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
This study was carried out at Poultry Research Station, State Board of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture for the period from 27 September 2014 to 9 November 2014 to evaluate the Supplementation of different levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) on productive performance of broiler. Four hundred eighty chicks (Ross-308),one day old were randomly distributed to four dietary treatments for 42 days of age with 3 replicates/vtreatment (40 bird/replicate). Experimental treatments were as follow; T1 (Control diet) without supplement, while the treatment T2,T3 and T4 were Supplemented with 1, 1.5, 2 g CLA /kg diet respectively. The results showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) increased in mean of body weight, weight gain, ave
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Anchusa strigosa - prickly alkanet from Boraginaceae grows in roadsides, and fields of a broad range of habitats from mediterranean woodlands, to steppe vegetation, to true desert. It is commonly known as" him him" or "lisan al thawr". Anchusa can withstand hard weather conditions and hence is widely cultivated. The color of its flowers can range from pure white to deep cobalt blue. Various parts of A. strigosa are used in traditional medicine for treating several diseases or symptoms, such as abdominal pain, bronchitis, cough, and diarrhea. The goal of this study was to examine the cytotoxic effect of the crude extract of A. strigosa roots and leaves and their fractions against various tumor cell lines: adenoc
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Synthesis of PEG 200-Di- Acetate ant Its Influence on the Viscosity of PEG 4000 in Different Organic Solvents
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Magnesium Phthalocyanine (MgPc) was deposited on a glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using Q-Switching Nd:YAG laser with wavelength 1064 nm, repetition rate 6 Hz, at room temperature (300K) and different annealing temperatures (373, 473, and 573)K under vacuum condition of 10-3 torr. All films were annealed for one hour to attain crystallinity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of MgPc powder indicated that MgPc crystallizes in polycrystalline with a monoclinic structure. While comparing the MgPc films, it was observed that the intensity of the characteristic peak increases with temperature, and the crystallization exhibited a monoclinic structure typical of the β-form. The Miller indices, hkl, values for each diffraction peak
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Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) can be incorporate as a one of the most important and progressive concrete technology. It is a special type of ultra-high strength concrete (UHSC) that’s exclude the coarse aggregate from its constitutive materials. In this research an experimental study had been carried out to investigate the effect of using three types of materials (porcelain aggregate) and others sustainable materials (glass waste and granular activated carbon) as a partial replacement of fine aggregate. Four percentages had considered (0, 10, 15 and 20) % to achieve better understanding for the influence of these materials upon the compressive strength of RPC. Four curing ages had included in this study, these are; 7, 28, 60 and
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The melting duration in the photovoltaic/phase-change material (PV/PCM) system is a crucial parameter for thermal energy management such that its improvement can realize better energy management in respect to thermal storage capabilities, thermal conditions, and the lifespan of PV modules. An innovative and efficient technique for improving the melting duration is the inclusion of an exterior metal foam layer in the PV/PCM system. For detailed investigations of utilizing different metal foam configurations in terms of their convective heat transfer coefficients, the present paper proposes a newly developed mathematical model for the PV/PCM–metal foam assembly that can readily be implemented with a wide range of operating condition
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