Feasibility Cultivation of Camelina (Camelina sativa) as Medicinal-Oil Plant in Rainfed Conditions in Kermanshah-Iran's First Report

In Iran, more than 90% of raw materials including oils and oil seeds are provided through import. Camelina sativa L. as an oilseed crop, belongs to Brassicaceae family, has been shown in several experiments that need very little water and resistant to chilling injury than other plant oils, especially canola. This Experiment was conducted at research station of Campus of Agriculture and Natural Resources in growing season 2013-2014. Seeds of C. sativa, DH1025 line, were cultivated in two sowing dates (6 November and 16November), with a row spacing of 20 cm and 3 cm between plants in a 3-square-meter plots in three replicates at each date. The results of the analysis of variance showed that two different treatments were significant difference for all the traits measured apart from the number of seeds per pod, number of branches, number of pods per plant, number of pods per branch, number of seeds per pod and plant height. The highest yield and biomass was observed in first planting date (6 November) with 217.667 and 514.33 g/m2, respectively.  Feasibility cultivation of C. sativa as a new medicinal-oil plant in rainfed conditions in Kermanshah was the major purpose of this investigation

Transgenerational influence of parental morphine exposure on pain perception, anxiety-like behavior and passive avoidance memory among male and female offspring of Wistar rats

Accumulating evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in the formation and maintenance of memory within the brain. Moreover, the effect of parental drug-exposure before gestation on behavioral state of offspring has been little studied. The main objective of the current study is to evaluate the effect of parental morphine exposure on avoidance memory, morphine preference and anxiety-like behavior of offspring. The total of 32 males and 32 females were used for mating. The animals were treated with morphine. The offspring according to their parental morphine treatment was divided into four groups (n=16) including paternally treated, maternally treated, both of parents treated and naïve animals. The pain perception, anxiety-like behavior, and avoidance memory were evaluated in the offspring. In the current study, the total of 256 offspring was used for the experiments (4 tasks × 4 groups of offspring × 8 female offspring × 8 male offspring). The finding revealed that the avoidance memory and visceral pain were reduced significantly in male and female offspring with at least one morphine-treated parent. Moreover, anxiety-like behavior was reduced significantly in the male offspring with at least one morphine-treated parent. While anxiety-like behavior was increased significantly in female offspring that were treated by morphine either maternally or both of parents. The data revealed that the endogenous opioid system may be altered in the offspring of morphine-treated parent(s), and epigenetic role could be important. However, analysis of variance signified the important role of maternal inheritance

Captopril Attenuates Diazinon-Induced Oxidative Stress: A Subchronic Study in Rats

Background: Diazinon (DZN) is an organophosphate pesticide commonly used for pest control in agriculture. It may engender a variety of negative effects in non-target species, including humans and animals. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the ameliorative properties of captopril (CAP), as a thiol containing an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, against DZN-induced oxidative stress. Methods: Twenty-eight male Wistar rats were divided randomly into 4 groups. All the rats were treated orally via gavage once a day for 7 weeks: control (corn oil), CAP (10 mg/kg), DZN (10 mg/kg), and CAP+DZN combination (as mentioned above). Oxidative stress indices in blood serum, liver and kidney homogenates (malondialdehyde [MDA], total thiol groups, and total antioxidant capacity), and erythrocyte hemolysis (superoxide dismutase [SOD] and glutathione peroxidase) were evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism software, version 6.0 (GraphPad, San Diego, CA, USA), by ANOVA, followed by the Tukey post hoc analysis. Results: The MDA content and SOD activity increased significantly in the DZN group compared with those in the control group. Treatment with CAP in the DZN-exposed group significantly decreased (P<0.05) the MDA concentration and the SOD activity. The total thiol groups were decreased in the DZN group and elevated again by CAP treatment. Conclusion: The co-administration of CAP and DZN was able to attenuate lipid peroxidation and enzyme changes caused by DZN

Effects of different nutritional systems on seed germination and early seedling growth in medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.)

This study was carried out to determine the effect of different nutritional systems (chemical, biological and integrated) on germination and seedling growth in medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.). The statistical design was a randomized complete block design with four replications. Four levels of different fertilizing systems including chemical (T1), biological (a combination of nitrogen bacteria, Azospirillum brasilense and Glomus mosseae) (T2) and integrated fertilizing systems (biological fertilizer + 50% chemical fertilizer) (T3), and control (without fertilizer) (T0), were employed. The results indicated that the maximum seed germination was 95% and the highest seed germination rate with 30.4 per day was observed in the intergraded nutritional treatment. The experimental results showed that all nutritional treatments had positive effects on seed germination compared to control. The highest level of germination percentage with 95% and the highest rate of germination with 30.4 seeds per day were obtained in integrated nutritional treatment. However, the integrated nutritional system required more time to demonstrate its positive effect on the growth and yield of medicinal pumpkin compared to chemical system. The results of present experiment indicated that integrated nutritional treatment had the greatest positive impact on germination characteristics in medicinal pumpkin. Designing and developing such nutritional systems can guarantee and facilitate the achievement of long-term objectives of sustainable agriculture

Correlation among the Behavioral Features in the Offspring of Morphine-Abstinent Rats

Background: Critical analysis of new evidence in medical sciences relies on statistics in terms of correlation.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation coefficients among the behavioral features in theoffspring of morphine-abstinent parent(s).Methods: The offspring of various types of parental morphine-exposure were divided into 4 groups includingoffspring of healthy parents (CTL), offspring of paternal morphine-abstinence (PMA), offspring of maternalmorphine-abstinence (MMA), and offspring of both morphine-abstinence (BMA). Pain perception,depression-like behavior, and avoidance memory in the offspring were quantified. The logical structure ofassociation was measured using the Pearson correlation analysis.Findings: A strong correlation was observed between pain and depressive-like behavior in female and maleoffspring of healthy parents. Moreover, in the male and female offspring of healthy parents and BMA, nosignificant correlation was observed between avoidance memory and pain behavior or depressive-likebehavior. However, in the offspring of MMA, a strong correlation was observed between avoidance memoryand depressive-like behavior.Conclusion: The results of the study signified the importance of correlation analysis in addictive behavior. Theresults revealed that the pattern of correlation of the behavior of the offspring of MMA and PMA differe

Residual trapping of supercritical CO2 in oil-wet sandstone

Residual trapping, a key CO2 geo-storage mechanism during the first decades of a sequestration project, immobilizes micrometre sized CO2 bubbles in the pore network of the rock. This mechanism has been proven to work in clean sandstones and carbonates; however, this mechanism has not been proven for the economically most important storage sites into which CO2 will be initially injected at industrial scale, namely oil reservoirs. The key difference is that oil reservoirs are typically oil-wet or intermediate-wet, and it is clear that associated pore-scale capillary forces are different. And this difference in capillary forces clearly reduces the capillary trapping capacity (residual trapping) as we demonstrate here. For an oil-wet rock (water contact angle θ = 130°) residual CO2 saturation SCO2,r (≈8%) was approximately halved when compared to a strongly water-wet rock (θ = 0°; SCO2,r ≈ 15%). Consequently, residual trapping is less efficient in oil-wet reservoirs

CO2 wettability of seal and reservoir rocks and the implications for carbon geo-sequestration

We review the literature data published on the topic of CO2 wettability of storage and seal rocks. We first introduce the concept of wettability and explain why it is important in the context of carbon geo-sequestration (CGS) projects, and review how it is measured. This is done to raise awareness of this parameter in the CGS community, which, as we show later on in this text, may have a dramatic impact on structural and residual trapping of CO2. These two trapping mechanisms would be severely and negatively affected in case of CO2-wet storage and/or seal rock. Overall, at the current state of the art, a substantial amount of work has been completed, and we find that: 1. Sandstone and limestone, plus pure minerals such as quartz, calcite, feldspar, and mica are strongly water wet in a CO2-water system. 2. Oil-wet limestone, oil-wet quartz, or coal is intermediate wet or CO2 wet in a CO2-water system. 3. The contact angle alone is insufficient for predicting capillary pressures in reservoir or seal rocks. 4. The current contact angle data have a large uncertainty. 5. Solid theoretical understanding on a molecular level of rock-CO2-brine interactions is currently limited. 6. In an ideal scenario, all seal and storage rocks in CGS formations are tested for their CO2 wettability. 7. Achieving representative subsurface conditions (especially in terms of the rock surface) in the laboratory is of key importance but also very challenging

Characterisation and multifaceted anisotropy assessment of Corvio sandstone for geological CO2 storage studies

We present a comprehensive characterisation of the physical, mineralogical, geomechanical, geophysical, and hydrodynamic properties of Corvio sandstone. This information, together with a detailed assessment of anisotropy, is needed to establish Corvio sandstone as a useful laboratory rock-testing standard for well-constrained studies of thermo–hydro–mechanical–chemical coupled phenomena associated with CO2 storage practices and for geological reservoir studies in general. More than 200 core plugs of Corvio sandstone (38.1 and 50 mm diameters, 2:1 length-to-diameter ratio) were used in this characterisation study, with a rock porosity of 21.7 ± 1.2%, dry density 2036 ± 32 kg m?3, and unconfined compressive and tensile strengths of 41 ± 3.28 and 2.3 ± 0.14 MPa, respectively. Geomechanical tests show that the rock behaves elastically between ?10 and ?18 MPa under unconfined conditions with associated Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of 11.8 ± 2.8 GPa and 0.34 ± 0.01 GPa, respectively. Permeability abruptly decreases with confining pressure up to ?10 MPa and then stabilises at ?1 mD. Ultrasonic P- and S-wave velocities vary from about 2.8–3.8 km s?1 and 1.5–2.4 km s?1, respectively, over confining and differential pressures between 0.1 and 35 MPa, allowing derivation of associated dynamic elastic moduli. Anisotropy was investigated using oriented core plugs for electrical resistivity, elastic wave velocity and attenuation, permeability, and tracer injection tests. Corvio sandstone shows weak transverse isotropy (symmetry axis normal to bedding) of <10% for velocity and <20% for attenuation

Developing a System Dynamics Model of the El Paso Water Resources System

The city of El Paso is growing rapidly, increasing water demand in a water-scarce region. In this research system dynamics modeling is applied to simulate dynamic behavior of the El Paso water resources system in order to investigate the city\u27s portfolio based upon a supply-demand side and demand side management approach. System Dynamic simulation involves several steps, including system conceptualization, data collection, simulation model development, and model verification and sensitivity analysis. A high-level conceptualization of the El Paso water resources system is presented, including withdrawal sources, water and wastewater treatment facilities, water demands, and flow linkages are will be presented. The conceptual model provides the basis for quantitative stock-and-flow model, which is developed under development using data inputs and data from water local management agencies. The modeling process facilitates understanding of potential vulnerabilities to of the system and likely causes of failure, thereby offering a useful platform for water resources planning and management at the strategic level