| The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ethanolic extract of 70% Hibiscus sabdariffa (HS) on some physiological parameters and the alteration in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in female rabbits. Ten female adult rabbits were divided into two groups (5 rabbits/group), group1: Control group received orally normal saline for four weeks, group2: the treated group received (200 mg/Kg) B.W of the ethanolic extract of HS. Blood samples were collected from animals by cardiac puncture technique. At the end of experiment the results showed that there were significant increase in red blood cell count (RBCC), hemoglobin concentration (Hb) with significant decrease in platelet count (Plt) and non-significant increase in the white blood cell count (WBCC), lymphocyte, monocyte and significant increase in granulocyte count in animals treated by HS extract as compared with control group. The results of liver enzymes showed that there were non-significant increase in activity of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and non-significant decrease in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in HS extract treated group as compared with the control group. The results of kidney function parameters explained that there were non-significant increase in level of urea but there were significant (p < 0.05) decrease in level of uric acid in animals treated with HS as compared with control. Moreover, the results of this study showed that there were significant (p < 0.05) decrease in serum triacylglycerol (TAG), cholesterol, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), but there was non-significant (p > 0.05) changes in catalase activity (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), vitamin E (Vit E), and vitamin C (Vit C). The results obtained from this study explained that 70% ethanolic extract of HS increase (RBCC) count, enhance immunity by increasing granulocyte count, and had hypolipidemic and antioxidant effect in female rabbit. Keywords

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In order to achieve optimal plant growth and production, essential nutrients must be readily available in adequate quantities and in a balanced proportion to give a good yield, especially broccoli which has health benefits that may not be found in many other plants. For this purpose, this experiment was carried out during the seasons 2019/2020 in the botanical garden of the Department of Biology, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, to study the effects of nitrogen and sulphur and their interaction on eight parameters reflecting the overall traits of vegetative growth, yield, and chlorophyll content of broccoli Brassica oleracea L. (var. italic JASSMINE F1 Hybrid). A factorial design with three replicates was used, each with 7 plants treated via foliar spraying. The first factor included three groups; control N0 (distill water spray), N1 (500 mg.l-1 nitrogen), and N2 (1000 mg.l-1 nitrogen). The second factor also included three groups; control S0 (distill water spray), S1 (500 mg.l-1 sulfur), and S2 (1000 mg.l-1 sulfur). We used Urea (CO(NH 2) 2) as a nitrogen source and zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) as a sulfur source. As for the treatment with nitrogen, the results revealed that N2 treatment caused the significantly highest values in all the studied traits, except for the plant height, where there was no significant difference between N1 and N2. As related to the treatment with sulphur, the results showed that S2 treatment resulted in the significantly highest values of leave area, leave dry weight, and root fresh weight. S2 also caused the highest values, but with no significant differences, of plant height, stem diameter and chlorophyll content index. S1 treatment, on the other hand, caused insignificantly higher values of leave number per plant and main curd weight. Based on the results of the interaction between nitrogen and sulfur, S1N2 treatment resulted in the significantly highest values as compared to all other treatments of all the studied traits, except for the plant height, root fresh weight, and main curd weight. The results presented here may facilitate improvements of Broccoli cultivation with suitable nutrient concentrations for sustainable agriculture. In conclusion, the present study comes up with the following: nitrogen and sulfur and their interaction enhance significantly the growth and production of broccoli.

The characteristics of electric discharge in a gap between two (parallel-plate) dielectric plates, which called dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), are studied for three dielectric materials Teflon, Glass and Silicon. The gap is filled with the argon gas in atmosphere pressure at ambient temperature. The separation of plates is 2 mm and each dielectric of 1mm thickness and 10 cm in diameter. A sinusoidal voltage 750 with 50 kHz frequency is applied to one of the dielectric plates, and the other plate is grounded. Fluid model (after solving Boltzmann equation) is used to simulate the discharge within the configuration. The simulation results are showed a good diagnostics for the characteristics of the dielectric barrier discharge, through studying properties of breakdown of the gas, such as ,electric potential and field distributions, electron density, mean electrons energy ,electrons and ions currents densities ,and the total plasma current density.