The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on semen parameters, level of sex hormone and sperm DNA integrity. Semen samples were collected from (85) infertile men and (40) healthy fertile men with range of age (38.191 ± 0.84) years during their attendance at High Institute of Infertility Diagnosis and ART, Al-Nahrain University from March to June 2016. Semen samples were obtained by masturbation after 72 hours of abstinence. Seminal fluid analyses included semen volume, sperm concentration, percent sperm motility, percent sperm morphology, and sperm chromatin integrity DNA fragmentation index (DFI]). Serum samples were collected from each subject for determination the level of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing Hormone (LH), Prolactin (PRL), and Testosterone by ELISA method. The results revealed a highly significant (P≤ 0.01) increase in BMI and immotile sperm (%), and significant(P≤ 0.05) increase in semen liquefaction time, non-progressive motility (%), round cells counts and sperm DNA fragmentation in infertile men as compared to control group, while there was a highly significant (P≤ 0.01) decrease in progressive motility (%), and a significant (P< 0.05) decrease in the sperm concentration, sperm motility (%) and normal sperm morphology (%). The results showed statistically significant (P< 0.05) positive correlations between body mass index and sperm motility, progressive motility, non-progressive motility, immotile sperm, normal sperm morphology and sperm DNA fragmentation. No significant correlations were observed between body mass index and semen liquefaction time, semen PH, sperm concentration, round cells counts and age. In respect with level of serum hormones a significant (P< 0.05) decrease in level of FSH ,LH and testosterone was found ,while the level of prolactin showed a significant (P< 0.05) increase in infertile men when compared with control group. Significant (P< 0.05) negative correlation was observed between body mass index and serum level of prolactin and testosterone, while non-significant correlations were observed between body mass index and serum level of FSH and LH. In conclusion, this study has shown that body mass index has major effect on semen characteristics and sex hormones.
Aleppo bentonite was investigated to remove ciprofloxacin hydrochloride from aqueous solution. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study the several factors affecting the removal process, including contact time, pH of solution, bentonite dosage, ion strength, and temperature. The optimum contact time, pH of solution and bentonite dosage were determined to be 60 minutes, 6 and 0.15 g/50 ml, respectively. The bentonite efficiency in removing CIP decreased from 89.9% to 53.21% with increasing Ionic strength from 0 to 500mM, and it increased from 89% to 96.9% when the temperature increased from 298 to 318 K. Kinetic studies showed that the pseudo second-order model was the best in describing the adsorption sys
... Show MoreIn this paper, we present a Branch and Bound (B&B) algorithm of scheduling (n) jobs on a single machine to minimize the sum total completion time, total tardiness, total earliness, number of tardy jobs and total late work with unequal release dates. We proposed six heuristic methods for account upper bound. Also to obtain lower bound (LB) to this problem we modified a (LB) select from literature, with (Moore algorithm and Lawler's algorithm). And some dominance rules were suggested. Also, two special cases were derived. Computational experience showed the proposed (B&B) algorithm was effective in solving problems with up to (16) jobs, also the upper bounds and the lower bound were effective in restr
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Strengthening of the existing structures is an important task that civil engineers continuously face. Compression members, especially columns, being the most important members of any structure, are the most important members to strengthen if the need ever arise. The method of strengthening compression members by direct wrapping by Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) was adopted in this research. Since the concrete material is a heterogeneous and complex in behavior, thus, the behavior of the confined compression members subjected to uniaxial stress is investigated by finite element (FE) models created using Abaqus CAE 2017 software.
The aim of this research is to study experime
... Show MoreGlobal climate change has shown to have a significant impact on critical ecosystems, that in turn has led to elevated CO2 and temperatures that accompany changes in many abiotic factors, including mangrove forests, facing challenges in their habitat. This study conducted to investigate the morphological and physiological characteristic of the mangrove Rhizophora apiculata in response to elevated CO2 concentration and air temperature for the selection of tree species that are able to adapt to climate change. The seedlings were grown in controlled growth chambers with two temperatures, 21 and 38°C, under elevated CO2 at 650 ppm for three months. The plants watered with two liters of saline water
... Show MoreArthropod-borne infections, known as vector-borne diseases, are a significant threat to both humans and animals. These diseases are transmitted to humans and animals through the bites of infected arthropods. In the last half century, there have been a number of unexpected viral outbreaks in Middle Eastern countries. Recently, Iraq has witnessed an outbreak of the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus with high morbidity and mortality rates in humans. However, very little is known about the prevalence and distribution of CCHFV in Iraq, and therefore, it is impossible to quantify the risk of infection. CCHFV is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected ticks. However, transmission can also occur through contact with the blood or ti
... Show MoreIn this paper, some relations between the flows and the Enveloping Semi-group were studied. It allows to associate some properties on the topological compactification to any pointed flows. These relations enable us to study a number of the properties of the principles of flows corresponding with using algebric properties. Also in this paper proofs to some theorems of these relations are given.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures were synthesized through the hydrothermal method at various conditions growth times (6,7 and 8 hrs.) and a growth temperature (70, 90, and 100 ºC). The prepared ZnO nanostructure samples were described using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer to distinguish their surface morphologies and crystal structures. The ZnO samples were confirmed to have the same crystal type, with different densities and dimensions (diameter and length). The obtained ZnO nanostructures were used to manufacture gas sensors for NO2 gas detection. Sensing characteristics for the fabricated sensor to NO2 gas were examined at different operating temperatures (180, 200, 220, and 240) ºC with a low gas concentrati
... Show MoreA nonlinear filter for smoothing color and gray images
corrupted by Gaussian noise is presented in this paper. The proposed
filter designed to reduce the noise in the R,G, and B bands of the
color images and preserving the edges. This filter applied in order to
prepare images for further processing such as edge detection and
image segmentation.
The results of computer simulations show that the proposed
filter gave satisfactory results when compared with the results of
conventional filters such as Gaussian low pass filter and median filter
by using Cross Correlation Coefficient (ccc) criteria.
Social media and networks rely heavily on images. Those images should be distributed in a private manner. Image encryption is therefore one of the most crucial components of cyber security. In the present study, an effective image encryption technique is developed that combines the Rabbit Algorithm, a simple algorithm, with the Attractor of Aizawa, a chaotic map. The lightweight encryption algorithm (Rabbit Algorithm), which is a 3D dynamic system, is made more secure by the Attractor of Aizawa. The process separates color images into blocks by first dividing them into bands of red, green, and blue (RGB). The presented approach generates multiple keys, or sequences, based on the initial parameters and conditions, which are
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