was extracted from these cell lines and mRNA was converted to cDNA, and then expression of the STAG1 gene was quantified by three sets of specific p
... Show MoreIntramuscular hemangiomas are rare asymptomatic angiomatous tumors , showing a slow growing pattern . We reported a rare case of biceps muscle hemangioma in a 22-years-old man who presented with progressive swelling following a simple trauma four years ago , after examining the patient with ultrasound (US) ,computed tomography( CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which was confirmed by histopathology later on .
Iraqi insurance market need to develop products and to find new insurance policies to cover the damages of the violence and political commotions dangers and to meet the needs of the proposers.
The global insurance companies recently issued such policies to pay the losses wich caused by the violent political acts of vandalism suffered by the property and investments wich estimated billions of dollars.
... Show MoreThe Financial systems can be classified into two types. The first is the market–oriented, which is applied in United States and United Kingdom. While the second is bank-oriented as in Japan and Germany.
This study tries to explain the reasons which make some countries adopt the first one instead of the second, and the contrary. So the study consists of three sections. The first deals with the concept of financial system and it are functions. The second displays the indicators which are used to classify the financial systems, while the third one is devoted to the factors that determine the type of financial system .These sections followed by some conclusions.
If feminist philosophy in the context of feminist research focuses on how to produce an alternative knowledge and culture for women and forming anew awareness of their roles in the face of prevailing misconceptions then the topic of Islamic feminism is presented as a philosophical topic in the field of human knowledge to discuss how to produce an alternative knowledge of traditional knowledge prevailing in patriarchal societies to restore the balance of power and authority in the relationship between the sexes to create an effective feminist role in advocating for and defending womenś issues to achieve this Islamic feminism sought to establish an Islamic epistemology .
The legislation contributes to facilitating the process of attracting investments to the state, in addition to the importance of strengthening the investment environment, which contributes to encouraging business in all economic fields and establishing the country's position on the map of preferred destinations for investment at the regional and global levels. With the vision of the state and its strategy to move towards the promising sectors of the economy, leading to comprehensive growth in all sectors at the level of the state economy, and the importance of integration and cooperation between all institutions and government and private departments.
The investment-driven factors, supporting the business environment in terms of
... Show MoreIn this review of literature, the light will be concentrated on the local drugs delivery systems for treating the periodontal diseases. Principles, types, advantages and indications of each type will be discussed in this paper.
The concept of education is not actually restricted to children or school students, but rather every person should be educated and followed up if he is intended to grow and prove, with effort and time allocation as to fulfill that goal. Thus , the current paper aims to a thinking education and to educate that thinking in teacher and it is not new to deal with the personal characteristics of teacher in the different scientific , and educational researches . But ,these research did not address the necessity of acquiring the skill of thinking, especially as it affects teacher's presentation of the content of the curriculum or even content outside the curriculum, and therefore, there is n
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