The effects of an extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic field on the sex hormones and other fertility parameters of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were investigated. Adult male rats were exposed to a 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field at approximately 25 mT (rms) for 18 consecutive weeks. There were no significant effects on the absolute body weight and the weight of the testes of the exposed rats. However, the weights of seminal vesicles and preputial glands were significantly reduced in the exposed male rats. Similarly, a significant reduction in sperm count was observed in the exposed group. Furthermore, there were no significant effects on the serum levels of male follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) during the 18 weeks of exposure period. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in the serum levels of male luteinizing hormone (LH) after 18 weeks of exposure (P <.005), while testosterone levels were significantly decreased only after 6 and 12 weeks of the exposure period. These results suggest that long term exposure to ELF could have adverse effects on mammalian fertility and reproduction.

Background Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a polyphenol derived from the plant Curcuma longa, commonly called turmeric. Extensive research over the last 50 years has demonstrated that these polyphenols play an important role in the maintenance of health and prevention of diseases, in addition to its therapeutic benefits such as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant activities. Materials and methods This study is devoted to the enhancement of the solubility and bioavailability of curcumin nanoparticles prepared by a process based on a wet-milling technique and then examine in vitro against prostate cancer cell line 3 (PC3), human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK), human erythrocytes (red blood cells (RBCs)), and against fourth different bacterial strains two gram-positive (Micrococcus luteus ATCC 9341, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213), two gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853). Results The cell viability curve, the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC), and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were evaluated. Nanocurcumin displayed significant activity against cancer cell line (PC3) and low toxicity against normal cells (HEK) compared with parent curcumin in favor of PC3 (P < 0.05). In addition, it was found that the efficiency of toxicity for nanocurcumin against PC3 (E% = 59.66%) was much better than HEK (E% = 36.07%) compared with parent curcumin. The results also demonstrate that, although nanocurcumin has a little more ability to lays RBCs than parent curcumin after incubated 60 min, but the hemolysis % remained very low and there was no significant difference between hemolysis % of nanocurcumin and parent curcumin (P > 0.05). On the other hand, the results demonstrate that, the MBCs of nanocurcumin were lower than curcumin for all different bacterial strains. Moreover, the selected gram-positive bacteria had higher sensitivity than the selected gram-negative bacteria for both curcumin and nanocurcumin. In conclusion, all these findings not only indicate that nanocurcumin safe compound has a potent ability as anti-cancer and antimicrobial activities, but also well justify the avail of using nanocurcumin as prostate cells PC3 anti-cancer, and antimicrobial agent for nanocurcumin are markedly improved by decreasing particle size to the nano-scale regime.

To investigate the effects of an extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic field on their fertility, adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to a 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field of approximately 25 microT (rms) for 90 days before they were mated with unexposed counterparts. Exposure to a 50 Hz field reduced male rat fertility. The number of pregnant females was reduced when mated with exposed males, and the number of resorptions increased. The effects of magnetic field on male fertility were shown to be partly reversible, when the same exposed group of males were remated 45 and 90 days after being removed from the fields. Exposure of adult female rats to 50 Hz magnetic fields for 90 days before mating significantly reduced their fertility. The mean numbers of implantations and living fetuses per litter were statistically significantly decreased in the 50 Hz group. These results suggest that low frequency magnetic fields have some adverse effects on fertility of male and female rats.

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