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 we

The adsorption of Malonic acid, Succinic acid, Adipic acid, and Azelaic acid from their aqueous solutions on zinc oxide surface were investigated. The adsorption efficiency was investigated using various factors such as adsorbent amount, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature. Optimum conditions for acids removal from its aqueous solutions were found to be adsorbent dose (0.2 g), equilibrium contact time (40 minutes), initial acids concentration (0.005 M). Variation of temperature as a function of adsorption efficiency showed that increasing the temperature would result in decreasing the adsorption ability. Kinetic modeling by applying the pseudo-second order model can provide a better fit of the data with a greater correla

Background: The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of implant site preparation in low-density bone using osseodensification method in terms of implant stability changes during the osseous healing period and peri-implant bone density using CBCT. Material and methods: This prospective observational clinical study included 24 patients who received 46 dental implants that were installed in low-density bone using the osseodensification method. CBCT was used to measure the bone density pre- and postoperatively and implant stability was measured using Periotest® immediately after implant insertion and then after 6 weeks and 12 weeks postoperatively. The data were analyzed using paired t-test and the probability value <0.05 was conside

Density functional theory (DFT) with B3LYP level and 6-311G[Formula: see text] basis sets for light atoms like N and O and SDD basis sets for heavy atoms like Sn is used to examine the interaction of tin dioxide nanocrystals with nitrogen dioxide as a function of temperature from 273[Formula: see text]K to 373[Formula: see text]K through a Gaussian 09W software program. Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of activation and reaction are calculated. The situation of transition of SnO₂ clusters toward nitrogen dioxide is investigated. According to the findings, the activation energy of SnO₂ clusters with nitrogen dioxide increases as the temperature rises (in negative value). Gauss view 0

Salinity of soil or irrigation water is one of the most important obstacle towards crop production and productivity, especially with the increasing scarcity of fresh water in Iraq and the Arab countries. The impact of salinity will be alleviated with the increasing temperature due to global warming. The objectives of this article was to shed some light on traits more related to salinity stress tolerance in oats, and to identify genetic variation of these traits. A split-plot arrangement experiment with RCBD was applied through 2011-2013 on the farm of Dept. of Field Crops/Coll. of Agric./Univ. of Baghdad. The oats cultivars; Hamel, Pimula and Genzania were set in sub-plots, whereas water quality was set in main-plots. Water quality had two

Permanent deformation (Rutting) of asphalt  pavements which appears in many roads in Iraq, have caused a major impact on pavement performance by reducing the useful service life of pavement and creating services hazards for highway users. The main objective of this research is investigating the effect of some contributory factors related to permanent deformation of asphalt concrete mixture. To meet the objectives of this research, available local materials are used including asphalt binder, aggregates, mineral filler and modified asphalt binder. The Superpave mix design system was adopted with varying volumetric compositions. The Superpave Gyratory Compactor was used to compact 24 asphalt concrete cylindrical specimens. To collect t

GH and IGF-2 were examined histologically in the present study on adult hens to learn more about the organs’ responses to GH and IGF-2. Cardiac protein synthesis is stimulated by GH and IGF-2, according to microscopic examination. The recent research found a considerable amount of adipose tissue in the cardiac muscle bundles, which is linked to the metabolic process. In addition, GH and IGF-2 were shown to promote protein synthesis and mitosis in liver and gizzard tissues, according to the research. In addition, the apoptosis, regeneration, and secretory activity of gizzard glands are increased by the aforementioned hormones.

Abstract

 This study investigated the optimization of wear behavior of AISI 4340 steel based on the Taguchi method under various testing conditions. In this paper, a neural network and the Taguchi design method have been implemented for minimizing the wear rate in 4340 steel. A back-propagation neural network (BPNN) was developed to predict the wear rate. In the development of a predictive model, wear parameters like sliding speed, applying load and sliding distance were considered as the input model variables of the AISI 4340 steel. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant parameter affecting the wear rate. Finally, the Taguchi approach was applied to determine