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
This study was aimed to study the effect of adding transglutaminase (TGase) on the mechanical and reservation properties of the edible films manufactured from soybean meal protein isolate (SPI) and whey protein isolate(WPI). The results showed an improvement in the properties with increase in the WPI ratios. Thickness of the SPI films amounted 0.097 mm decreased to 0.096 mm for the WPI: SPI films at a ratio of 2:1, when TGase was added decreased to 0.075 mm. While the tensile strength increased from 7.64 MPa for SPI films to eight MPa for the WPI: SPI films at a ratio of 2:1, when TGase was added increased to 11.04 MPa. Also, the elongation of the WPI: SPI films at a ratio of 2:1 presence of the TGase decreased to 40.6% compared wit
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this study aimed to study the effect of Cordia myxa extract on the growth and activities of the following types of bacteria : Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus Spp., Klebsiella pneumoniae , Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes , Bacillus subtilus, and the yeast Candida albicans .the results showed an inhibitory effect of the methanol extract on both the growth and activity of the tested microbes .this was reflected by the minimum inhibitory concentration ( MIC ) of different type of bacteria and the yeast.
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The pure and Sb doped GeSe thin films have been prepared by thermal flash evaporation technique. Both the structural and optical measurement were carried out for as deposited and annealed films at different annealing temperatures.XRD spectra revealed that the all films have one significant broad amorphous peak except for pure GeSe thin film which annealed at 573 K, it has sharp peak belong to orthorhombic structure nearly at 2θ=33o . The results of the optical studies showed that the optical transition is direct and indirect allowed. The energy gap in general increased with increasing annealing temperature and decreased with increase the ratio of Sb dopant. The optical parameters such as refractive index, extinction coefficient and r
... Show MoreMost of the mosques in the Islamic world fall under specific and known forms and patterns to a large extent, and such patterns have grown and evolved from the few basic and uniform models, but they changed slowly due to the impact with a mixture of changing functional requirements and cultural landscapes because of the variables of time and place to form patterns known and famous in this day across parts of the Islamic world and its borders. There was no exception to these patterns, but small numbers of mosques that were probably the result of personal experiences or improvisational resolutions, or in response to specific or temporary stimuli. However, the emergence of a specific pattern which does not belong to any of these patt
... Show MoreAn experiment was conducted in the plastic house of the Botanical Garden in the Department of Biology, College of Education for Pure Sciences (Ibn Al-Haitham), University of Baghdad during one growth season. The experiment included the study of the effect of three concentrations of citric acid (0, 75, 150) mg. L-1 and four concentrations of malic acid (0, 50, 100, 150) mg. L-1 and their interaction in some of the growth and yield parameters of the broad bean plant, plant height, dry weight, number of leaves, total chlorophyll content, the number of flowers and pods and the weight of the pod. The experiment was carried out in full random design (4× 3) and with three duplicates, the results showed a significant effect of citric and malic aci
... Show MoreThe size and the concentration of the gold nanoparticles (GNPs)
synthesized in double distilled deionized water (DDDW) have been
found to be affected by the laser energy and the number of pulses.
The absorption spectra of the nanoparticles DDDW, and the
surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks were measured, and found to
be located between (509 and 524)nm using the UV- Vis
spectrophotometer. SPR calculations, images of transmission
electron microscope, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) method
were used to determine the size of GNPs, which found to be ranged
between (3.5 and 27) nm. The concentrations of GNPs in colloidal
solutions found to be ranged between (37 and 142) ppm, and
measured by atomic absorptio
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In this work, The effect of annealing treatment at different temperatures (373, 423 and 473) K and chemical treatment with talwen at different immersion time (40, 60 and 80) min on structural and optical properties of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blend copper phthalocyanine tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt/poly dioxyethylenethienylene doped with polystyrenesulphonic acid (CuPcTs/PEDOT:PSS) thin films were investigated. The films were fabricated using spin coating technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements displayed only one peak at 2θ =4.5o corresponding to (001) direction which has dhkl larger than for standard CuPcTs. The dhkl increase then decrease with increasing annealing temperature and
the time of chemical treatment w
Larval instar duration of the house fly Musca domesticais influenced by the application of GHA and precocine. Topical use of ug / ul of JHA KID 183 prolonge Juvenile period compared to the control. On the contrary, application of ug / ul of precocine decreased it. Application of both substances has no effect. The emergence inhibitors were also influenced by such treatments. It reached 52.39% by the use of JHA, (-14.28%) by the use of precocine.
The splicing design of the existing road and the new road in the expansion project is an important part of the design work. Based on the analysis of the characteristics and the load effect of pavement structure on splicing, this paper points out that tensile crack or shear failure may occur at the splicing under the repeated action of the traffic load on the new/old pavement. According to the current structure design code of asphalt pavement in China, it is proposed that the horizontal tensile stress at the bottom of the splicing layer and the vertical shear stress at other layers of the splicing line should be controlled by adjusting the position and size of the excavated steps in addition to the conventional design ind
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The pure and Sb doped GeSe thin films have been prepared by thermal flash evaporation technique. Both the structural and optical measurement were carried out for as deposited and annealed films at different annealing temperatures.XRD spectra revealed that the all films have one significant broad amorphous peak except for pure GeSe thin film which annealed at 573 K, it has sharp peak belong to orthorhombic structure nearly at 2θ=33o. The results of the optical studies showed that the optical transition is direct and indirect allowed. The energy gap in general increased with increasing annealing temperature and decreased with increase the ratio of Sb dopant. The optical parameters such as refractive index, extinction coefficient and real and
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