Background: Thymus vulgaris is a plant rich in essential oils acclaimed for the management of oxidative stress and inflammation in the organs. Meanwhile, the heavy metal lead is widely distributed in nature and continued exposure to lead acetate causes reduced fertility.Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of T. vulgaris on ovarian and uterine structural and functional characteristics in female rats exposed to lead acetate. Methods: Three groups of 18 mature Wistar albino female rats (Rattus norvegicus), 15 weeks old and weighing between 200 and 210 g, were established and handled for 60 days as follows: Group A (control group) received 0.5 mL of distilled water (DW) daily; group B received 5 mg/kg body weight (BW) of lead acetate via oral gavage; and group C received 5 mg/kg BW of lead acetate via oral gavage followed by 75 mg/kg BW of T. vulgaris extract 2 hours later. Blood and tissue samples (uterus and ovary) were collected from euthanized animals.Results: Lead acetate caused oxidative stress, as indicated by increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. It also caused a decrease in serum estrogen and an increase in progesterone levels. Meanwhile, T. vulgaris caused a decrease in progesterone and MDA levels and an increase in estrogen levels and SOD activity. The histological changes of the ovary and uterus in the lead acetate group showed vascular degeneration and necrosis, and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) revealed an increase in positive cells. All these changes were restored to normal by T. vulgaris.Conclusion: Using alcoholic extracts of T. vulgaris acts as an antioxidant, helping to restore ovarian and uterine structure and function to near-normal levels in lead acetate-exposed rats.
Understanding, promoting, and teaching media literacy is an important societal challenge. STEM educators are increasingly looking to incorporate 21st century skills such as media literacy into core subject education. In this paper we investigate how undergraduate Computer Science (CS) students can learn media literacy as a by-product of collaborative video tutorial production. The paper presents a study of 34 third-year CS undergraduates who, as part of their learning, were each asked to produce three video tutorials on Raspberry Pi programming, using a collaborative video production tool for mobile phones (Bootlegger). We provide results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the production process and resulting video tutorials,
... Show MoreThermal management has become a major issue in the latest high performance computing machines because high CPU temperatures result in inefficient performance and decreased hardware life span. In this work, the cooling performance of a finned metal foam heat sink (FMFHS) was examined. The pore density values of tested copper metal foam (CMF) samples with different values of PPI 5, 10 and 20, with a constant porosity of 90%. For reference, these samples were measured by a conventional Aluminum plate-fin heat sink (CHS). The work was performed under experimental conditions in which air directed over the heat sink surface at air velocities (2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 m/s). The environmental temperature was fixed at 27 °C. Findings
... Show MoreResearchers dream of developing autonomous humanoid robots which behave/walk like a human being. Biped robots, although complex, have the greatest potential for use in human-centred environments such as the home or office. Studying biped robots is also important for understanding human locomotion and improving control strategies for prosthetic and orthotic limbs. Control systems of humans walking in cluttered environments are complex, however, and may involve multiple local controllers and commands from the cerebellum. Although biped robots have been of interest over the last four decades, no unified stability/balance criterion adopted for stabilization of miscellaneous walking/running modes of biped
Microalgae present much usefulness for antimicrobial research because of its enormous biodiversity and rapid growth rate. From this study results it is reaveled that Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were isolated from a pond of water in the province of Diwaniyah. The culture supernatants were obtained when extracted with methanol solvent. Antimicrobial activity of extracts was tested for pathogens, and the best inhibition zone obtained was against Candida albicans (32mm), S.aureus (15mm), and to E.coli (9mm). While it showed no effect against both S.epidermidis and Klebsiella spp. Biofilm was formed by all tested isolates with differences in its strength formation. The C. reinhardtii
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disease of unidentified etiology, associated with articular, extra-articular and systemic manifestation that require long-standing treatment. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an essential factor that affects adherence of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is an essential for better adherence. The purpose of the current study was to measure beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with Rheumatoid arthritis and to determine possible association between this belief and some patient-certain factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 250 already diagnosed rheumatoid
... Show MoreBauxite residue (red mud) is a waste material from alumina refineries in the Bayer process, containing significant quantities of valuable metals, notably scandium (Sc). The objective of this study is to recover Sc (III) from Hungarian bauxite residue by using hydrometallurgical processes, including solvent extraction and leaching. Red mud directly leached with hydrochloric acid to generate the leachate solution. The significant iron content (~38 %) in red mud makes it hard to recover scandium selectively due to comparable physicochemical characteristics. According to the findings, Fe (III) could be effectively extracted from hydrochloric acid leachate as HFeC14 using diethyl ether before Sc extraction. Protocol B demonstrated superior recov
... Show MoreThe incorporation of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) into asphalt concrete supports circular economy goals by reducing reliance on virgin materials and minimizing construction waste. However, RCA’s inherent limitations, such as high porosity, microcracking, and poor interfacial bonding, compromise the structural integrity and durability of asphalt mixtures. This study introduces sugarcane molasses (SCM), a naturally derived, carbohydrate-rich byproduct of sugarcane refining, as a novel and eco-friendly surface treatment for RCA aimed at enhancing its compatibility with asphalt binders. SCM was applied at 5-6% by weight of RCA replacing coarse aggregate at varying levels (0-100%) to assess its effect on asphalt mixture performance. A com
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