ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Estrogens has traditionally been known as the female hormone, but this idea has been challenged in early 1990’s and an essential physiological role for estrogen in male fertility was identified. Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring non-steroidal plant chemicals that can act like the female hormone estrogen. The herbs ( anise alfalfa and vervain ) chosen in this study contain phytoestrogens. OBJECTIVE: Previous studies demonstrated controversy of the effects of phytoestrogens on the rat testes .Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the influence of typical dose of herbs containing phytoestrogen on the rat testis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four apparently normal mature male rats were divided into four groups of 6 animals each. The first "control" group received only 4ml of distilled water as a placebo. The second group received 40mg/kg of anise seed; the third group received 53.3 mg/kg of dried herb of vervain and the fourth group received 400 mg /kg of alfalfa seeds. All experimental groups received the doses through orogastric tube daily for fourteen days. Testicular histology was evaluated by light and enzyme histochemistry. Plasma FSH and testosterone concentrations were taken to support our results. RESULTS: Histological examination of anise, alfalfa and vervain – treated groups showed an increase in the height of germinal epithelia. There was marked lipoprotein lipase activity in the whole of the interstitial tissue which is more in amount in experimental groups than that in control group. Acid phosphatase granules were infiltered the seminiferous epithelia mildly in control group , moderately in anise and vervain groups and markedly in alfalfa group. The number of interstitial cells showing marked acid phosphatase activity was higher in all experimental groups than that in control group. Alkaline phosphatase exhibited intense activity in the boundary tissue of the seminiferous tubules in testes of control and experimental groups but it appeared thicker in the latter. CONCLUSION: The low dose and short duration of treatment used in our study made these phytoestrogen – containing herbs to have a stimulatory effect on leydig cell steroidogenesis. This study also demonstrated that aniseed being the most potent of the three herbs followed by alfalfa in stimulating testosterone synthesis. This is possibly attributed to the coumarin constituent of aniseed and alfalfa. KEY WORDS: phytoestrogen-containing herbs, testis, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, lipoprotein lipase
Abstract
One of the most suitable materials to be used in latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTES) are Phase change materials, but a problem of slow melting and solidification processes made many researchers focusing on how to improve their thermal properties. This experimental work concerned with the enhancing of thermal conductivity of phase change material. The enhancing method was by the addition of copper Lessing rings in phase change material (paraffin wax). The effect of diameter for the used rings was studied by using two different diameters (0.5 cm and 1cm). Also, three volumetric percentages of rings addition (3%, 6% and 10%) were tested for each diameter. The discharging process was done with
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The study aimed to prepare a practical guide for procedures for auditing the strategies of municipal institutions in achieving sustainable development by adopting the idea of the audit matrix through which a classified report is prepared according to the dimensions of sustainable development, by preparing a specialized audit program for the purpose of auditing strategies for achieving sustainable development and emptying the results of the application of each of the paragraphs The program in the audit matrix that was prepared for the purpose of determining the impact of each observation and linkin
... Show MoreBackground: The new concepts and technologies continue to change the dynamics of endodontic practices in the world. Rapid and significant changes in techniques, instrument design, and the type of metals used to manufacture endodontic instruments which have been made during the last few years in an attempt to overcome canal preparation errors. The purpose of this study is to measure and compare canal transportation and centering ability of Self Adjusting File with two rotary nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) systems, ProTaper and BioRaCe at different levels. Material and Methods: Forty five distal roots of mandibular first molars with moderate curvature were selected using Schneider method. Roots were divided randomly into 3 groups of 15 each and were
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The research problem was to identify the impact of monetary policies on economic growth in the oil and non-oil countries. The researcher chose the Republic of Iraq as an example for the oil countries and the Arab Republic of Egypt as an example for the non-oil countries to hold a comparison on the impact of monetary policies.
The research found that the monetary policies and their tools in the Iraqi economy affect the rate of GDP growth by 73%, which shows the strong impact of monetary policies on the economic growth in the Iraqi economy as an example of an oil state. GDP growth rate of 61%, indicating the impact of monetary policies on economic growth in the
Cost is the essence of any production process for it is one of the requirements for the continuity of activities so as to increase the profitability of the economic unit and to support the competitive situation in the market. Therefore, there should be an overall control to reduce the cost without compromising the product quality; to achieve this, the management should have detailed credible and reliable information about the cost to be measured, collected, understood and to analyze the causes for the spread of deviations and obstacles the management faces, and to search for the factors that trigger the emergence of these deviations and obstacles
The research aims at the possibility of measuring the technical and scale efficiency (SE) of the departments of the College of Administration and Economics at the University of Baghdad for a period lasting 8 years, from the academic year 2013-2014 to 2018-2019 using the method of Applied Data Analysis with an input and output orientation to maintain the distinguished competitive position and try to identify weaknesses in performance and address them. Nevertheless, the research problem lies in diagnosing the most acceptable specializations in the labor market and determining the reasons for students’ reluctance to enter some departments. Furthermore, the (Win4DEAp) program was used to measure technical and scale efficiency (SE) and rely on
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The research seeks to identify the comprehensive electronic banking system and the role of the auditor in light of the customer's application of electronic systems that depend on the Internet in providing its services, as a proposed audit program has been prepared in accordance with international auditing controls and standards based on the study of the customer's environment and the analysis of external and internal risks in the light of financial and non-financial indicators, the research reached a set of conclusions, most notably, increasing the dependence of banks on the comprehensive banking system for its ability to provide new and diverse banking services, The researcher suggested several recommendations, the most important of whi
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