The immune infertility caused by anti-sperm antibodies (ASAs) represented about 10–20% of infertility among the couples. The ASAs interfere with sperm parameters such as sperm motility and sperm ability to penetrate cervical mucus, sperm-oocyte binding, and fertilization and embryo development. Objectives: The present study designed to assess semen analysis, presence of ASAs and DNA fragmentation index as well as correlation within these parameters in normzoospermic Iraqi subjects Patients, Materials, and Methods: A total number of Iraqi subjects (116) with range of age (20-51) years and their mean duration of infertility (4.70 ± 2.77). Seminal fluid for macroscopic and microscopic assessments done according to WHO 2010 criteria. The mixed agglutination reaction (MAR) test was used to assess their ASAs in semen (direct method), seminal plasma, and serum (indirect method) for both IgG and IgA classes of antibodies and their distribution among different parts of spermatozoa as a percentage. Results: The mean of IgG using the direct method was (23.88± 1.75) and for the indirect detection method the mean was (27.41± 2.41) with no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the two methods. While the direct method for IgA detection had a mean of 14.46 ± 1.76 and the indirect method of detection had a mean of 6.86 ± 0.39, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) between the two methods. In addition to that, the distribution of IgG and IgA detected by the direct method on sperm parts showed no significant difference except for the sperm tail, while the indirect method for IgA and IgG showed a significant difference in distribution on the sperm mid-piece. Conclusion: The correlation among sperm parameters and immunoglobulin using direct and indirect methods shows variations in significance also in the correlation between the direct and indirect methods according to distributions on the sperm surface.
Leishmania parasites are the causative agent of leishmaniasis. Many studies are inspecting chemical drugs, including the use of miltefosine and amphotericin B, but curative values may be limited for these drugs with side effects due to the chemical origin, therefore, investigating less toxic therapies is essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of artemisinin on Iraqi strain of Leishmania tropica, by experimental macrophage ex vivo infection of amastigotes into mouse macrophage cell-line RAW264.7. Different concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400, 500)μM of artemisinin (ART) were screened to examine the susceptibility of L. tropica amastigotes to invade macrophage cell line along three times of follow up (24, 48 and
... Show MoreCarbamazepine (CBZ) is a narrow therapeutic index drug used in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and psychiatric disorders. Valerian (VAL) is a popular herbal product which should be prescribed to treat insomnia and anxiety. The study was designed to investigate the presence of significant pharmacokinetic (PK) interaction between Valerian (VAL) at different concentrations on Carbamazepine (CBZ) pharmacokinetic parameters in healthy male rabbits. In an in vivo, parallel-randomized controlled trial, the rabbits in three groups "first (control), second and third" were given oral doses of CBZ (50 mg/kg), for "second and third" groups (as test groups) rabbits were given (20 and 40 mg/kg/day) of the VAL respectively, as suspensi
... Show MoreThis study is conducted in order to, investigate the trophic state of Duhok Lake Dam located within Duhok city, Iraq. Water samples are collected seasonally from three monitored sites during 2011. The parameters used for assessing water quality and trophic status level include: water temperature, pH, EC, TDS, DO, BOD5, nutrients, Secchi disk transparency, and chlorophyll a. The results reveal that DO is above 5 mg.l-1 in all sites, BOD5 value is within permissible level for domestic uses. Water quality considered as a hard type. High sulfate concentration is recorded during the study period. Trophic state shows that water type is classified as mesotrophic during autumn season, while it is regarded as eutrophic in other seasons. TDN/TDP rati
... Show MoreOne of the major problems facing the road construction engineer is the collapsible granular soil which may be used for embankment construction. Problems appears when such compacted soil come in touch with water, it exhibits cracking and uncontrolled settlement. Collapsible soils are defined as any unsaturated soil that goes through a radical rearrangement of practice and great loss of volume upon wetting, with or without additional loading. An attempt has been made in this investigation to stabilize the collapsible soil of Nasiriya with asphalt emulsion. Specimens of pure and asphalt emulsion stabilized soil have been prepared using optimum fluid content and tested. The first group of specimens of (60x60x20) cm have been tested for direct s
... Show MoreChitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42
... Show MoreA study was carried out to determine the concentrations of trace metals in vegetables and fruits, which are locally available in the markets of Baghdad-samples of fourteen varieties of vegetables and fruits, belonging to Beta vulgaris, Brassica rapa, Daucus carota, Allium cepa, Eurica sativa, Malva silvestris, Coriandrum Sativum, Trigonella Foenum craecum, Anethum graveolens, Barassica oleracea, Phaseolus vulgaris, citrus reticulata, Py rus malus, and Punica granatum. Analysis for Cd,Pb, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn were determined by flame atomic absorption sp ectrophotometry. The results indicated that the Malva silvestris recorded the highest concentrations of Cd and Mn while Allium cepa showed the highest concentrations of Pb and Cu. But E
... Show MorePiezoelectric structures are nowadays used in many different applications. A better understanding of the influence of material properties and geometrical design on the performance of these structures helps to develop piezoelectric structures specifically designed for their application. Different equivalent circuits have been introduced in the literature to investigate the behaviour of piezoelectric transducers. The model parameters are usually determined from measurements covering the characteristic frequencies of the piezoelectric transducer. This article introduces an analytical technique for calculating the mechanical and electrical equivalent system parameters and characteristic frequencies based on material properties and geom
... Show MoreChalcopyrite thin films ternary Silver Indium Diselenide AgInSe2 (AIS) pure and Aluminum Al doped with ratio 0.03 was prepared using thermal evaporation with a vacuum of 7*10-6 torr on glass with (400) nm thickness for study the structural and optical properties. X-ray diffraction was used to show the inflance of Al ratio dopant on structural properties. X-ray diffraction show that thin films AIS pure, Al doped at RT and annealing at 573 K are polycrystalline with tetragonal structure with preferential orientation (112). raise the crystallinity degree. AFM used to study the effect of Al on surfaces roughness and Grain Size Optical properties such as the optical band gap, absorption coefficient, Extinction coefficient, refractive ind
... Show MoreReservoir fluids properties are very important in reservoir engineering computations such as material balance calculations, well testing analyses, reserve estimates, and numerical reservoir simulations. Isothermal oil compressibility is required in fluid flow problems, extension of fluid properties from values at the bubble point pressure to higher pressures of interest and in material balance calculations (Ramey, Spivey, and McCain). Isothermal oil compressibility is a measure of the fractional change in volume as pressure is changed at constant temperature (McCain). The most accurate method for determining the Isothermal oil compressibility is a laboratory PVT analysis; however, the evaluation of exploratory wells often require an esti
... Show More