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Varicocele, a vascular event, is associated with infertility due to testicular damage that causes abnormal spermatogenesis in males. The goal of this study is to ascertain the diagnostic significance of scrotal color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) by measuring peak systolic value (PSV) and resistive index (RI) of the arteries supplying blood to the testis and their association with semen quality attributes. Sixty prospective patients (age: 20-50 years) undergoing microsurgical varicocelectomy at a teaching hospital were included in the study. Semen parameters and CDUS were recorded and testicular blood flow was determined as PSV and RI of subcapsular artery and intraparenchymal artery of the testes. Nonparametric statistics was applied to test the correlation/association of the semen quality with the PSV, RI, and other variables. Results revealed a significant negative correlation (r = -0.28; p < 0.05) between progressive motility of spermatozoa and resistive index of the intraparenchymal arterial blood flow. Furthermore, it was noticed that the progressive motility of spermatozoa was tended to be negatively correlated (r = -0.236) with resistive index of subcapsular arterial blood flow. In conclusion, this study has revealed that progressive motility of sperms has correlation with the intraparenchymal blood flow of testes. The progressive motility of sperms could be correlated with RI of testicular blood flow. The apparent lack of association between diameter of varicocele vein and semen quality signifies the need of investigating some other factors that may be involved in pathogenicity of varicocele. The diagnostic value of CDUS may be carefully interpreted and clinically correlated in assessment of severity of varicocele.

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Dibutyl phthalate is an important phthalate ester extensively used in various products like plastics, adhesives, inks, pharmaceuticals, lacquers, varnishes, paper coatings, safety glasses, and cosmetics. The exposure of DBP to "one's health" is therefore inevitable. The present study focuses on elucidating the effect of low doses of DBP on anthropometric parameters and markers of obesity in rats in a 13-week study. A total of 48 rats were divided into three treatment groups as mg DBP/kg body weight per day: (a) 0 mg/kg (control), (b) 10 mg/kg (DBP-10), and (c) 50 mg/kg (DBP-50). The rats in each treatment (n = 16) were further equally divided into male and female rats for studying treatment and gender interaction. Anthropometric parameters, nutritional determinants, and markers of obesity in rats were studied. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data (p < 0.05). Tukey's post hoc test was used for pairwise comparisons. DBP increased body weight gain, feed efficiency, abdominal to thoracic circumference ratio, and body mass index in rats. Serum cholesterol and alkaline phosphatase concentrations decreased with DBP treatment. Serum albumin, glucose, creatinine, and alanine transaminase increased with DBP treatments. Serum lactate dehydrogenase increased in DBP-10 but was not affected by DBP-50. Further low-dose investigations are needed to assess non-monotonic dose responses.

To ascertain an appropriate level of isoleucine for LSL-LITE layers (23- to 30-week-old), diets containing total isoleucine concentrations (levels) of 0.66 (Control), 0.69, 0.72, 0.75, 0.78, 0.81, and 0.84% were fed as 7 treatments (2730 kcal/kg metabolizable energy) x 7 replicates x 10 birds per replicate. Significance for performance, egg quality, serum biochemistry, and ileal digestibility of protein was determined at P ≤ 0.05. Level, week, and level*week (L*W) were significant for production, egg mass, and feed intake. Level and week were significant for FCR. Week was significant for weight gain. Level was significant for egg weight, specific gravity, and shell thickness; week was also significant for these external egg parameters as well as shape index and proportional shell thickness. L*W was significant for all except shape index. For internal egg measurements, level was significant for proportional yolk, proportional albumen, yolk index, and yolk:albumen. Week was significant for internal egg parameters while L*W significantly affected Haugh unit, proportional albumen weight, yolk index, albumen index, and yolk color. Level was significant for globulin and glucose in serum. Isoleucine at 0.72%, 0.81%, and 0.84% produced the lowest FCR, an important standard in the poultry industry. Considering the low FCR of 1.45 and cost for inclusion as a dietary ingredient, 0.72% isoleucine was chosen for further studies with varying quantities of other branched chain amino acids in diets for young laying hens.