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
Many researchers consider Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine mode as a promising alternative to combustion in Spark Ignition and Compression Ignition Engines. The HCCI engine runs on lean mixtures of fuel and air, and the combustion is produced from the fuel autoignition instead of ignited by a spark. This combustion mode was investigated in this paper. A variable compression ratio, spark ignition engine type TD110 was used in the experiments. The tested fuel was Iraqi conventional gasoline (ON=82).
The results showed that HCCI engine can run in very lean equivalence ratios. The brake specific fuel consumption was reduced about 28% compared with a spark ignition engine. The experimental tests showed that the em
... Show MoreThe effect of ethanol and methanol solvent, and their mixture has been studied on the absorption and fluorescence spectra of laser dye Rhodamine B at concentration of (10-4) Molar at room temperature. The molar absorption coefficient has been determined for mixture which was (3.223) at wave number (18181.8 cm-1), Also the Quantum Efficiency of the two solvents (ethanol and methanol) and their mixture have been calculated ,which was for mixture spectrum (38.94%) and it was larger comparing with other and solvents. The characteristics of spectrum has been determined by calculating (??) of absorption spectrum for the solvents and its mixture at maximum wave number ( ) cm-1 depending on solvent polarity and the transitions between molecular ene
... Show MorePolymer metal complexes of poly ethylene glycol acetal and Ag (I), Cu (II), Ni (II), Mn (II), Co (III) and Hg (II) were prepared from the reaction of PEG with aldehyde derived from Erythro-ascorbic acid (pentulosono-ɣ-lactone-2, 3- enedianisoate). All these compounds were characterized by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and FTIR spectra and aldehyde was also characterized by (U.V-Vis), 1HNMR,13CNMR, and mass spectra. It has been established that, the polymer and its metal complexes showed good activities against four pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli ,Klebsiellapneumonae, Staphylococcusaureus, Staphylococcus Albus) and two fungal (Aspergillus Niger,Yeast). The polymer metal complexes showed higher activity than the free polymer. The
... Show MoreThis study was planned to evaluate the renal function tests and liver function tests and it carried out in Al-Yarmouk hospital,Baghdad –Iraqin patients withtype 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus by measuring(uric acid,urea and creatinine) ,Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Seventy five individuals of Iraqi adults (male) were divided into three groups, 25 patients with type1 diabetes mellitus ,25 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 25 normal individuals were taken as control group. The mean value of uric acid, urea and creatinine was higher significantly in patients thanin control group (P< 0.05),while the correlation(p< 0.01) between age ,creatinine in type 1 and between age and (Urea, Uric acid ,cr
... Show MoreNuclear structure of 29-34Mg isotopes toward neutron dripline have been investigated using shell model with Skyrme-Hartree–Fock calculations. In particular nuclear densities for proton, neutron, mass and charge densities with their corresponding rms radii, neutron skin thicknesses and inelastic electron scattering form factors are calculated for positive low-lying states. The deduced results are discussed for the transverse form factor and compared with the available experimental data. It has been confirmed that the combining shell model with Hartree-Fock mean field method with Skyrme interaction can accommodate very well the nuclear excitation properties and can reach a highly descriptive and predictive power when investiga
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A series of new 4(3H)-quinazolinone derivatives (S1-S4) were synthesized and characterized by FTIR,1HNMR and 13CNMR .Their cytotoxic activity against a set of human cancer cell lines MCF-7 (breast) and A549 (lung) was evaluated using MTT assay. To detect their selectivity toward cancer cells, the compounds were also tested against epithelial cells derived from normal human fibroblast (NHF). Methotrexate (MTX) was used as a reference for comparison . All the tested compounds exhibited toxicity against the normal cells lower than cancer cells. All the tested compounds displayed higher cytotoxicity against lung cancer cell line (A549) than MTX with the most
... Show MoreResearch in consumer science has proven that grocery shopping is a complex and distressing process. Further, the task of generating the grocery lists for the grocery shopping is always undervalued as the effort and time took to create and manage the grocery lists are unseen and unrecognized. Even though grocery lists represent consumers’ purchase intention, research pertaining the grocery lists does not get much attention from researchers; therefore, limited studies about the topic are found in the literature. Hence, this study aims at bridging the gap by designing and developing a mobile app (application) for creating and managing grocery lists using modern smartphones. Smartphones are pervasive and become a necessity for everyone tod
... Show MoreThe synthesis of new benzodiazepine, imidazole, isatin, maleimide, pyrimidine and 1,2,4-triazole derived from 2-amino-4-hydroxy-1,3,5-triazine, via its cyclocondensation reaction with different organic reagents, is described. FT-IR, 1H-NMR and as well as 13C-NMR spectra disclosed the structures of the precursors and heterocyclic derivatives formed.
There is no doubt that teachers are the leaders of positive changing in community where they directed the students and build their brains. In our current generation that characterized by accelerated technological development that communication changes, economic and politics, needs from the teacher an active leadership skills that match with the soul of our generation and contribute in confrontation the current challenges and the future challenges in the form that lead to create a conscious generation where they will be a basic brick for the future community where the listeners looking forward the education where they support the continuity communication of develop process, economy, scientifically and in all life fields. In our study we take
... Show MoreUsing a mathematical model to simulate the interaction between prey and predator was suggested and researched. It was believed that the model would entail predator cannibalism and constant refuge in the predator population, while the prey population would experience predation fear and need for a predator-dependent refuge. This study aimed to examine the proposed model's long-term behavior and explore the effects of the model's key parameters. The model's solution was demonstrated to be limited and positive. All potential equilibrium points' existence and stability were tested. When possible, the appropriate Lyapunov function was utilized to demonstrate the equilibrium points' overall stability. The system's persistence requirements were spe
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