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
Microbial fuel cell is a device that uses the microorganism metabolism for the production of electricity under specific operating conditions. Double chamber microbial fuel cell was tested for the use of two cheap electrode materials copper and aluminum for the production of electricity under different operating conditions. The investigated conditions were concentration of microorganism (yeast) (0.5- 2 g/l), solutions temperature (33-45 oC) and concentration of glucose as a substrate (1.5- 6 g/l). The results demonstrated that copper electrode exhibit good performance while the performance of aluminum is poor. The electricity is generated with and without the addition of substrate. Addition of glucose substrate
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يجمع المختصون أن ليس من نقد إلا وكان مُرحِّلا لنظرية لسانية إلى فضائه، فكان أثر اللسانيات السوسيرية، ومن ثم اللسانيات التوليدية التحويلية معروفا، ولم يكن هذا الأثر محدودا باللسانيين أو نقاد الأدب فحسب، بل امتد إلى الشعراء والجماليين أيضا. وفي هذا البحث سنتوقف عند أثر اللسانيات الوظيفية، وهو ما لم يتوقف عنده إلا قلة من المختصين. ولن نقف عند نقد الوظيفيين للشعر، بل سنقف عند نقدهم للرواية، بقراءة
... Show MoreThis study presented an endeavour to integrate the value chain activities with the Balanced Scorecard for a comprehensive evaluation of an organization’s strategic performance. It also demonstrated the connection and the integration of the activities of the value chain with the Balanced Scorecard. The financial measurement was linked with non-financial measurement by integrating these techniques to achieve an appropriate performance that supports all aspects of the organizational performance. Consequently, the research problem in this study emerged, which is due to the concentration of many organizations on the measurement of financial performance. Notably, the latter caused the decline of some organizations from the competitive market. T
... Show MoreThis study is marked by: The ignorant poem and body language
Its main objective is to reveal the manifestations of this language in the text mentioned, and accordingly, the sieve poem has been read semantic (semantic) and hermeneutic, revealing the poet's ability to employ symbols and signals (body language) in the poem chosen for this purpose; The existence of such language in pre-Islamic poetry. After a long reflection and reading, the signs and symbols of the physical movement of the body, and its feminine and aesthetic manifestations were identified, and this was achieved through the use of modern critical methodologies that directly affect this language. The study consisted of an introduction and three topics, followed by t
In this study, a bioadhesive dosage form of eoconazole nitrate for vaginal delivery was designed using a combination of bioadhesive polymers: Carbopol 941 p and sodium carboxymethylcellulose or methylcellulose in different ratios. The bioadhesive strength was evaluated by measuring the force required to detach the tablet from sheep vaginal mucosal membrane. It was found that the bioadhesive force was directly proportional to Carbopol 941 p content in the different formulae. The formulae were tested for their swelling behavior using agar gel plate method. The results showed that formulae containing a combination of Carbopol 941 p and sodium carboxymethylcellulose had greater swelling index
... Show MoreIn this research tri metal oxides were fabricated by simple chemical spray pyrolysis technique from (Sn(NO3)2.20 H2O, Zn(NO3)2.6 H2O, Cd(NO3)2.4 H2O) salts at concentration 0.1M with mixing weight ratio 50:50 were fabricated on silicon substrate n-type (111). (with & without the presence of grooves by the following diemensions (20μm width, 7.5μm depth) with thickness was about ( 0.1 ±0.05 µm) using water soluble as precursors at a substrate temperature 550 ºC±5, with spray distance (15 cm) and their gas sensing properties toward H2S gas at different concentrations (10,50,100,500 ppmv) in air were investigated at room te
... Show MoreThe aim of this work is to shed light on the importance of medicinal plants, especially those that have extracts that have a direct effect on human health. The study and identification of botany is necessary because human life has become closely linked to the life of plants as food. In addition to using plants as food, primitive man did not stop at this point, but rather developed their use to hunt prey and also used toxic plant materials in wars. With the passage of time, the ancient man was able to link the wild plants that cover the surface of the earth and the diseases that afflict him, so he used these plants or Parts of it are for treatment. A medicinal plant is defined as one or more of its parts that contain one or more chemicals in
... Show MoreThis research will cover different aspects of estimating process of construction work in a desert area. The inherent difficulties which accompany the cost estimating of the construction works in desert environment in a developing country, will stem from the limited information available, resources scarcity, low level of skilled workers, the prevailing severe weather conditions and many others, which definitely don't provide a fair, reliable and accurate estimation. This study tries to present unit price to estimate the cost in preliminary phase of a project. Estimations are supported by developing mathematical equations based on the historical data of maintenance, new construction of managerial and school projects.
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