BACKGROUND: Tribulus terrestris has been commonly used in folk medicine to energize, vitalize and improve sexual function and physical performance in men and laboratory rats. OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of Tribulus terrestris on the number of Leydig cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tribulus terrestris was given to mature male rats as an oral single herbal suspension in a dose of 2.0mg /1000gbody weight for 14 days to stimulate spermatogenesis. Formalin fixed paraffinembedded tissue sections were performed for histological, immunohistochemical and morphometrical studies. RESULTS: Histological study revealed wider seminiferous tubules and increased spermatocytes population with an increased sperm density inside the lumen of the tubules. Morphometrically, the diameters of seminiferous tubules and thickness of the germinal epithelia were significantly increased in Tribulus terrestris treated rats than that of the control group. There was no significant difference between the number of Leydig cells in the control and experimental groups. CONCLUSION: The activity of Leydig cells, manifested by the increments in the diameters, thickness of germinal epithelia and the density of the sperms inside seminiferous tubules, was increased but their number remain unaffected in spite of using the aphrodisiac agent, Tribulus terrestris. KEY WORDS: rat testis, tribulus terrestris, leydig cells.
Background and objectives: P53 gene mutation and deletion are among the important molecular markers linked to lung cancer. In most cases, the inactivating mutations affecting both p53 alleles are acquired in somatic cells. Less commonly, the mutations are inherited ones. The aim of the present study was to analyze the frequency of having a wild and/or a mutated p53 gene in lung cancer compared to benign lung lesions and to relate these findings to different morphological types and grades of lung cancer.
Patients, materials and methods: In this retrospective study, the histopathology blocks of 30 lung cancer cases covering the period from2002 to 2007were obtained from the archives of the histopathology sec
Background: The miswak is a teeth cleaning twig made from a twig of the Salvadora persica tree (known as arak in Arabic).A traditional alternative to the modern toothbrush, it has a long, well-documented history and is reputed for its medicinal benefits. It also features prominently in Islamic hygienical jurisprudence. Materials and methods: Twenty maxillary first premolars were treated with the selected solutions which included siwak water extract (5%, 10%) and sodium fluoride 0.05% for 2minutes once daily for 20 days interval, deionized water was used as control negative. Then the concentration of the dissolved calcium ion in the etching solution of 2N HCL was measured. Results: The least amount of the dissolved calcium ion was registere
... Show MoreIntroduction: Since the hallmark of gestational trophoblastic disease is trophoblastic proliferation, Ki67 is regarded as the best marker in studying hydatidiform mole.This study was conducted to evaluate the role of this proliferative marker in distinguishing among hydropic abortion, partial and complete hydatidiform mole. Materials and methods: This is a cross sectional study involving the application of Ki67 on a total of 90 histological samples of curetting materials from molar (partial and complete mole) and non molar hydropic abortion belong to Iraqi females, so three study groups were created. Immunohistochemical expression in villous cytotrophoblasts, syncytiotrophoblasts and stromal cells were recorded separately by three i
... Show MoreBreast cancer is one of the comments malignant tumors worldwide especially in Iraq; it is a leading cause of death in Iraqi women. Determination of estrogen and progesterone receptors status is helpful in selecting the patients most likely to receive benefit from endocrine therapy, and provide prognostic information on recurrence and survival since their expression is related to the degree of the tumor differentiation. From November 2012 to March 2013, 150 breast cancer patients at Al-Amal Hospital in Baghdad were attended to start treatment of disease for the first time. All patients included in this study did not receive chemotherapy. Patients were asked to bring their paraffin embedded tissue blocks to participate in estrogen, progest
... Show MoreBackground: Bladder cancer (BC) one of the most common urologic cancer characterized by the highest recurrence rate, many types belong to BC, but most common of them worldwide are transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) which constitute about 90-95% cases, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinomas
Objective: This study was designed to evaluate parameters of humoral immunity in Non-muscle invasive (superficial or early) bladder cancer patients in Iraq that may provide a new insight into the future of immunotherapies development and BC management.
Materials and methods: Fifty-nine volunteer's patients ranged from 24 to 83years old, and 30 control individuals ranged from 51-80 years old, who attended and admitted to Hospital of Gazi
Background: Hyperplastic polyps account for 30–93% of gastric polyps. Recently, there have been studies about the development of dysplasia in this type of polyp. Every cell in the body contains the p53 gene, which has anti-cancer properties. Objective: The sensitivity of immunohistochemical expression of p53 is evaluated among gastric hyperplastic polyps with and without dysplasia and gastric adenomatous polyps to know its usefulness as a diagnostic marker. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was done on fifty formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks of gastric polyps (44 hyperplastic polyps without dysplasia, 3 hyperplastic polyps with dysplasia, and 3 adenomas). Cases were collected from the archives of the pathology d
... Show MoreCinnamon plant is considered one of important medicinal plants because it is rich with many active compounds. This research is aimed to study possible effects of extract in culture media of Gardenia jasmenoides. Alcoholic extract was prepared from the bark of cinnamon at different concentrations (0.0, 1.0, 2.0) mg/L, then added to culture media to notice the effect of these concentrations on the growth and development of tissues and organs of Gardenia jasmenoides Ellis in vitro. Results showed the positive effect of increasing callus fresh weight and shoot proliferation from single nodes with presence of plant regulators, 5.0 mg/L Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 3.0 mg/L Benzyl adenine (BA). Results showed that extract has a slight eff
... Show MoreBackground: Preeclampsia occurs in 3-5% of
pregnancies and is a major cause (12-20 %) of
maternal mortality in developed countries. It is the
leading cause of preterm birth and intra-uterine
growth restrictions (IUGR).
Objective: The study was designed to determine and
demonstrate the ultra structural changes of
endothelial cells in placenta of women suffering from
hypertensive disease.
Patients & Methods: Placental samples were
obtained from two groups of pregnant women
groups (preeclamptic and normal pregnant women).
The specimens were fixed in 2.5% gluteraldehyde
and preceded for electron microscopic examination.
Results: Placenta of women with preeclampsia has
shown marked degenerative
Periodontitis is one of the most prevalent bacterial diseases affecting man with up to 90% of the global population affected. Its severe form can lead to the tooth loss in 10-15% of the population worldwide. The disease is caused by a dysbiosis of the local microbiota and one organism that contributes to this alteration in the bacterial population is Prophyromonas gingivalis. This organism possesses a range of virulence factors that appear to contribute to its growth and survival at a periodontal site amongst which is its ability to invade oral epithelial cells. Such an invasion strategy provides a means of evasion of host defence mechanisms, persistence at a site and the opportunity for dissemination to other sites in the mouth. However, p
... Show MoreIn this work, A new strategy for enhancing the efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) by doping foreign ion and co- doping TiO2 / Fe and Cu (38 nm ) was prepared by sol-gel method and successfully used as a photoanode for (DSSC). The samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction ( XRD) is used to calculate grain size, before and after Fe, Cu- doping and co- doping. Glass coating process with a thin layer on (Fluorine doped tin oxide) FTO glass by using doctor Blade technique .The optimum thickness utilized for TiO2 paste is (15μm) on a conductive glass. The best experimental results for doping and co- doping TiO2 with additive Copper (II) nitrate Cu (NO3)2 as improved it was VOC=0.6 V, ISC=1.92 mA, Imax=1.8 mA and Vmax=
... Show More