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
The multi-focus image fusion method can fuse more than one focused image to generate a single image with more accurate description. The purpose of image fusion is to generate one image by combining information from many source images of the same scene. In this paper, a multi-focus image fusion method is proposed with a hybrid pixel level obtained in the spatial and transform domains. The proposed method is implemented on multi-focus source images in YCbCr color space. As the first step two-level stationary wavelet transform was applied on the Y channel of two source images. The fused Y channel is implemented by using many fusion rule techniques. The Cb and Cr channels of the source images are fused using principal component analysis (PCA).
... Show MoreThe performance of sewage pumps stations affected by many factors through its work time which produce undesired transportation efficiency. This paper is focus on the use of artificial neural network and multiple linear regression (MLR) models for prediction the major sewage pump station in Baghdad city. The data used in this work were obtained from Al-Habibia sewage pump station during specified records- three years in Al-Karkh district, Baghdad. Pumping capability of the stations was recognized by considering the influent input importance of discharge, total suspended solids (TSS) and biological oxygen demand (BOD). In addition, the chemical oxygen demands (COD), pH and chloride (Cl). The proposed model performanc
... Show MoreAerial manipulation of objects has a number of advantages as it is not limited by the morphology of the terrain. One of the main problems of the aerial payload process is the lack of real-time prediction of the interaction between the gripper of the aerial robot and the payload. This paper introduces a digital twin (DT) approach based on impedance control of the aerial payload transmission process. The impedance control technique is implemented to develop the target impedance based on emerging the mass of the payload and the model of the gripper fingers. Tracking the position of the interactional point between the fingers of gripper and payload, inside the impedance control, is achieved using model predictive control (MPD) approach.
... Show MoreThe nanocomposite on the base of synthesis Copper iodide
nanoparticles and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/CuI) with different
concentration of CuI were obtained using casting technique.
PVA/CuI polymer composite samples have been prepared and
subjected to characterizations using FTIR spectroscopy, The FTIR
spectral analysis shows remarkable variation of the absorption peak
positions with increasing CuI concentration. The obtained results by
X-ray diffraction indicated the formation of cubic CuI particles. The
effects of CuI concentrations on the optical properties of the PVA
films were studied in the region of wavelength, (190-1100) nm.
From the derivation of Tauc's relation it was found that the direct
allowed t
Background: Vibration decreases the viscosity of composite, making it flow and readily fit the walls of the cavity. This study is initiated to see how this improved adaptation of the composite resin to the cavity walls will affect microleakage using different curing modes
Materials and methods: Standard Class V cavities were prepared on the buccal surface of sixty extracted premolars. Teeth were randomly assigned into two groups (n=30) according to the composite condensation (vibration and conventional) technique, then subdivided into three subgroups (n=10) according to light curing modes (LED-Ramp, LED-Fast and Halogen Continuous modes). Cavities were etched and bonded with Single Bond Universal
... Show MoreThis study has been conducted to examin the effect of sodium propionate at different level of 0.03,0.06,0.10% on the number of bacteria and mold and to extend the storage life of laboratory processed biscuit. The results indicated that the use of 0.10% sodium propionate prolonged the storage peroid until the third month, while the use of 0.20% sodium propionate showed no growth of bacteria up to six month of storage, three types of bacteria has been isolated from processed biscuit, namely, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Esherichia coli. using 0.10% sodium propionate showed no growth of mold up to three month of storage ,while using of 0.15 % and 0.20% sodium propionate prevent the growth
... Show MoreThe research aims to delve into the nature of international financial reporting standards and the unified accounting system adopted in the Iraqi environment and financial ratios in the theoretical side. In the practical aspect, the results of some financial ratios of Basrah Gas Company were compared with the adoption of the financial statements prepared on the basis of the consolidated accounting system with the prepared financial statements Based on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The research has reached a number of conclusions, including a difference in the accounting rules and practices between IFRS and the consolidated accounting system in force in Iraq. The adoption of IFRS has led to a decrease in profitabi
... Show MoreA field trial was conducted in Experimental Station of The Field Crops Department – College Of Agriculture In Abu Ghraib, University of Baghdad to assess the effect of sulphur applications and the time after application on pH and EC of soil sample solutions ,and on the growth and yield of rape seed (Brassica napus L.)A split plot design was used with four replications , The main plot included four sulphur applications levels (0,2000,3000,4000Kg S/ha) the sub plot were the time after application (0,1,2,and 3 moths) .Sulphur application significantly decreased soil pH value ,although that decrease reached minimum parameter after two months from application date .Rather increment of sulphur application level significantly raised soil EC val
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