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 we

The performance and lifetime of the flexible asphalt pavement are mainly dependent on the interfacial bond strength between layer courses. To enhance the bond between layers, adhesive materials, such as tack coats, are used. The tack coat itself is a bituminous material, which is applied on an existing relatively non-absorbent surface to ensure a strong bond between the old and newly paved layer. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of various types of tack coat materials on interlayer bond strength and to determine the optimal application rate for each type. The tack coat types used in this paper were RC-70, RC-250, and CSS-1h. Both laboratory-prepared and field-constructed hot mix asphalt concrete pavements usin

A novel series of chitosan derivatives were synthesized via reaction of chitosan with carbonyl compounds and grafted it’s by with different amine compounds substituted hydrogen. The produced polymers were characterized by different analyses FTIR, 1HCNMR, XRD, DSC and TGA. Solubility in water as well as many solvent was investigated, antibacterial activity of chitosan and its derivatives against two types of bacteria E. coli and S. aureus was also investigated. The results showed that derivatives sort of have antibacterial activities against Esherichia coli (Gram negative) better than chitosan whilst compound IX has better antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive). SEM analysis showed that increase of surface roughness wi

In this paper, investigates the biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by biochemical method using Myrtus communis leaves extract as reducing agent and Chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) as precursors. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and FTIR were used in addition to UV-visible spectroscopy (UV) in order to characterize the AuNPs. The biosynthesized AuNPs exhibited inhibitory effects on alpha amylase and alkaline phosphatase in sera of patient with type 2 Diabetes Miletus and the sera of healthy control subjects; the inhibition percentage with alpha amylase was 72 % and 45 % for patient and control group respectively. Oral consent obtained from the most of patients and healthy subjects before them being under

The adsorption of Malonic acid, Succinic acid, Adipic acid, and Azelaic acid from their aqueous solutions on zinc oxide surface were investigated. The adsorption efficiency was investigated using various factors such as adsorbent amount, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature. Optimum conditions for acids removal from its aqueous solutions were found to be adsorbent dose (0.2 g), equilibrium contact time (40 minutes), initial acids concentration (0.005 M). Variation of temperature as a function of adsorption efficiency showed that increasing the temperature would result in decreasing the adsorption ability. Kinetic modeling by applying the pseudo-second order model can provide a better fit of the data with a greater correla

In this work semi–empirical method (PM3) calculations are carried out by (MOPAC) computational packages have been employed to calculate the molecular orbital's energies for some organic pollutants. The long– chain quaternary ammonium cations called Iraqi Clays (Bentonite – modified) are used to remove these organic pollutants from water, by adding a small cationic surfactant so as to result in floes which are agglomerates of organobentonite to remove organic pollutants. This calculation which suggests the best surface active material, can be used to modify the adsorption efficiency of aniline , phenol, phenol deriviatives, Tri methyl glycine, ester and pecticides , on Iraqi Clay (bentonite) by comparing the theoretical results w

The present research has investigated the effect of microwave energy on improving the flow properties of heavy crude oil. The fragmentation of crude oil molecules was carried out with and without using 1 and 10 wt. % concentration of various types of H-donors like tetralin, cyclohexane, and naphtha.  Microwave power of 320, 385, and 540 W and radiation time 1-9 min, and temperature were studied. The kinematic viscosity and asphaltene content were measured for evaluation the improving of heavy crude oil.

   Results show that viscosity of crude oil decreased with increase H-donor concentration, a maximum percentage of viscosity reduction was10.63 % for tetralin at 6 min radiation time, while 8.67%, and 7.34% for cycl