Background: Aqueous extract of winter cherry (Physalis alkekengi L; family of Solanaceae) fruits (WCF) has long been recommended for fertility control by herbalists in Iran. The effect of this extract on lowering serum progesterone levels has been reported previously. Objective: To study the effects of WCF extract on the activities of ovarian 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) responsible...

This study compared the use of five different models to describe the growth from birth to 20 weeks of age of kids from both genders of nondescript goats. Fifty nine (59) nondescript kids were weighed weekly at the university of Maiduguri livestock teaching and research farm, Nigeria and the live weights were modeled. Biologically relevant variables were estimated for each kid from the Logistic,...

The first step in the design of plate girder is to estimate the self-weight of it. Although empirical formulae for the same are available, the level of their accuracy (underestimate or overestimate) with respect to actual self-weight is not known. In this paper, optimized sections are obtained for different spans subjected to different live load carrying capacities and self-weights are estimate...

Life in most of the world’s urban societies is increasingly sedentary. People neither toil in the fields nor hunt for food. With little need for mobility, there’s easy access to plenty of food that is loaded with sugar, fat, preservatives, and calories. The so-called ‘‘western diet’’ has brought with it a host of metabolic problems that we have probably never encountered in our evolutionary his...