Background: The discriminative power of the classical WHO parameters in relation to male fertility is quite low, because they only address few aspects of sperm quality and function. This has led investigators to focus their attention on the male gamete and in particular its genome.Objective: To explore which of the sperm DNA damage parameters measured by comet assay are more reliable, and their relations with the standard semen parameters.Methods: Study was done on 40 infertile men selected from couples attending the Institute of Embryo Reasearch and Infertility Treatment at Al-Kadhimiya City/ Baghdad in the period between February 2009 and May 2009, with a history of infertility of ≥1 years; and 15 healthy volunteers of proven fertility serving as control. Samples were allowed to liquefy for at least 30 minutes at 37°C and then evaluated according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, 1999. The single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay was studied in the ejaculated spermatozoa. The exclusion criteria were the presence of azoospermia and severe oligospermia. Results were compared with the standard semen characteristics (concentration, motility and morphology).Results: Compared to healthy volunteers, infertile patients had highly significantly higher values of comet parameters (P = 0.00001). In all infertile patients, comet extent did not correlate with any of the classical semen parameters; whereas, tail length (μm), % DNA in tail, tail moment and olive moment had all significant negative correlations with the standard parameters. Significant positive correlations were observed between the studied comet parameters, except for the comet extent which was not significantly correlated with tail length and % DNA in tail (P = 0.06, P = 0.7; respectively).Conclusion: Comet assay is a very useful technique in assessing sperm DNA damage. Comet tail parameters and comet extent, may clarify different aspects of DNA damage, and together give a better insight to the integrity of the male genome.Keywards: sperm, comet extent, % DNA in tail, tail moment and olive moment
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A program in Visual Basic language was designed to predict the type of radio storm that emitted from Jupiter at specific Local Time (LT) from two different Iraqi locations (Baghdad and Basra), such storms result from the Central Meridian Longitude (CML) of system ??? for Jupiter and phase of Io’s satellite (?Io). Some of these storms are related to position of Io (Io- A,B,C,D) and others are unrelated (non-Io-A,B,C,D) to its position. The input parameters for this program were user specified by determining the observer’s location (longitude), year, month and day. The output program results in form of tables provides the observer with information about the date and the LT of beginning and end of each type of emitted storm. Two Io-storm r
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Shumblan (SH) is one of the most undesirable aquatic plants widespread in the irrigation channels and water bodies. This work focuses on boosting the biogas potential of shumblan by co-digesting it with other types of wastes without employing any chemical or thermal pretreatments as done in previous studies. A maximum biogas recovery of 378 ml/g VS was reached using shumblan with cow manure as inoculum in a ratio of 1:1. The methane content of the biogas was 55%. Based on volatile solid (VS) and C/N ratios, biogas productions of 518, 434, and 580 ml/g VS were obtained when the shumblan was co-digested with food wastes (SH:F), paper wastes (SH:P), and green wastes (SH:G) respectively. No significant changes of methane contents were observ
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Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three types of light curing devices QTH, LED and Flashmax on the surface microhardness of three types of bulkfill composite resins; Filtek Bulkfill posterior composite ( 3M), Tetric Evo Ceram ( Ivoclar Vivadent) and Sonicfill composite ( Kerr) Materials and methods: Total number of 90 samples was prepared, 30 samples for each type of bulkfill composite, were divided into three main groups, group A: Filtek posterior bulkfil (3M), group B: Tetric Evo Ceram (Ivoclar Vivadent) and group C: contain Sonicfill composite (kerr). Which then divided into three subgroups (n= 10) (1) Samples cured by QTH system (2) Samples cured by LED system and (3) samples cured by Flashmax system the
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Reishi Mushroom, Ganoderma, is considered one of important wood-decaying medicinal mushrooms. This study aimed to identify three samples of this genus in Mosul city in February and April 2019. Three species of Ganoderma were collected from three various trees including Eucalyptus, Morus, and Olea (olive) in Mosul City, Northern Iraq. Their identifications and their DNA sequences were genetically identified by using PCR techniques according to detect nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. Results exhibited the finding of Ganoderma resinaceum, Ganoderma applanatum, and Ganoderma sp. This study is first attempt to identify Reishi Mushroom by molecular methods in Iraq. Thus, the current study is considered new good d
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The experiment was conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture University of Ain Shams-Egypt, from January to March 2008, to study the effect of different levels of chromium yeast (Cr-yeast) on broiler chickens performance, carcass quality and enzyme activity through 35 days of experimental periods. A total of 450 one-day old unsexed chickens (Cobb) strain were used. The birds were randomly allocated to five treatments with 3 replicates each. The treatments were control (T1) without supplementation and T2, T3, T4 and T5 which were supplemented with 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg Cr-yeast /kg diet, respectively. Live body weight and weight gain were significantly (p<0.05) higher when Cr-yeast were supplemented at 1 (T3), 1.5 (T4) and 2 (T5) mg/kg diet. Fe
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Some parameters for advancement of Leishmania tropica infection were examined in three groups of golden hamsters, Group (1) inoculated with autoclaved killed Leishmania tropica , Group (2) inoculated with BCG vaccine alone while Group (3) Inoculated with mixed vaccine (autoclaved killed Leishmania with BCG). The follow up of experimentally infected animals with virulent isolation of Leishmania tropica was done for 90 days, the animals inoculated with mixed vaccine (autoclaved killed Leishmania with BCG) showed the minimum average in each of foot pad thickness (2.3 ± 0.05) mm after (60) days of infection, spleen enlargement (1.13±0.38) after (45) days of infection, spleen length (23.9±0.08) mm after (30) days of infection, liver weight(3.
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Background: The ideal force-delivery system must: provide optimal tooth moving forces that elicit the desired effects, be comfortable and hygienic for the patient, require minimal operator manipulation and patient cooperation and provide rapid tooth movement with minimal mobility during orthodontic therapy, the elastomeric chains have the greatest potential to fulfill these requirements. Materials and Methods: This in vitro study was designed to determine the effect of three different mechanisms for canine retraction : (6-3 , 6-5-3 and chain loop ) on the load relaxation behavior of three types of elastomeric chains : (maximum clear , maximum silver and extreme silver) from the same company (Ortho Technology company) with two different bran
... Show MoreIn this study, we used Bayesian method to estimate scale parameter for the normal distribution. By considering three different prior distributions such as the square root inverted gamma (SRIG) distribution and the non-informative prior distribution and the natural conjugate family of priors. The Bayesian estimation based on squared error loss function, and compared it with the classical estimation methods to estimate the scale parameter for the normal distribution, such as the maximum likelihood estimation and th
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Stumpff functions are an infinite series that depends on the value of z. This value results from multiplying the reciprocal semi-major axis with a universal anomaly. The purpose from those functions is to calculate the variation of the universal parameter (variable) using Kepler's equation for different orbits. In this paper, each range for the reciprocal of the semi-major axis, universal anomaly, and z is calculated in order to study the behavior of Stumpff functions C(z) and S(z). The results showed that when z grew, Stumpff functions for hyperbola, parabola, and elliptical orbits were also growing. They intersected and had a tendency towards zero for both hyperbola and parabola orbits, but for elliptical orbits, Stumpff functions
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