Background: The discriminative power of the classical WHO parameters in relation to male fertility is quite low, because they only address few aspects of sperm quality and function. This has led investigators to focus their attention on the male gamete and in particular its genome.Objective: To explore which of the sperm DNA damage parameters measured by comet assay are more reliable, and their relations with the standard semen parameters.Methods: Study was done on 40 infertile men selected from couples attending the Institute of Embryo Reasearch and Infertility Treatment at Al-Kadhimiya City/ Baghdad in the period between February 2009 and May 2009, with a history of infertility of ≥1 years; and 15 healthy volunteers of proven fertility serving as control. Samples were allowed to liquefy for at least 30 minutes at 37°C and then evaluated according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, 1999. The single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay was studied in the ejaculated spermatozoa. The exclusion criteria were the presence of azoospermia and severe oligospermia. Results were compared with the standard semen characteristics (concentration, motility and morphology).Results: Compared to healthy volunteers, infertile patients had highly significantly higher values of comet parameters (P = 0.00001). In all infertile patients, comet extent did not correlate with any of the classical semen parameters; whereas, tail length (μm), % DNA in tail, tail moment and olive moment had all significant negative correlations with the standard parameters. Significant positive correlations were observed between the studied comet parameters, except for the comet extent which was not significantly correlated with tail length and % DNA in tail (P = 0.06, P = 0.7; respectively).Conclusion: Comet assay is a very useful technique in assessing sperm DNA damage. Comet tail parameters and comet extent, may clarify different aspects of DNA damage, and together give a better insight to the integrity of the male genome.Keywards: sperm, comet extent, % DNA in tail, tail moment and olive moment
Thermal conductivity measurement was done for specimens of Polystyrene/ titanium dioxide, Polycarbonate/ titanium dioxide and Polymethylmetha acrylate/ titanium dioxide composites for weight ratio of 1.9/ 0.1 and 1.8/ 0.2 wt% for different thickness of the samples. The experimental results show that the thermal conductivity is increased with the increasing of thickness of layers and with the weight ratio of TiO2
In this research, the possibility of using waste wooden materials (reed and sawdust) was studied to produce sustainable and thermal insulation lightweight building units , which has economic and environmental advantages. This study is intended to produce light weight building units with low thermal conductivity, so it can be used as partitions to improve the thermal insulation in buildings. Waste wooden materials were used as a partial replacement of natural sand, in different percentages (10, 20, 30, and 40) % . The mix proportions were (1:2.5) (cement: fine aggregate) with w/c of 0.4. The values of 28 days oven dry density ranged between (2060-1693) kg/m3.The thermal conductivity decreased from (0.745 to 0.2
... Show MoreFinite element modeling of transient temperature distribution is used to understand physical phenomena occurring during the dwell (penetration) phase and moving of welding tool in friction stir welding (FSW) of 5mm plate made of 7020-T53 aluminum alloy at 1400rpm and 40mm/min.
Thermocouples are used in locations near to the pin and under shoulder surface to study the welding tool penetration in the workpiece in advance and retreate sides along welding line in three positions (penetrate (start welding) , mid, pullout (end welding)).
Numerical results of ANSYS 12.0 package are compared to experimental data including axial load measurements at different tool rotational speeds (710rpm.900rpm.1120rpm and 1400rpm) Based on the experiment
Background: Dental erosion is a common oral condition which results due to consumption of high caloric and low pH acidic food such as carbonated drinks and fruit juices. It is expected that these food types can cause irreversible damage to dental hard tissues and early deterioration of the dental restorations. So, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the erosive potential effects of orange fruit juice and Miranda orange drink on the microhardness of an orthodontic composite material. Materials and methods: Thirty discs with a thickness of 2 mm and a diameter of 10 mm were prepared from orthodontic bonding composite. The prepared discs were equally divided into three groups (n=10). Microhardness analysis was carried out both prior to
... Show MoreBreast tumors patients generally have more oxidative stress than normal females. This was clear from a highly significant elevation (P<0.05) in malondialdehyde level in RBCs, serum and tissue of all patients groups with breast cancer as compared with control group. In this study we had found that free radicals in malignant breast tumors were higher than benign tumors, therefore the MDA might be used as a marker for prognosis of the disease.
This research aims to introduce the general tax on sales in gordan and the most important concepts related to this type of taxes and identify the most on characteristics and stand on its role in supplying the general budget of the necessary fundig to cover the over head of the state and the factorsinfluencing it and whether such a tax has been able to chieve the desired goals.including in contribute to an important and growing role in puplic revenues or not to be able to achieve these goals through the use of descriptive and analytical technique based on the data and information relevant.wasreached some conclusion and recommendations was most important is that the general sales tax comes in
... Show MoreThe provision of electric power is necessary for the advancement of the country's economy. It is the main engine of the economy and its various activities. It is an indicator of social welfare and it is considered as the basic pillars for achieving sustainable development (economic, social, environmental and institutional) by raising the levels of performance and meeting local needs. The problem of research was the absence of a program to audit the performance of the electricity sector contributes to ensure the application of sustainable development. The research was based on the hypothesis that the preparation of a proposed program to audit the performance of the electricity sector contributes to the achievement of The researchers sough
... Show MorePoetry is regarded an interesting area of inquiry in linguistic studies due to its eccentric and aesthetic use of language. A lot of studies have been carried out so far for the analysis of poetry, yet few have dealt with pastoral poetry. The present research attempts to investigate the language of pastoral poetry in two different languages i.e. English and Arabic with the aim of finding similarities and differences. The data of the study consists of one English and one Arabic pastoral poems. Leech and Short's (2007) checklist is used as a model for analysis. The findings of the study reveal that there are more similarities than differences between English and Arabic pastoral poems as the poems rely on contrast in the use of the lex
... Show MoreThe political system in Indonesia, since gaining independence from the Dutch colonialism on the seventeenth of August 1945, has gone through long stages. The Indonesian constitution stipulated that the country is based on a democracy. In 1956 the first free elections were held in Indonesia, and President Sukarno announced the adoption of the directed democratic system Then, during the era of President Suharto, the state entered a phase called democracy based on the Five Pancasila principles, which is a false democracy because it served the interests of Suharto, who in his long reign had political and economic corruption leading up to 1998, when the Indonesian people revolted, and the government of Soeharto was overthrown
... Show MoreThe majority of the arts share a goal directed at employing art works for the purpose of conveying the intellectual and symbolic connotations in order to work on a directed message and to achieve expression and aesthetic, and highlights the cinematographic mediator who shares with the other media in the use of intellectual properties through its tools and works. Consciousness and establishment of multiple visions with different views to reveal the intellectual, aesthetic and expressive devices located opposite the advertiser to perform functions with goals that intellectually deduce, insights and ideas emerging within the general context of the drama narrative and highlights among the discourse operators the cinematographer, And t
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