INTRODUCTION: Sperm MTT viability assay is a new method for assessment of percentage of viable sperms in semen samples. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability of sperm MTT viability assay, in comparison with eosin-nigrosin and hypo-osmotic swelling tests, in severe and moderate asthenospermia and normospermia.METHODS: MTT, E&N and HOST were carried out simultaneously on 37 human semen samples. Nine semen samples had less than 5% motility, eleven semen samples had 10-25% motility and seventeen semen samples had more than 50% motility. Two paired t-tests were conducted using SPSS, statistical software.RESULTS: No significant differences were observed between the above 3 sperm viability tests between the aforementioned patients.DISCUSSION: Sperm MTT viability assay can be used as a diagnostic test for differentiating viable from non-viable sperms in all of these three groups.

In this pepar, the effect of concentration on the fluorescence and absorption spectra of Eosin yin (ethanol, methanol, and DMF) atconcentrations [1×10-4M] and [1×10-5M] was studied. The exctation wavelength of ethanol and methanol was (510 nm), the exctation wavelength of N,N-Dimethylformamide was (530 nm), and some optical parameters such as the absoption wavelength and fluorescence in the UV-Vis and some graphic relationships were measured such as the relationships between the dielectric constant, orientation polarizability (Δf), and the refractive index.

Background and Objectives: Sperm viability is one of the semen parameters that should be noted in male infertility approaches. Depending on the laboratory’s facilities and especially the purpose of the experiment, i.e. diagnostic or therapeutic, one or more of the diagnostic techniques are employed. In the present study, three methods; Hypo-Osmotic Swelling Test (HOST), Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay (VCA), and Eosin-Nigrosin Technique (ENT) have been compared in terms of cost, required equipments, diagnostic value, and rapidity. Materials and Methods: In this laboratory study semen samples from six healthy volunteers referred to the Andrology laboratory, Hallamshire hospital, Sheffield, UK were investigated in 2002. In 4 ependorfs, 180µl of 5×106 sperm/ml of prepared sperm using percoll gradient method were decanted. Three of the ependorfs were treated with 20ml of Chlamydia LPS at final concentration of 0.1mg/ml for 6 h at 37oC in 5% CO2 for 6 h and the last ependorf was treated with 20ml of 1×EBSS as control. After 6h incubation the sperm viability was measured using HOST, VCA, and ENT methods. The data was then analysed using t-test and One-way ANOVA. Results: The findings of HOST, VCA, and ENT indicated that sperm mortality rate enhanced markedly in the presence of lipopolysaccharide from Chlamydia trachomatis at 0.1μg/ml; [35.5±4.1% (HOST) , 33.8±3.3% (VCA), 34.4±3.9% (ENT), p<0.05). However, the differences between the test groups were not statistically significant in the inter-group comparison. Conclusion: If sperm viability assessment is required only for diagnostic purposes, ENT is suggested as a preferred method, because it is cheap, easy, fast, handy, and needs no specific facilities.

Producion of efficient antimicrobial drugs against to common human pathogens is one of the most important challenges in the field of medical microbiology. Continuous screening of clinical isolates and survey of antimicrobial resistance pattern is critical.Today, disk diffusion and dilution methods are known as the common antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. Disk diffusion method does not render dependable results in determination of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern because this method is semi quantitative. MIC determination by microdilution and macrodilution techniques and recent method “E-Test”, have given interpretable results to researchers. Microdilution and macrodilution methods are also time consuming, expensive and error- prone methods. Whereas E-Test method is one of the means by which we will be able to determine susceptibility pattern of known species in low cost and short time. In this survey, constructing and printing of E-Test, coating of antibiotic on O.H.P film and quality control of constructed E-Tests were performed according to M7 A7 CLSI Standard. In this study quality of required materials for E-Test Production were suitable. Evaluation of constructed strips was performed using standard strain of staphylococcus aureus and reproducibly of results was appreciated.

Contact dermatitis is an inflammatory skin disease due to contact with different substances and caused by two mechanisms: allergy and irritation. Contact dermatitis is a common skin disease and the most common occupational dermatosis. Differentiating between allergic and irritant contact dermatitis is essential in the identification of etiologic factor(s) and hence, its control and prognosis. This differentiation can be done only by patch test. Unfortunately, this simple, safe and useful test is always neglected. We review the basics of patch test, the method of performance, reading and interpretation of its results, possible side effects and results of studies done with patch test in different countries.

In this study the nonlinear optical properties of Eosin-B dye nanoparticles were studied using the ‎scanning-fluorescence spectrophotometer and fluorometer method. The nano water droplet in the ‎oil medium is prepared by a combination of hexane and surfactant water, which is painted inside ‎the drop by Eosin-B. The droplet size was studied on a nonlinear refractive index using a 532 nm ‎laser with a scanning power of 80 mW. The results show that the surface effects on the nano-‎droplets cause the droplets to have a larger nonlinear refractive index. This change was due to a ‎decrease in the accumulation of dyes inside the droplet as well as a decrease in the polarity of the ‎drop solvent relative to the water solvent.

The present study investigated varieties of C-test as measures of General Language proficiency (GLP). C-test was first introduced into language testing as a modification of close procedure. The original C-test was developed by mutilating the second half of every other word, beginning from word two ID sentence two of [l passage. Through various studies, C-test proved an integrative and a highly reliable and valid measure of (GLP. The present study was also aimed at further confirming those findings by investigating not only the original C-test but other varietis of C-test. To this end ten C-test versions were developed, by applying different deletion techniques and deletion rates, and were administered among nearly 500 senior EFL students, in the way that each form was given to almost 50 subjects. All the subjects had already taken a TOEFL. and a close test prior to the administration of the C-tests. The results of data analyses showed that C:-test may measure different things one of which might be general language proficiency and as such, not all varieties of C-test measure this construct to the same extent.

Oxygen metabolites as reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered as major factors in male infertility. In the present investigation, we aimed to study the effect of different concentrations of ascorbate/vitamin C (300-2000 micromolar), on membrane integrity, acrosome reaction, and viability of bull (Holstein) spermatozoa in presence of iron (ferrous) ions as lipid peroxidation (LPO) promoter. LPO is one of the manifestations of ROS attack in biological membranes. LPO impinges on membrane integrity, triggers inactivation of membrane bound enzymes which involve in sperm motility. Ascorbate in concentrations below 1000 micromolar protects spermatozoa from free radical damages as evidenced from improvement in their membrane integrity (data of LPO test), elevated acrosome reactions, and increased viability. Concomitantly, there is also witnessed depletion of malondialdehyde (MDA) (an end product of LPO) generation following ascorbate supplementation. Ascorbate at 1000 micromolar concentration and above, however, is not protective, as evidenced by abrupt fall in sperm membrane integrity and rate of acrosome reactions and lowered % live sperm cells. Collectively, ascorbate acts as a double-edged sward in different concentrations and researchers must keep in mind this negative side of ascorbate application in their research fields like in vitro fertilization, cell culture, and preservation of gametes to minimize its deleterious impacts on biological systems.