Background: Human semen contains high concentrations of fructose, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in bound and ionic forms for Zn and Cu. The presence of abnormal levels of fructose and those trace elements may affect spermatogenesis with regard to production, maturation, motility and fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa.Objective: To evaluate the levels of fructose, Zn and Cu in seminal plasma in different groups of male infertility and to correlate their concentrations with various sperm parameters.Methods: The concentrations of fructose, Zn and Cu were measured in 114 semen samples from normozoospermic, oligozoospermic, astheno-zoospermic, and azoospermic men using the electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry for Zn and Cu determination. The concentration of fructose in seminal plasma was determined with a spectrophotometric method, using the resorcinol method.Results: Results of the present study showed that there was an inverse relationship between fructose levels and sperm count. The mean value of seminal plasma fructose concentrations was significantly increased (p ≤ 0.001) in the three groups of infertile male subjects (azoospermia, asthenozoospermia and oligozoospermia) than in fertile males. The mean value of seminal plasma Zn concentrations was significantly decreased (p ≤ 0.001) in the three groups of infertile male subjects (azoospermia, asthenozoospermia and oligozoospermia) than in fertile males. A good correlation in a positive direction was noted between the sperm count and seminal plasma Zn concentration. There was significant decrease in seminal plasma Cu concentration between asthenozoospermia and control groups (p ≤ 0.05) and insignificant increase in oligozoospermic patients.Conclusions: On the basis of the observations of the present study, seminal fructose, zinc and copper may contribute to fertility through their effects on various semen parameters.Key words:Male infertility, fructose, zinc, copper.
In this research, damping properties for composite materials were evaluated using logarithmic decrement method to study the effect of reinforcements on the damping ratio of the epoxy matrix. Three stages of composites were prepared in this research. The first stage included preparing binary blends of epoxy (EP) and different weight percentages of polysulfide rubber (PSR) (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%). It was found that the weight percentage 5% of polysulfide was the best percentage, which gives the best mechanical properties for the blend matrix. The advantage of this blend matrix is that; it mediates between the brittle properties of epoxy and the flexible properties of a blend matrix with the highest percentage of PSR. The second stage
... Show MoreThis study aims to investigate the effect of changing skins material on the strength of sandwich plates with circular hole when subjected to mechanical loads. Theoretical, numerical and experimental analyses are done for sandwich plates with hole and with two face sheet materials. Theoretical analysis is performed by using sandwich plate theory which depends on the first order shear deformation theory for plates subjected to tension and bending separately. Finite element method was used to analyse numerically all cases by ANSYS program.
The sandwich plates were investigated experimentally under bending and buckling load separately. The relationship between stresses and the ratio of hole diameter to plate width (d/b) are built, by
... Show MoreWater flooding is one of the most important methods used in enhanced production; it was a pioneer method in use, but the development of technology within the oil industry, takes this subject toward another form in the oil production and application in oil fields with all types of oils and oil reservoirs. Now days most of the injection wells directed from the vertical to re-entry of full horizontal wells in order to get full of horizontal wells advantages.
This paper describes the potential benefits for using of re-entry horizontal injection wells as well as combination of re –entry horizontal injection and production wells. Al Qurainat productive sector was selected for study, which is one of the four main productive sectors of Sout
Many extracted material were used as mouthwash to settle different kinds of oral fungi and bacteria. In this study an extractive of Cyperus rotundus plant E.C.R. which is very active as a mouthwash, was used in concentration range (10-25) ppm in artificial saliva at pH=6.4 and temperature range (288-318) K, to study it’s inhibitory effect on the corrosion of dental amalgam. Potentiostatic and cyclic polarization were used to follow this study. The presence of E.C.R. lead to shift the corrosion potential to the active direction and decreased the corrosion rate to about 98.87%, the inhibition action of E.C.R. resulting from the adsorption of C.R.E. layer between amalgam and saliva as FTIR spectrums shows, where the variety of FTIR adsorptio
... Show MoreInformation security contributes directly to increase the level of trust between the government’s departments by providing an assurance of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive governmental information. Many threats that are caused mainly by malicious acts can shutdown the egovernment services. Therefore the governments are urged to implement security in e-government projects.
Some modifications were proposed to the security assessment multi-layer model (Sabri model) to be more comprehensive model and more convenient for the Iraqi government. The proposed model can be used as a tool to assess the level of security readiness of government departments, a checklist for the required security measures and as a commo
The paper include study the effect thickness of the polymeric sample which is manufactured by thermo press way. The sample was used as an active tunable R6G laser media. The remarks show that, when the thickness of the samples is increased, with the same concentration, the spectrum will shift towards the short wavelength, & the quantum fluorescence yield will increased. The best result we obtained for the quantum fluorescence yield is (0.68) at the sample, with thickness (0.304mm) in Ethanol solvent, while when we used the Pure Water as a solvent, we found that the best quantum fluorescence yield is (0.63) at (0.18mm) thickness of the sample.
This study comprised three traverses extending parallel through the Northern, Central and Southern Mahmudiya districts, and perpendicular to the course of the Euphrates River. They were identified to collect (15) soil samples and some water samples as distributed within the land cover classes of the study area. Those classes were determined by visual interpretation and supervised classification for Landsat (TM) images obtained in August/2007. The digital classification was based on Maximum Likelihood method using six spectral bands excluding the thermal band. Chemical and physical laboratory analysis for the soil characteristics was performed to determine the types of land degradation in the study area.
The results showed that the hig
The present experimental work is conducted to examine the influence of adding Alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles and Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles each alone to diesel fuel on the characteristic of the emissions. The size of both Alumina and Titanium oxide nanoparticles which have been added to diesel fuel to obtain nano-fuel is about 20 nm and 25 nm respectively. Three doses of (Al2O3) and (TiO2) were prepared (25, 50, and 100) ppm. The nanoparticles mixed with gas oil fuel by mechanical homogenous (manual electrical mixer) and ultrasonic processor. The study reveals that the adding of Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and Titanium oxide (TiO2) to g
... Show MoreThe optimum cultural conditions for garamicidin production by local isolate B.brevis were studied.Best result was obtained when the isolate B.brevis was grown on media composed of 1%glucose as carbon source,1% ammonium chloride as a nitrogen source ,0.5% Dipotassium hydrogen orthophosphate as a phosphate source and after 48 hours of incubation at 30C .Garamicidin has been extracted and purified through acid precipition and then extracted by organic solvent (ether& acetone ).Using HPLC the garamicidin antibiotic showed three types A,B and C garamicidin .
The results of this study showed that the tongue of the adult Iraqi domestic cat is divided into three regions of apex, body and root. The dorsal surface of all regions possesses five types of lingual papillae, two mechanical which are filiform and cylindrical papillae, while the other three types are taste papillae which are foliate, fungiform and circumvallate papillae, while these papillae are absent on its ventral surface. The histological examination of all tongue areas revealed that it consisted of three tunica, the tunica mucosa and the tunica submucosa (the lamina propria) and the tunica muscularis. The tunica mucosa consisted of the epithelial lining, which is a stratified squamous epithelial tissue covering the lingual papillae, a
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