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
Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), a leafy plant used for fresh food, medicinal purposes, and aromatic purposes (including the extraction of volatile essential oil and active compounds), was the subject of a worker experiment at the College of Education for Pure Sciences Ibn Al-Haitham / University of Baghdad during the 2023 growing season. The experiment aimed to determine the effects of spraying the basil plant’s vegetative system with aqueous extracts of watercress and parsley on the plant’s growth characteristics and the production of active compounds. The experiment included two factors, the first factor, the aqueous extract of the watercress plant in three concentrations (0, 5, 10
This study includes design and synthesis of new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) with expected cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) selective inhibition to achieve better activity and low gastric side effects. Two series of compounds have been designed and synthesized as potential NSAIDs,these are: Salicylamide derivatives (compounds 3,4,5 ) and Diflunisal derivatives (compounds 10&11). In vivo acute anti-inflammatory effect of one of the synthesized agents (compound 3) was evaluated in the rat using egg-white induced paw edema model of inflammation. Preliminary pharmacological study revealed that compound 3 exhibited less anti-inflammatory effect compared to that of aspirin after
... Show MoreWe study in this paper the composition operator that is induced by ?(z) = sz + t. We give a characterization of the adjoint of composiotion operators generated by self-maps of the unit ball of form ?(z) = sz + t for which |s|?1, |t|<1 and |s|+|t|?1. In fact we prove that the adjoint is a product of toeplitz operators and composition operator. Also, we have studied the compactness of C? and give some other partial results.
Recently on the dermatological fields, the serum levels and the roles of Zn, Cu and Mg have been studied especially in acne vulgaris, but the results were controversial. The aim of the present study is to investigate a relationship between the severity of acne and the serum levels of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mg) and to demonstrate the status of serum levels of zinc, copper, and magnesium in Iraqi male patients with acne vulgaris and to compare it with those of healthy controls.This case controlled study was conducted in the Department of Dermatology and Venerology and in the Poisoning Consultation Center of Baghdad Teaching Hospital between May 2009 to January 2010. Forty- five male patients with acne vulgaris, their a
... Show MorePreviously, many empirical models have been used to predict corrosion rates under different CO2 corrosion parameters conditions. Most of these models did not predict the corrosion rate exactly, besides it determined effects of variables by holding some variables constant and changing the values of other variables to obtain the regression model. As a result the experiments will be large and cost too much. In this paper response surface methodology (RSM) was proposed to optimize the experiments and reduce the experimental running. The experiments studied effects of temperature (40 – 60 °C), pH (3-5), acetic acid (HAc) concentration (1000-3000 ppm) and rotation speed (1000-1500 rpm) on CO2 corrosion performance of t
... Show MoreBrainstorming has been a common approach in many industries where the result is not always accurate, especially when procuring automobile spare parts. This approach was replaced with a scientific and optimized method that is highly reliable, hence the decision to optimize the inventory inflation budget based on spare parts and miscellaneous costs of the typical automobile industry. Some factors required to achieve this goal were investigated. Through this investigation, spare parts (consumables and non-consumables) were found to be mostly used in Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Nigeria but incorporated miscellaneous costs to augment the cost of spare parts. The inflation rate was considered first due to the market's
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