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
The educational sector is one of the important sectors in the world, and it is considered one of the means of community development. In addition, it is one of the means of making the country’s renaissance and devel-opment because it represents the factory of thinking minds that make change. There is no doubt that this sector is the same as any other sector. The deficit in the studied scientific planning has been prolonged, which led to its deterioration, and the problems of education remain diverse and inherited from previous time periods, where the hierarchical cluster analysis was used on postgraduate students in universities in Iraq, except for Kurdistan region, and the number of universities that were included in the study was
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Background: Parvovirus B19 is a human pathogenic virus associated with a wide range of clinical conditions. During pregnancy congenital infection with parvovirus B19 can be associated with poor outcome, including miscarriage, fetal anemia and non-immune hydrops.
Objective: The study aimed to determine the prevalenceof Parvovirus B19 DNA in pregnant women attending the Military hospital in Khartoum, demonstrating the association between the virus and poor pregnancy outcomes.
Subjects and methods: This study was a cross sectional study, testing pregnant Sudanese women whole blood samples (n= 97) for the presence of Parvovirus B1
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This research aimed to predict the permanent deformation (rutting) in conventional and rubberized asphalt mixes under repeated load conditions using the Finite Element Method (FEM). A three-dimensional (3D) model was developed to simulate the Wheel Track Testing (WTT) loading. The study was conducted using the Abaqus/Standard finite element software. The pavement slab was simulated using a nonlinear creep (time-hardening) model at 40°C. The responses of the viscoplastic model under the influence of the trapezoidal amplitude of moving wheel loadings were determined for different speeds and numbers of cycles. The results indicated that a wheel speed increase from 0.5Km/h to 1.0Km/h decreased the rut depth by about 22% and 24% in conv
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Background: Primary healthcare in Egypt has undergone significant reforms since the 1990s, including the pioneering Family Health Program (FHP). However, limited evaluation exists regarding the FHP's impact on enhancing the delivery of primary healthcare services. The primary objective of this study was to analyze and understand the efficiency and effectiveness of the FHP in altering the delivery of primary healthcare in Egypt. We aimed to outline the fundamental characteristics of the primary healthcare system, compare them between the conventional and the newly reformed FHP centers, and gauge the awareness level of these variances among key decision-makers, focusing specifically on Cairo, Egypt. Methods: This cross-sectional study employe
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In this paper, an experimental analysis of conventional air-cooled and microchannel condensers in automotive vapor compression refrigeration cycle concerning heat transfer coefficient and energy using R134a as a refrigerant was presented. The performance of two condensers and cycles tested regarding ambient temperature which it was varied from 40oC to 65oC, while the indoor temperature and load have been set to be 23oC and 2200 W respectively. Results showed that the microchannel condenser has 224 % and 77 % higher refrigerant side and air side heat transfer coefficient respectively than the coefficients of the conventional condenser. Thus, the COP, in case of using the microchannel
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Diode lasers are becoming popular in periodontal surgery due to their highly absorption by pigments such as melanin and hemoglobin their weak absorption by water and hydroxyapatite makes them safe to be used around dental hard tissues. Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of diode laser in performing gingivectomy in comparison to conventional scalpel technique in patients with chronic inflammatory enlargement. Materials and methods: Thirty patients were selected for this study. All of them required surgical treatment of gingival enlargements and were randomly divided into two groups: Control group (treated by scalpel and include sixteen patients) and study group (treated with diode laser 940nm and includ
... Show MoreBaghdad city has been faced numerous issues related to freshwater environment deteriorations due to many reasons, mainly was the discharge of wastewater without adequate treatment. Al-Rustamiya Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) have been constructed among many plants in Baghdad city to reduce the amount of wastewater discharged into natural environment and its subsequent adverse effects. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the plant which consist of a conventional activated sludge (CAS) and sequencing batch reactors (SBR) systems as secondary treatment units and its ability to meet Iraqi specifications. A reliability level determination and analysis also were conducted to find the plant's stability an
... Show MoreBaghdad city has been faced numerous issues related to freshwater environment deteriorations due to many reasons, mainly was the discharge of wastewater without adequate treatment. Al- Rustamiya Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) have been constructed among many plants in Baghdad city to reduce the amount of wastewater discharged into natural environment and its subsequent adverse effects. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the plant which consist of a conventional activated sludge (CAS) and sequencing batch reactors (SBR) systems as secondary treatment units and its ability to meet Iraqi specifications. A reliability level determination and analysis also were conducted to find the plant's stability and its capabi
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