Summary:
Background: the immune system differentiates between the endogenous and exogenous bodies that inter the body. The break-down of blood-testis barrier results in the production of antisperm antibodies. This may occur in the case of an infection to the prostate, seminal vesicle and epididymes. Antisperm antibodies (ASA) cause sperm agglutination and affect sperm motility, viability and sperm migration in the female reproductive tract. ASA also impair fertilization process. The objective of the present work was to study the effect of prednisolone on sperm motility index (SMI), viability and sperm penetration assay (SPA) in immunologically infertile men.
Materials and methods: The semen and serum samples of 140 infertile men were examined by microagglutination test and slide agglutination test to detect ASA and sperm agglutination. Semen fliud analysis was performed to report sperm motility index (SMI), sperm viability and hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST). Sperm penetration assay was done to record sperm penetration rate (SPR), sperm decondensation rate (SDR) and sperm penetration index (SPI). Men with positive ASA were treated with prednisolone and considered as treated group Prednisolone was given orally in a dose of 5 mg three times daily for three months. The semen analysis, SMI HOST and SPA were performed before and after treatment with prednisolone. The number of semen samples in the treated group was 144 and in the control fertile group was 80. HOST-SPA positive semen was exposed to antisperm antibodies separation (ASAS) and invitro sperm activation prior to intra-uterine insemination.
Results: The SMI was significantly higher in the post-treated group compared to pretreated group (240 vs. 52.5, P<0.0l). The SPI in the control group was significantly higher than the post and pre-treated groups. The HOST and viability test results were significantly increased in the post-treated group compared to pre-treated group (73.42 vs. 48.56 and 71.36 vs, 50. 74 respectively, P<0.01). The sperm penetration rate, sperm decondensation rate and sperm penetration index were significantly increased in the post-treated vs. pre-treated groups (26.49 vs. 10.84, 10.91 vs. 3.47, P<0.05, 14.45 vs. 4.30, P<0.01 respectively). HOST-SPA positive semen was used for intra-uterine insemination (IUI). The semen was exposed to ASAS and in vitro activation prior to IUI and resulted in 42.86% pregnancy rate per cycle. The pregnancy was confirmed by the observation of gestation sac and viable fetal hear beet 5 weeks following IUI.
Conclusion: It was concluded from the results of the present study that treatment of immunological infertile men with prednisolone improves SMI, sperm viability and SPA results. The application of HOST-SPA positive semen for IUI resulted in successful pregnancy. The authors indicate that these viable spermatozoa with high fertilizable potential could be used for IVF and/or ICSI in immunologically infertile men.
Polyacrylamide Solutions of different concentrations (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 %) of Ag nanoparticles and ZnO nanoparticles were prepared, the viscosities and surface tension were measured for all solutions, where measurements indicated an increase in these properties with increased concentration, where the relative viscosity of polyacrylamide/zinc nanoparticles increased from 1.275 to 2.243, and the relative viscosity of polyacrylamide/silver nanoparticles increased from 1.178 to 1.934. Viscosity is significant parameters during electrospinning process. While the surface tension of the polyacrylamide/zinc nanoparticles has changed from 0.0343 Nm-1 to .0.0.0 Nm-1 and changed from .0.000Nm-1 to.0.0.0 Nm-1. Also the constants KH and KK were
... Show MoreThis research deals with the effect of gallium oxide and cerium oxide as dopants on the structural and optical characteristics of tin oxide. Gallium and cerium oxide doped tin oxide was prepared with different doping concentrations (0, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07) wt. pure and doped tin oxide thin films were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique. X-ray diffraction and UV-Visible spectrophotometer were employed to investigate both oxides doping effects. Results showed that all prepared samples have poly-crystalline structure with a preferred plane of crystal growth along (110), where the crystal size grew from 40.3 nm to 64.5 nm and to 43.5 nm for Ga2O3 and CeO2 doped tin oxide thin films, res
... Show MoreObjectives: The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the effect of adding a poloxamer surfactant to the irrigant solutions on its cleaning efficiency. Design: In this study the roots of extracted permanent premolar teeth were used and evaluated by using Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). Materials and Method: 72 human single tooth of permanent premolar (8 for each group) were used in this in vitro study. Roots after sectioning at cervical area to get 15 mm were embedded in a plastic container filled with impression silicon, then instrumented with ProTaper rotary instruments till size F4. Each group (8 root) were irrigated with one of the nine solutions used in study: three concentrations of NaOH [5% (A1), 2.5%(A2), 0.5%(A3)], th
... Show MoreIn the present work, nanocomposite of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) incorporated with functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) were fabricated using casting method. PVA was dispersed by varying content of FGO (0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1 wt %). The PVA- FGO nanocomposite was characterized by FT‐IR, FE-SEM and XRD. Frequency dependence of real permittivity (ε’), imaginary (ε’’) and a.c conductivity of PVA/FGO and PVA/GO nanocomposite were studied in the frequency range 100 Hz- 1 MHz. The experimental results showed that the values of real (ε’) and imaginary permittivity (ε’’) increased dramatically by increasing the FGO content in PVA matrix. PVA/ FGO (1 wt %) nanocomposite revealed higher electrical conductivity of 6.4×10-4 Sm-1 compared to
... Show MoreThe structural, optical properties of cupper indium gallium selenite (CuIn1-xGaxSe) have been studied. CuIn1-xGaxSe thin films for x=0.6 have been prepared by thermal evaporation technique, of 2000±20 nm thickness, with rate of deposition 2±0.1 nm/sec, on glass substrate at room temperature. Heat treatment has been carried out in the range (373-773) K for 1 hour. It demonstrated from the XRD method that all the as-deposited and annealed films have polycrystalline structure of multiphase. The optical measurement of the CIGS thin films conformed that they have, direct allowed energy gap equal to 1.7 eV. The values of some important optical parameters of the studied films such as (absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coeffici
... Show MoreThe experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Research Office in Baghdad during July 2020 to test the ability of nanomaterials (ZnO and TiO2) to inhibit ochratoxin A, which is produced by a number of microbiology (fungi) including: Aspergillus ochraceus, A. niger, ,A. steynii, A. carbonarius, Pencillume verrucosum and P. nordicum. The standard ochratoxin A, with known concentration, was treated with different concentrations of nanomaterials (20, 40, 60, and 80 ppm) and two different particle sizes of nanoparticles approximately (15 nm) and (70 nm) for each (ZnO) and TiO2; with 16 transactions. Through an examination of the HPLC, the results showed that all tra
... Show MorePiroxicam is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in the treatment of musculo-skeletal and joint disorders. The problem with this drug is its poor solubility in water and hence poor bioavailability after oral administration. In order to improve its solubility and dissolution behavior, hydrophilic additives such as starch, lactose, superdisintegrants including crospovidone (C.P), cross carmellose sodium (CCS), and sodium starch glycolate (SSG) were physically dry mixed with the drug by simple trituration. The improvement in the solubility in 0.1 N HCl was obtained as the amount of starch or lactose increased in the physical mixture, while for superdisintegrants, they further improve the solubility when they are present in s
... Show MoreIn the present study, the structural properties which included the X-rays diffraction, and DSC, the mechanical properties, which include tensile test, threepoint bending test (Bending Test), hardness test and thermal conductivity of the polymers reinforced with calcite (PVC/CaCO3) at different temperature (25-40-80-
120-160-200-220) °C. The research results showed that the XC degree of X-ray diffraction decreased at high temperatures (220 ˚C), while the inter-polymerized polymer (PVC / CaCO3) increased at high temperatures. The DSC test results showed that the degree of crystallinity (XC) decreases at high temperatures (220 ˚C). The mechanical test results, their values were found to decrease at (
Samples prepared by using carbon black as a filler material and phenolic resin as a binder. The samples were pressed in a (3) cm diameter cylindrical die to (250)MPa and treated thermally within temperature range of (600-1000)oC for two and three hours. Physical properties tests were performed, like density, porosity, and X-ray tests. Moreover vicker microhardness and electric resistivity tests were done. From the results, it can be concluded that density was increased while porosity was decreased gradually with increasing temperature and treating time. In microhardness test, it found that more temperature and treating time cause more hardness. Finally the resistivity was decreased in steps with temperature and treating time. It can be c
... Show MoreIn this work, 332 Al alloy was prepared and reinforced with (0.5% and 1%) nano-Al2O3 particles. The prepared unreinforced and reinforced 332 Al alloy with nano-Al2O3 were solution heat treated (T6) at 510 ̊C and aged at 225 ̊C with different times (1, 3, and 5 h). Hardness test was performed on all the prepared alloys. All prepared alloys were dry slided under different applied loads (5, 10, 15, and 20 N) against steel counterface surface using pin on disk apparatus. The results showed that refinement effect was observed after addition of nano-Al2O3 particles and a change in silicon morphology after performing the solution heat treatment. The results also showed that har
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