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
In gene regulation, transcription factors (TFs) play a key function. It transmits genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA during the process of DNA transcription. During this step, the transcription factor binds to a segment of the DNA sequence known as Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBS). The goal of this study is to build a model that predicts whether or not a DNA binding site attaches to a certain transcription factor (TF). TFs are regulatory molecules that bind to particular sequence motifs in the gene to induce or restrict targeted gene transcription. Two classification methods will be used, which are support vector machine (SVM) and kernel logistic regression (KLR). Moreover, the KLR algorithm depends on another regress
... Show MoreIn latest decades, genetic methods have developed into a potent tool in a number of life-attaching applications. In research looking at demographic genetic diversity, QTL detection, marker-assisted selection, and food traceability, DNA-based technologies like PCR are being employed more and more. These approaches call for extraction procedures that provide efficient nucleic acid extraction and the elimination of PCR inhibitors. The first and most important stage in molecular biology is the extraction of DNA from cells. For a molecular scientist, the high quality and integrity of the isolated DNA as well as the extraction method's ease of use and affordability are crucial factors. The present study was designed to establish a simple, fast
... Show MoreThis study was carried out to assess genetic diversity of ten cultivars of Rice (Oryza sativa L.). One of DNA markers based on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used namely DAF markers (DNA Amplification Fingerprint). Six primers were tested, the results showed, that no amplification products using the primers OPD.14 and OPM.5. Two primers (OPX.8 and OPT.2) produced monomorphic band across all cultivars, while only two primers generated polymorphic bands. The number of total bands produced from one of them (OPN.7) were sixteen. Also this primer produced ten polymorphic profiles (DAF patterns) which were unique to the ten cultivars that could be distinguished. The number of total bands generated by primer OPX.1 were thirteen and this prim
... Show MoreThis research a study model of linear regression problem of autocorrelation of random error is spread when a normal distribution as used in linear regression analysis for relationship between variables and through this relationship can predict the value of a variable with the values of other variables, and was comparing methods (method of least squares, method of the average un-weighted, Thiel method and Laplace method) using the mean square error (MSE) boxes and simulation and the study included fore sizes of samples (15, 30, 60, 100). The results showed that the least-squares method is best, applying the fore methods of buckwheat production data and the cultivated area of the provinces of Iraq for years (2010), (2011), (2012),
... Show MoreBackground: Radioactive iodine-131 therapy is highly effective in treating patients with hyperthyroidism. An ablative dose is preferred by a number of endocrinologists, and, a fixed dose protocol seems to be better than a calculated dose in real practice.
Objective: To check for hypothyroidism in hyperthyroid patients one year after RAI therapy, comparing between the results of high ablative versus usual dosages of RAI-131.
Methods: This study included 174 hyperthyroid patients, 101 males and 73 females, divided into 2 groups, the first consisted of 162 patients given a usual fixed dose of RAI while the second consisted of 12 patients given a high fixed ablati
... Show MoreA novel method for Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) has been proposed, based on the concept of how DNA sequence detects disease as both domains have similar conceptual method of detection. Three important steps have been proposed to apply DNA sequence for NIDS: convert the network traffic data into a form of DNA sequence using Cryptography encoding method; discover patterns of Short Tandem Repeats (STR) sequence for each network traffic attack using Teiresias algorithm; and conduct classification process depends upon STR sequence based on Horspool algorithm. 10% KDD Cup 1999 data set is used for training phase. Correct KDD Cup 1999 data set is used for testing phase to evaluate the proposed method. The current experiment results sh
... Show MoreThe existence of the Internet, networking, and cloud computing support a wide range of new technologies. Blockchain is one of these technologies; this increases the interest of researchers who are concerned with providing a safe environment for the circulation of important information via the Internet. Maintaining solidity and integrity of a blockchain’s transactions is an important issue, which must always be borne in mind. Transactions in blockchain are based on use of public and private keys asymmetric cryptography. This work proposes usage of users’ DNA as a supporting technology for storing and recovering their keys in case those keys are lost — as an effective bio-cryptographic recovery method. The RSA private key is
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Introduction: A Pap test can detect pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in the vagina and uterine cervix. Cervical cancer is the easiest gynecologic cancer to be prevented and diagnosed using regular screening tests and follow-up. This study aimed to estimate the cytological changes and the precancerous lesions using Pap smear test and visual inspection of the cervices of Iraqi women, and also to determine the possible relationship of this cancer with patients’ demographic characteristics. Methods: The study included 140 women aged (18-67) years old referred to the National Cancer Research Center (NCRC), Baghdad, Iraq, during the period 2011-2016. Both visual inspections of the uterine cervix and Papanicolaou smear screening were performed
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