Background: Among different air pollutants, cigarette smoke contains toxic chemicals, mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds, which can adversely affect male fertility. In this study, semen parameters and reproductive hormonal concentrations of subfertile smokers were compared with subfertile non-smokers.
Objectives: evaluation of the effect of cigarette smoking on male fertility by evaluating several semen parameters as well as some reproductive hormones in a group of smoker and non smokersubfertile Iraqi subjects.
Patients and Methods: At the male infertility clinic of Al-yarmuk teaching hospital, Almustanseria medical college, Baghdad, Iraq from the 1st of October 2010 to the end of June 2011, 88 men (49 non-smokers, and 39 smoker

The effects of three different additives formulations namely Lubrizol 21001, HiTEC 8722B and HiTEC 340 on the efficiency of VII namely OCP of three base lubricating oils namely 40 stock and 60 stock and 150 stock at four temperatures 40, 60, 80 and 100oC were investigated. The efficiency of OCP is decreased when blended with 4 and 8 wt% of Lubrizol 21001 for all the three base oil types. But it is increased when adding 4 wt% and 8 wt% of H-8722B in 40 stock. While for 60 stock and 150 stock the OCP efficiency decreased by adding 4 and 8 wt% of H-8722B. In the other hand, it is decreased with a high percentage by adding 4 and 8 wt% of H-340 for 60 stock and 150 stock and for 40 stock it is increased by adding 4 wt% of H-340 and decreased

Abstract: Objectives: To investigate the effect of temperature elevation on the bonding strength of resin cement to the zirconia ceramic using fractional CO2 laser. Background: Fractional CO2 laser is an effective surface treatment of zirconia ceramic, as it increases the bonding strength of zirconia to resin cement. Methods: Thirty sintered zirconia discs (10 mm diameter, 2 mm thickness) were prepared and divided to three groups (N=10) and five diffident pulse durations were used in each group (0.1, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 ms). Group A was treated with 10 W power setting, group B with 20 W and group C with 30 W. During laser irradiation, temperature elevation measurement was recorded for each specimen. Luting cement was bonded to the treated z

Background: The formation of white spot lesions around fixed orthodontic attachments is a common complication during and after fixed orthodontic treatment, which hinders the result of a successfully completed orthodontic treatment. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the Caries Infiltrant (ICON®) on prevention of caries on the smooth enamel surface when applied alone or combined with conventional adhesives. Materials and methods: Seventy eight human premolar enamel discs were randomly assigned to six groups (n=13). The discs were etched and treated with resins of different monomer content forming the following groups: (1)Untreated etched samples served as the negative control, (2) ICON® (DMG), (3) Adper™ S

Cadmium sulfide and Aluminum doped CdS thin films were prepared by thermal evaporation technique in vacuum on a heated glass substrates at 373K. A comparison between the optical properties of the pure and doped films was made through measuring and analyzing the transmittance curves, and the effect of the annealing temperature on these properties were estimated. All the films were found to exhibit high transmittance in the visible/ near infrared region from 500nm to 1100nm.The optical band gap energy was found to be in the range 2.68-2.60 eV and 2.65-2.44 eV for CdS and CdS:Al respectively , with changing the annealing temperature from room temperature to 423K.Optical constants such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, and complex di

The physical, the thermal and the mechanical properties of Nano-composites, that consisted of Polyprime EP epoxy that reinforced by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), have been studied. Various loading ratios, 0.1, 0.5, and 1 wt. %of MWCNT shave been infused into epoxy by a magnetic stirrer and then the hardener mixed with the mthat supplied with the epoxy. All sample shave been cutting using CNC machine. Tensile test, three-point bending, hardness tests, lee's disk, differential scanning calorimetry, water absorption and dielectric and electrical conductivity test were utilized on unfilled, MWCNT-filled epoxy to identify the loading effect on the properties of materials. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the

The compounding of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with two types of fillers and some additives were studied for the manufacturing of acid resistant tile. Various concentrations of two types of fillers namely; calcium carbonate and recycled glass powder were used along with different additives generally categorized as plasticizers, stabilizers, and lubricants were mixed in the standard concentration unit parts per hundred resins (phr) with the PVC as base polymer. The effects of filler materials on acid resistant towered different acids like sulphuric, nitric and hydrochloric at different concentration were studied. Samples which passed the test were further checked for dielectric strength and mechanical properties. It was found that the recycl

We studied the effect of Ca- doping on the properties of Bi-based superconductors by
adding differ ent amounts of CaO
to the Bi
2
Sr2La2-xCaxCu3O10+δ
compound. consequently, we
obtained three samples A,B and C with x=0.0, 0.4 and 0.8 respectively. The usual solid-state
reaction method has been applied under optimum conditions. The x-ray diffraction analy sis
showed that the samples A and B have tetragonal structures conversely the sample C has an
orthorhombic structure. In addition XRD analysis show that decreasing the c-axis lattice
constant and thus decreasing the ratio c/a for samples A,B and C resp ectively. The X-ray
florescence proved that the compositions of samples A,B and C with the ra

Background: Chronic kidney disease is a gradual loss of kidney function with diabetes and hypertension as the leading cause. Chronic kidney disease is one of these systemic diseases that can affect salivary contents. Aims: This study aimed to assess salivary immunoglobulin A, interleukin-6 and C- reactive protein in chronic kidney disease patients on hemodialysis and those on conservative treatment in comparison with control subjects. Materials and methods: Ninety subjects were included in this study divided into three groups: 30 patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis for at least 6 months ago; 30 patients with chronic kidney disease on conservative treatment and 30 healthy control subjects. Secretory immunoglobulin A, inte