Clinical index is needed to predict the outcome of pregnancy after in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI-ET) for infertile patients. Growth differentiation factor-8 (GDF-8), also known as myostatin, is one of transforming growth factor-â superfamily localized in antral follicles in normal and PCOS ovaries but its function in female reproductive system is still unknown. Aim of the study is to assess the correlation between levels of GDF8 in follicular fluid (FF) with outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF/ICSI) in women with and without PCOS. A prospective case control study was performed enrolling (40) patients with PCOS and (40) non-PCOS women (male infertility) undergoing IVF/ICSI. The collect

In this study, aluminum nanoparticles (Al NPs) were prepared using explosive strips method in double-distilled deionized water (DDDW), where the effect of five different currents (25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 A) on particle size and distribution was studied. Also, the explosive strips method was used to decorate zinc oxide particles with Al particles, where Al particles were prepared in suspended from zinc oxide with DDDW. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction are used to characterize the nanoparticles. XRD pattern were examined for three samples of aluminum particles and DDDW prepared with three current values (25, 75 and 125 A) and three samples prepared with the same currents for zin

The study focuses on assessment of the quality of some image enhancement methods which were implemented on renal X-ray images. The enhancement methods included Imadjust, Histogram Equalization (HE) and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). The images qualities were calculated to compare input images with output images from these three enhancement techniques. An eight renal x-ray images are collected to perform these methods. Generally, the x-ray images are lack of contrast and low in radiation dosage. This lack of image quality can be amended by enhancement process. Three quality image factors were done to assess the resulted images involved (Naturalness Image Quality Evaluator (NIQE), Perception based Image Qual

Hydrocarbon production might cause changes in dynamic reservoir properties. Thus the consideration of the mechanical stability of a formation under different conditions of drilling or production is a very important issue, and basic mechanical properties of the formation should be determined.
There is considerable evidence, gathered from laboratory measurements in the field of Rock Mechanics, showing a good correlation between intrinsic rock strength and the dynamic elastic constant determined from sonic-velocity and density measurements.
The values of the mechanical properties determined from log data, such as the dynamic elastic constants derived from the measurement of the elastic wave velocities in the material, should be more a

Increased diseases and obesity currently due to increased production and excessive consumption of foods manufactured from non-food sweeteners without attention to the risk of consuming those additional high calories due to consuming these refreshing products such as juices and other various drinks, especially in the summer season by most segments of Iraqi society, especially workers, children and school students the aim of this study. Therefore, the study designed to replace sucrose with 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05% of each of the white stevia crystals and milled dry stevia leaves in the laboratory manufacture of juices and its effect on the general and sensory characteristics and the extent of their acceptability among the specialized r