Background: Human semen contains high concentrations of fructose, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in bound and ionic forms for Zn and Cu. The presence of abnormal levels of fructose and those trace elements may affect spermatogenesis with regard to production, maturation, motility and fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa.Objective: To evaluate the levels of fructose, Zn and Cu in seminal plasma in different groups of male infertility and to correlate their concentrations with various sperm parameters.Methods: The concentrations of fructose, Zn and Cu were measured in 114 semen samples from normozoospermic, oligozoospermic, astheno-zoospermic, and azoospermic men using the electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry for Zn and Cu determination. The concentration of fructose in seminal plasma was determined with a spectrophotometric method, using the resorcinol method.Results: Results of the present study showed that there was an inverse relationship between fructose levels and sperm count. The mean value of seminal plasma fructose concentrations was significantly increased (p ≤ 0.001) in the three groups of infertile male subjects (azoospermia, asthenozoospermia and oligozoospermia) than in fertile males. The mean value of seminal plasma Zn concentrations was significantly decreased (p ≤ 0.001) in the three groups of infertile male subjects (azoospermia, asthenozoospermia and oligozoospermia) than in fertile males. A good correlation in a positive direction was noted between the sperm count and seminal plasma Zn concentration. There was significant decrease in seminal plasma Cu concentration between asthenozoospermia and control groups (p ≤ 0.05) and insignificant increase in oligozoospermic patients.Conclusions: On the basis of the observations of the present study, seminal fructose, zinc and copper may contribute to fertility through their effects on various semen parameters.Key words:Male infertility, fructose, zinc, copper.
Inflammasome is a multiprotein oligomer complex which is the precursor procaspase-1 and is a component of the innate immune system so that this study aimed to determine the serum levels of interleukin-1? and 18 in patients with T2D and simple obesity in an attempt to clarify the role of inflammasome in these disorders.Twenty five known cases of T2D, twenty four patients with simple obesity and twenty healthy subjects were randomly recruited from AL-Kindy Teaching Hospital in Baghdad to enroll in this study. All the data about the demographic characteristics and anthropometric measurements were determined in all patients, also the C-reactive protein and serum interleukin (IL)-1? and IL-18 levels were obtained from each patient. The results s
... Show MoreThis research aims primarily to highlight personal tax exemptions A comparative study with some Arab and European regulations. And by conducting both theoretical comparative analyses. Most important findings of the study is the need to grant personal and family exemptions that differ according to the civil status of the taxpayer (single or married). In other words, the exemption increases as the number of family members depend on its social sense. Also taking into account some incomes that require a certain effort and looking at the tax rates, it is unreasonable for wages to be subject to the same rates applied to commercial profits.
Binary relations or interactions among bio-entities, such as proteins, set up the essential part of any living biological system. Protein-protein interactions are usually structured in a graph data structure called "protein-protein interaction networks" (PPINs). Analysis of PPINs into complexes tries to lay out the significant knowledge needed to answer many unresolved questions, including how cells are organized and how proteins work. However, complex detection problems fall under the category of non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-Hard) problems due to their computational complexity. To accommodate such combinatorial explosions, evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are proven effective alternatives to heuristics in solvin
... Show MoreBackground: The marginal adaptation has a key role in the success and longevity of the fixed dental restoration, which is affected by the impression and the fabrication techniques .The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the marginal fitness of lithium disilicate crowns using two different digital impression techniques (direct and indirect techniques) and two different fabrication techniques (CAD/CAM and Press techniques). Materials and Methods: Thirty two sound upper first premolar teeth of comparable size extracted for orthodontic reason were selected in this study .Standardized preparation of all teeth samples were carried out with modified dental surveyor to receive all ceramic crown restoration with 1 mm deep
... Show MoreThis research addresses the necessity due to the scarcity of historical studies in the field of sports, especially those indicating the activities and achievements of Arab countries in the Paralympic movement. This study aims to document the participation of Arab countries in the Paralympic Games, explore the prominent sports in which Arab athletes with disabilities participated, and analyze their achievements during the Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2012. The research methodology adopted an analytical, historical approach, collecting and analyzing data objectively through the official website of the International Paralympic Committee, in addition to scientific and historical sources from research papers, journals, and websites. The key fi
... Show MoreBackground: The value of lateral cephalometric radiographs to evaluate the pharyngeal airway is limited because it provided 2-dimensional (2D) images of complex 3-dimensional (3D) anatomic structures. Three dimensional analyses of the airway volumes are required to understand oral and pharyngeal adaptations in mouth breathing and nasal breathing subjects. The aim of this study was to measure the pharyngeal airway volume and the size of the face, then compare between pharyngeal airway volume in mouth breathing and nasal breathing subjects and find the gender difference in each group, also to study the relation between pharyngeal airway volume and the size of the face. Material and Methods: Fifty patients including 28 males and 22 females wit
... Show MoreBackground: Plasma-activated water (PAW) is considered one of the emerging strategies that has been highlighted recently in the food industry for microbial decontamination and mycotoxin detoxification, due to its unique provisional characteristics. Aim: The effectiveness of PAW for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), and fumonisin B1 (FB1) detoxification in naturally contaminated poultry feeds with its impacts on the feed quality were inspected. Methods: PAW-30 and PAW-60 were utilized for feed treatment for six time durations (5, 10, 15, 20, 40 and 60 min) each. The alterations in the physicochemical properties of PAW after different time durations of plasma inducement and treatment with and without feed samples were monit
... Show MoreNiO nanoparticle synthesis by chemical method and characterized by XRD with crystal size 11.72
nm and grain size 13 nm from FESEM image also NiO micro used ,two NiO as an additive to evaluate the
possibility of producing photodegradable polymers, the practical application of solid-phase photocatalytic
degradation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC- NiO composite films) was investigated. PVC has a negative impact
on the environment since its polymer degrades slowly, yet it has a wide range of industrial applications and
the amount used shows no evidence of diminishing use. Thus, a synthesis of modified PVC- NiO micro and
nano has been studied with 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 (hours) as irradiation time a