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
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The aim of this study is to investigate the behavior of composite castellated beam in which the concrete slab and steel beam connected together with headed studs shear connectors. Four simply supported composite beams with various degree of castellation were tested under two point static loads. One of these beams was built up using standard steel beam, i.e. without web openings, to be a reference beam. The other three beams were fabricated from the same steel I-section with various three castellation ratios, (25, 35, and 45) %. In all beams the concrete slab has the same section and properties. Deflection at mid span of all beams was measured at each 10 kN load increment. The test results show that the castellation process leads to
... Show MoreAn experimental model is used to simulate the loss of soil lateral confinement due to excavation nearby an individual axially loaded pile. The effects of various parameters, such as the horizontal distance of excavation, depth of excavation and pile slenderness ratios are investigated. The experimental analysis results showed the effect of excavation is more remarkable as the horizontal distance of excavation becomes closer to the pile than half pile length. The effect of excavation diminishes gradually as the horizontal distance increases beyond that distance for all the investigated pile slenderness ratios and depths of excavation. The pile head deflection, settlement and bending moments along pile increase with decreasing horizontal d
... Show MoreInelastic transverse magnetic dipole electron scattering form
factors in 48Ca have been investigated through nuclear shell model
in an excited state energy Ex= 10.23 MeV which is so called
"mystery case" with different optional choices like effective
interaction, restricted occupation and core polarization interaction.
40Ca as an inert core will be adopted and four orbits with eight
particles distributed mainly in 2p1f model space and in some extend
restricted to make sure about the major accuse about this type of
transition. Theoretical results have been constituted mainly with
experimental data and compared with some important theoretical
results of the same transition.
In this paper, some series of new complexes of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni (II) Cu(II) and Hg(II) are prepared from the Schiff bases (L1,L2). (L1) derived from 4-aminoantipyrine and O-phenylene dia mine then (L2) derived from (L1) and 2-benzoyl benzoic acid. Structural features are obtained from their elemental microanalyses, molar conductance, IR, UV–Vis, 1H, 13CNMR spectra and magnetic susceptibility. The magnetic susceptibility and UV–Vis, IR spectral data of the ligand (L1) complexes get square–planar and tetrahedral geometries and the complexes oflig and (L2) get an octahedral geometry. Antimicrobial examinations show good results in the sharing complexes.
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Obesity is a risk factor for a number of chronic conditions. Obesity is clinically defined using the body mass index (BMI) as weight in kg divided by (height)2 in m2 correlated with obesity. Currently, genetic markers of obesity are being studied. This study focused on the association between the angiotensin II receptor AGTR1 gene (A1166C) and fat mass and obesity-associated protein also known as alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (FTO) (rs9939609) in obese children and adolescents patients in Rostov region, Russia. Five-hundreds of Russian nationality child and adolescent were recruited for the obesity-control studies. The relationship between the A1166C polymorphism of the AGTR1 gene in
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The splicing design of the existing road and the new road in the expansion project is an important part of the design work. Based on the analysis of the characteristics and the load effect of pavement structure on splicing, this paper points out that tensile crack or shear failure may occur at the splicing under the repeated action of the traffic load on the new/old pavement. According to the current structure design code of asphalt pavement in China, it is proposed that the horizontal tensile stress at the bottom of the splicing layer and the vertical shear stress at other layers of the splicing line should be controlled by adjusting the position and size of the excavated steps in addition to the conventional design ind
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The physical, mechanical, electrical and thermal properties containing (Viscosity, curing, adhesion force, Tensile strength, Lap shear strength, Resistively, Electrical conductivity and flammability) of adhesive material that prepared from Nitrocellulose reinforced with graphite particles and aluminum streat. A comparison is made between the properties of adhesive material with varying percentage of graphite powder (0%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%) to find out the effect of reinforcement on the adhesive material. The ability of property an electrical was studied through the measurement of conductivity a function of temperature varying. The results of comparison have clearly shown that the increasing of conten
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Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are used to investigate the effect of molding and annealing of polyester on the behavior of thermal expansion and crystallization since these factors play role in the reprocessing or recycling of the polymer. The dynamic mode of the TMA provides enhanced characterization information about the polyester since it separates the transitions into reversible and irreversible signals, and also reveals the progress of the amorphous regions as the polyester loses strength with the increasing temperature approaching melting. Slow cooling after annealing brings crystallization that may be attributed to molecular chain straightening due to orientation.
Heterocyclic systems, which are essential in medicinal chemistry due to their promising cytotoxic activity, are one of the most important families of organic molecules found in nature or produced in the laboratory. As a result of coupling N-(4-nitrophenyl)-3-oxo-butanamide (3) using thiourea, indole-3-carboxaldehyde, or piperonal, the pyrimidine derivatives (5a and 5b) were produced. Furthermore, pyrimidine 9 was synthesized by reacting thiophene-2-carboxaldehyde with ethyl cyanoacetate and urea with potassium carbonate as a catalyst. The chalcones 11a and 11b were synthesized by reacting equal molar quantities of 1-naphthaldehy
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