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
The Quiet American could be considered as one of Graham Greene’s most distinguished books; it is an epochal novel written during the phase of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The novel deals with the interference of the United States in Vietnam ten years before Vietnam’s war. The role the Americans played in arousing an inner political crisis in the country previous to her military invention. The book reflects that this action was not out of American government concern about Vietnamese people themselves but merely a political foreign affair. They wanted to stop communism from spreading widely and reducing its role in the East. This paper attempts to analyse the novel concentrating on the message Greene intend
... Show MoreBackground: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three types of light curing devices QTH, LED and Flashmax on the surface microhardness of three types of bulkfill composite resins; Filtek Bulkfill posterior composite ( 3M), Tetric Evo Ceram ( Ivoclar Vivadent) and Sonicfill composite ( Kerr) Materials and methods: Total number of 90 samples was prepared, 30 samples for each type of bulkfill composite, were divided into three main groups, group A: Filtek posterior bulkfil (3M), group B: Tetric Evo Ceram (Ivoclar Vivadent) and group C: contain Sonicfill composite (kerr). Which then divided into three subgroups (n= 10) (1) Samples cured by QTH system (2) Samples cured by LED system and (3) samples cured by Flashmax system the
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The Fauqi field is located about 50Km North-East Amara town in Missan providence in Iraq. Fauqi field has 1,640 MMbbl STOIIP, which lies partly in Iran. Oil is produced from both Mishrif and Asmari zones. Geologically, the Fauqi anticline straddles the Iraqi/Iranian border and is most probably segmented by several faults. There are several reasons leading to drilling horizontal wells rather than vertical wells. The most important parameter is increasing oil recovery, particularly from thin or tight reservoir permeability. The Fauqi oil field is regarded as a giant field with approximately more than 1 billion barrels of proven reserves, but it has recently experienced low production rate problems in many of its existing wells. This study
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A Genetic Algorithm optimization model is used in this study to find the optimum flow values of the Tigris river branches near Ammara city, which their water is to be used for central marshes restoration after mixing in Maissan River. These tributaries are Al-Areed, AlBittera and Al-Majar Al-Kabeer Rivers. The aim of this model is to enhance the water quality in Maissan River, hence provide acceptable water quality for marsh restoration. The model is applied for different water quality change scenarios ,i.e. , 10%,20% increase in EC,TDS and BOD. The model output are the optimum flow values for the three rivers while, the input data are monthly flows(1994-2011),monthly water requirements and water quality parameters (EC, TDS, BOD, DO and
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Intestinal parasites present in freshwater from the Al- Fallujah, Al- Habbaniyah and Al-Alwarar, of the Euphrates river in Iraq are Cryptosporidium spp (25.3%), Giardia sp (3.3%), Eimeria sp (3.3%), Pinworm eggs (3.3%), Naegleria sp (15.3%), Lecane niwati (1.3%), Trichomonas hominis (19.3%), Acanthamoeba spp (24.6%), Entamoeba coli (20.6%), Balantidium coli (12%), Ascaris sp (3.3%), Volvox sp (26%), Chilomastix mesnili (4%), Pelomyxa palustris (2.6%), Trinema enchelys (2.6%), Actinophrys Sol (7.3%), Amobea Vespertilio (9.3%), Rhabditea (5.3%), paramecium bursaria (9.3%), cyst of cestode (6%), Oocyst protozoa (16%), Euglena gracilis (10.6%).were isolated. The study's goal was to isolate some of the parasites that pollute the Euphrat
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Some parameters for advancement of Leishmania tropica infection were examined in three groups of golden hamsters, Group (1) inoculated with autoclaved killed Leishmania tropica , Group (2) inoculated with BCG vaccine alone while Group (3) Inoculated with mixed vaccine (autoclaved killed Leishmania with BCG). The follow up of experimentally infected animals with virulent isolation of Leishmania tropica was done for 90 days, the animals inoculated with mixed vaccine (autoclaved killed Leishmania with BCG) showed the minimum average in each of foot pad thickness (2.3 ± 0.05) mm after (60) days of infection, spleen enlargement (1.13±0.38) after (45) days of infection, spleen length (23.9±0.08) mm after (30) days of infection, liver weight(3.
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The experiment was conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture University of Ain Shams-Egypt, from January to March 2008, to study the effect of different levels of chromium yeast (Cr-yeast) on broiler chickens performance, carcass quality and enzyme activity through 35 days of experimental periods. A total of 450 one-day old unsexed chickens (Cobb) strain were used. The birds were randomly allocated to five treatments with 3 replicates each. The treatments were control (T1) without supplementation and T2, T3, T4 and T5 which were supplemented with 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg Cr-yeast /kg diet, respectively. Live body weight and weight gain were significantly (p<0.05) higher when Cr-yeast were supplemented at 1 (T3), 1.5 (T4) and 2 (T5) mg/kg diet. Fe
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Experimental investigations had been done in this research to demonstrate the effect of carbon fiber and Ceramic fillers contents on the tribological behaviour of (15% volume fraction) carbon-epoxy composite system under varying volume fraction, load, time and sliding distance. The wear resistance were investigated according to ASTM G99-05standard using pin on disc machine to present the composite tribological behaviour. The influence of three ceramic fillers, granite, perlite and calcium carbonate (CaCO3), on the wear of the carbon fabric reinforced epoxy composites under dry sliding conditions has been investigated. The effect of variants in volume fraction, applied load, time and sliding distance on the wear behaviour of po
... Show MoreBackground: Alum has been used as a treatment medication in cases of oral and gingival ulcers, and also as antiseptic mouthwash. This study aimed to examine the effects of different concentrations of Alum on inhibition zone, viability counts and adherence ability of Mutans streptococci compared with deionized water and chlorhexidine gluconate in vitro. Materials and methods: The study dealt with an in vitro study to establish a concentration of Alum mouthrinse that would have the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bacteriocidal concentration. The second part evaluated the anti-adherence ability of the experimental agents. Results: This study found that the antibacterial effect of Alum increases with its concentration from 50 to 1
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