This experiment was carried out at the Field of Poultry, Department of Animal Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, during the period from 1/5/2011 until 5/7/2011 to study the effect of adding arginine to laying hens diet on certain blood traits. A total of 100 Brown Lohmann laying hen chickens, 38 weeks of age, were randomly distributed into four treatment groups, with 25 hens for each treatment. Treatment groups were: T1: bird-fed diet with no additional arginine (control group); T2, T3, and T4: bird-fed diet supplemented with 0.4, 0.7, and 0.9%, respectively. Therefore, the total amounts of arginine in the four treatments (T1, T2, T3, and T4) become 1.1, 1.5, 1.8, and 2.0%, respectively. Results of this experiment revealed that there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between treatment groups regarding the total red blood cell count (RBC) as well as with respect to hemoglobin concentration (Hb) and packed cell volume (PCV). It was also noticed that there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between treatment groups concerning each of mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). Moreover, the results of this study also indicated that supplementing laying hens with different levels of arginine (T2, T3, and T4) resulted in a significant increase (p<0.05) in total white blood cell count (WBC) and percentage of heterophil (H) cells and a significant decrease (p<0.05) in lymphocyte (L) cells, monocyte cells, and H/L ratio as compared with the control group (T1). In conclusion, adding arginine to the diet of laying hens at levels higher than the levels recommended by the NRC did not have a negative effect on the physiological performance of birds, as indicated by the non-significant differences between treatment groups as regards RBC, PCV, Hb, MCV, MCH, and MCHC. However, supplementing arginine to the diet of laying hens resulted in an enhancement of the immune response, as indicated by a significant increase in WBC in comparison with the control group. On the other hand, adding arginine to laying hens diet didn’t cause any stress on birds, as indicated by the significant decrease in H/L ratio as compared with the control group.
Abnormalities in the Lipid and lipoprotein levels are common in the general population and are considered as very important risk- factors for cardiovascular disease .In this context the effect of cholesterol, which is one of the most clinically relevant lipids is very important. Aim of the present study was to determine the levels of GLP-1 and GPCR in non- diabetic dyslipidaemic patients and compare the results with the control group, which may be used as a novel biomarker to predict heart disease in these patients. The study was also aimed to find the relationship between GLP-1 and GPCR with lipid profile and glucagon in the patient group. The study involved 90 non-diabetic dyslipidaemia patients, with 90 healthy controls. The subjects wer
... Show MoreThe possible effect of the crude aqueous extract of soy bean seeds on some blood parameters (total count of red blood cells, white blood cell , (total and differential) blood platelates, packed cell volume and concentration of blood hemoglobin) was studied in 20 albino female mice which were allocated in four experimental groups (5 mice/group). The first group was orally treated with distilled water (control group) while the second, third and fourth group were given a concentration of 4%, 6% and 8% of the extract, respectively. At the end of the daily gavaging, which lasted for 4 weeks, the animals were killed, after recording their life body weight, and blood samples were collected from each mice to study the effect
... Show MoreA silent film from Baghdad about love, war and poetry... _________________________ A new poetry book by the Iraqi poet Abdul Zahra Zaki has been published by Moment Books & Publications in an exclusively Digital Edition, entitled "Silent Film", and which subtitled "Poems of Blood, Bullets and Car Bombs", translated from the Arabic into English by Dr Adhraa A. Naser. This book is not trying to explain war, but simply to present it the way it is; the destruction it causes and the pain it leaves behind. For all who has changed forever because of war this book speaks the words of the killed and the killer. Zaki introduced the book with a line from his masterpiece The Hand Discovers describing the waves of bodies that stormed the country after t
... Show MoreMany international studies indicated that the polymorphisms of some genes disturbed the folate homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism and increased the vulnerability to Down syndrome (DS). We aimed to measure the serum levels of folate and Hcy in DS children and compare the levels with age and sex-matched apparently normal healthy children. We also aimed to study the A80G polymorphism of the gene reduced folate carrier (RFC1) in the DS children as a risk factor. Forty children with DS (24 were boys, and 16 were girls) with the age range between 5-13 years, and 26 normal healthy children (16 boys and ten girls) were included in this study. The results show that the highest genotype in the control group was AG (53.85%) followed by AA and GG (30.
... Show MoreThe possible effects of COVID-19 vaccines on reproductive health and male fertility in particular have been discussed intensely by the scientific community and the public since their introduction during the pandemic. On news outlets and social media platforms, many claims have been raised regarding the deleterious effects of COVID-19 vaccines on sperm quality without scientific evidence. In response to this emerging conflict, we designed this study to evaluate and assess the effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility represented by the semen analysis parameters.