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 increasing requirement and use of dental implant treatments has rendered dental implantology indispensable in dentistry. The aim of this study is to determine the optimum concentration of calcium silicate to be incorporated into a polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) matrix used as an implant material to enhance the bioactivity and mechanical properties of the composite compared with unmodified PEKK. In this study, different weight percentage (wt%) of micro-calcium silicate (m-CS) is incorporated into PEKK with ethanol as a binder. Subsequently, the mixture is dried in a forced convection oven at 120°C and poured into customized molds to fabricate a bioactive composite via compression molding (310°C, 15 MPa, and 20 min holding time
... Show MoreThere are no single materials which can withstand all the extreme operating conditions in modern technology. Protection of the metals from hostile environments has therefore become a technical and economic necessity.
In this work, for enhancing their wear-resistance, boride layers were deposited on the surface of low carbon steel by a pack cementation method at 850 °C for (2, 4, and 6) h using vacuum furnace. The boronizing process was achieved using different concentration of boron source (20, 25, and 30) % wt. into coating mixture to optimize the best conditions which ensure the higher properties with lower time. The coating was characteristic by X ray diffraction (XRD), and it is confirmed t
... Show MoreIn this communication, introduce the split Mersenne and Mersenne-Lucas hybrid quaternions, also obtaining generating functions and Binet formulas for these hybrid quaternions and investigating some properties among them.
A lotic ecosystem is considered a source of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere where it becomes supersaturated with CO2, which contributes to the global carbon cycle. To enhance our comprehension of the roles of CO2 in rivers, an outdoor experiment was designed with controlled carbon source inputs to investigate the roles of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the phytoplankton community. Plastic enclosures were installed in the Tigris River within Baghdad for that goal. Samples were collected on the first day, as well as on the 5th and the 12th days from 14 enclosures. The enclosures were treated by artificial glucose (C6H12O6) (10, 20, 30mg/ l) as DOC sources, while sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) (1
... Show MoreBackground Anorectal carcinoma includes the anal margin, the anal canal, and the lower rectum. The incidences of anal tumors represent 1.4 % of all gastrointestinal tumors.
Patients and methods Our study is retrospective and was conducted at Baghdad Medical City. Patient’s data were collected from the medical records through a predesigned sheet that included the following information: demographic data, medical history, past-history, presenting symptoms, pathological data, and treatment details.
Results The median age was 49 years. As regard tumor extension, 85.71 % of patients had anal disease, while anorectal cancer was encount
The proliferation of electronic games, video games and computers has caused children and teenagers to become attracted to these games and become their favorite entertainment. The widespread of these games has generated widespread debate about positive aspects and negative aspects. It is evident that there are two main trends in the impact of electronic games on the behavior of children and adolescents. The first trend is that e-games have positive effects on children and adolescents, especially in cognitive abilities and skills in learning. While the second view sees that electronic games have negative effects that appear in social isolation and lack of movement and aggression. Through the review of previous literature, the current resea
... Show MoreUrban growth of cities is connected with three related problems, the first one, is the deterioration of the center, which is a mark for historical origin. The second is the emergence of city edge, which contradicts by the center. The third one is the rapid semi urbanism of the edge. Literature review showed that Baghdad historical center (Old Rusafa and Karkh) had grown in four morphological stages, during which main paths had been changed from those which were perpendicular to the river front to those parallel to it. Research problem is that “there is a knowledge gap about the direction and origin of paths within Baghdad old center, after its growth”. The first research hypothesis is, “the direction of paths within old Baghdad cen
... Show MoreShatt Al-Hilla branches from the left of Euphrates River, U/S Hindiyah Barrage, Iraq, and extends about 100 km. It branches at the end into Shatt Al-Diwaniya 112 km and Shatt Al-Daghara 64 km. The study aims to evaluate and develop (Hilla-Daghara) rivers system, which is included Shatt Al-Hilla and Shatt Al-Daghara. Fieldwork began from (26 October until December) 2020. M9, S5 devices, and the installed staff gauges were used to measure discharges and water levels, respectively. A one-dimensional model was developed for the study area by HEC-RAS, after calibration and verification by field measurements; the Manning's n of Shatt Al-Daghara is found to be 0.022. Five Scenarios were simulated to study the reach under the cu
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