Study on moving direction and survival index of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) fingerlings using mark-recapture method in Caspian Sea (Guilan province coasts)

To study moving direction and survival index of Persian sturgeon fingerlings, a total of 390200 individuals of the fish in three weight classes: less than 3g, 3 to 5g and 6 to10g were marked by coded wire tags (CWT) during 2003 to 2008. In 2003, 101500 of these individuals were marked in Shahid Beheshti, Shahid Rajaee and Shahid Marjani Sturgeon Rearing Centers, in north of Iran and then released in Sephidrud, Tajan and Gorganrud rivers. During 2004 to 2008, 288700 pieces were marked by Shahid Beheshti Rearing Centers and released in Sephidrud River. Catch and detection of fingerlings carried out by gill net prepared from nylon with mesh sizes 22, 26, 33 (2 filaments for each mesh) and one 40mm mesh size. Totally, 175 meters of net was used to study fishes in waters under 10m depth in Guilan province. In all, 2827 pieces of this fish were caught of which 40 had CWT and these belonged to weight classes 6-10g (22 pieces), 3-5g (17 pieces) and under 3g (one piece). Results on release and catch of the fingerlings for Sephirud River showed that more than 70% of fingerlings moved to eastern parts of the estuary and eastern coasts of Guilan province (stations like 12 Bahman, Dastak and Chaboksar). Of the fingerlings released in Gorganrud and Tajan rivers, only one piece was caught in Chaboksar and another in Lisar after 15 months. Hence, we postulated that the fingerlings released in Mazandaran and Golestan provices migrated to Guilan province coasts. Statistical analysis of the survival index in different weight classes indicated that the class 6-10g had higher survival rate, twice than class 3-5g and 20 times more than that of the class under 3g. Considering these results, probably the higher weight at release time can be effective in increasing the survival rate of the Persian sturgeon fingerlings

Methyl Mercury Induced Changes in the Serum Proteins of Bluegills – Lepomis Macrochirus (Teleostei)

Author Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State UniversityThere were qualitative and quantitative changes in the serum proteins of bluegills, Lepomis macrochirus, exposed to 8.728 X 10~4 ppb (W/V) of methyl mercury (MeHg) for 24, 48, and 72 hr. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of serum proteins revealed significant changes in the qualitative and quantitative profiles at 24 and 48 hr. However, at 72 hr a trend to return to control levels was noted. The data suggest that at the dose tested, MeHg produced repairable lesions in certain tissues or organs of bluegills

Identifying factors affecting destination choice of medical tourists: a systematic review of literature

Objective: Overseas travels in which improved health is the main component, “medical tourism”, has emerged as a new source of competitive advantage all over the world. The present study seeks to identify the factors that affect destination choice of medical tourists.Methods: We systematically searched relevant databases including Pub Med, Embase, Science Direct, Web of Science and Medline databases using terms “medical tourism” OR “health tourism”.Studies were identified and screened in accordance with the preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) published in English or Farsi, determining factors that develop  country’s ability to become a preferred destination for outbound patients seeking healthcare services in foreign countries.Results: The search retrieved (1374) citation of which 18 studies were eligible.Across the eligible articles, 13 overarching themes including 75 that encourage medical tourists to choose a specific destination sub-themesemerged.Conclusions: Results of this study offer evidence for a comprehensive approach to strategic outreach and market expansion for medical tourism decision makers for attracting more medical tourists to their countries.Keywords: Medical tourism, health tourism, attractive factors, destination choic

Structural characterization and electrochemical behavior of transition metal carbonates

III Encuentro sobre Nanociencia y Nanotecnología de Investigadores y Tecnólogos Andaluce

Immunological and histopathological changes in Penaeus semisulcatus challenged with Vibrio harveyi

Two-hundred and sixty five green tiger shrimp juveniles (Penaeus semisulcatus) with the average weight of 7-12g were collected from Helleh farms in Bushehr province and transported to Iran Shrimp Research Center of Bushehr in October, 2009. The juveniles were acclimated for two weeks. The experiment was designed in three treatments (named 3, 4 and 5) and two controls (named 1 and 2) in triplicate with 15 shrimp in each repetition prepared of glass aquarium. All the treatments and repetitions were exposed to Vibrio harveyi (NCBI: GU974342.1). The concentrations of the treatments were 10^8,10^6 and 10^4 CFU ml^-1 in individual containers dedicated for each mentioned treatment (3, 4 and 5, respectively). The controls prepared with no any bacteria and fully filled with chlorinated and UV treated sea water were named 1 and 2 respectively. The hemolymph were withdrawn from abdominal segments of samples for measuring THC and TPC evaluation at designed hours (2, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 144, 192 and 240). The shrimp samples were also fixed in Davidson fixative for histopathological studies. The results showed that the difference of THC value between controls and group 3 during 12 till 96 hours of experiment was significant (P 0.05) between group 5 and control groups of THC. The data showed that differences of TPC value between control groups during 24 to 96 hours were significant (P< 0.05), whereas the differences between controls with groups 4 and 5 during 48 to 144 hours and 192 hours, were significant (P< 0.05) respectively. TPC and THC were observed with an increase in the concentration of bacteria and passing the time as inverse bell shape procedure. In histopathology, gills showed melanization and color changed to brown and black. The hepatopancreas cells revealed necrosis and vacuolization of B, E, R and F cells. The bolitas ball and bacterial colonization was observed in the intestine. Our results showed that Vibrio harveyi with 10^8 and 10^6 cell/ml decreased immunity factors such as THC and TPC. The histopathological changes increased with increasing the concentration of bacterial level. This finding can be used for assessing the health of shrimp culture and prevention of vibriosis

Molecular study of PKD1 &amp; PKD2 genes by linkage analysis and determining the genotype/phenotype correlations in several Iranian families with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is an inherited disorder with genetic heterogeneity. Up to three loci are involved in this disease, PKD1 on chromosome 16p 13.3, PKD2 on 4q21, and a third locus of unknown location. Methods: Here we report the first molecular genetic study of ADPKD and the existence of locus heterogeneity for ADPKD in the Iranian population by performing linkage analysis on 15 affected families. Results: Eleven families showed linkage to PKD1 and two families showed linkage to PKD2. In two families, PKD1 markers are common in all affected members but PKD2 markers were not informative. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate significant locus heterogeneity in autosomal dominant PKD in Iran. Analysis of clinical data confirms a milder ADPKD phenotype for PKD2 families. Our results showed relatively high heterozygosity rates and PIC values for some markers, while the most informative markers were KG8 and 16AC2.5 for PKD1 gene and AFM224x6 for PKD2 gene

An analytical model for desorption area in coal-bed methane production wells

Production forecasting, well spacing, and well pattern optimization are key tasks in coal-bed methane field development plan. Desorption area around a production well is an important factor in well performance and reserve estimation. Analytical models are found to be simple and practical tools for drainage area calculation and well deliverability in conventional reservoirs. However, up to now, we have found no such analytical model for coal-bed methane wells with two-phase flow in which the gas desorption in coal is the controlling mechanism while the water is flowing in the cleat system. In this paper, we present a mathematical model to predict how the size of desorption area is changing with pressure propagation during gas and water production. The pressure profiles at different production stages are determined using diffusivity equation which is solved using the known method of "continuous succession of steady states". For the case of two-phase flow of gas-water system, the pressure squared concept is used for linearization in middle and late times, while the pressure concept is used in early times when water flow is dominated. We have combined pressure from the solution of diffusivity equation with the material balance equation in order to develop our predictive model which is applicable for vertical wells for both cases of with or without hydraulic fractures. This model is verified by numerical simulation and is in excellent agreement with the numerical solutions. Furthermore, the developed model is applied in one coal-bed methane well group in Hancheng field in China. It is found that desorption area is expanded outward in elliptical shape and the area can be calculated by the gas production data. The results show that two sample wells in the group have interfered with each other after producing for 525 days. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Bingxiang Xu, Xiangfang Li, Manouchehr Haghighi, Xiyao Du, Xinzhou Yang, Dong Chen, Yuyang Zha

Analysis of Longitudinal Cracks in Crest of Doroodzan Dam

Doroodzan earth dam is located in 85 km north western of Shiraz. Because of the unusual seepage flow in the left abutment, in 1992 an impermeable vane was grouted there. Soon after that, obvious changes in water Table profile occurred and simultaneously some incremental number of cracks in left abutment crest was appeared. In present study seepage through left abutment has been analyzed by considering water Table changes. Different phreatic surface line was carried out from recent 20 years in order to find the most vulnerable one. In addition, Seismic loading used to get proper perception of seismic stability. First, by gathering data from piezometric head through the left abutment, most critical phreatic line in left abutment section of dam was observed. Then by using present phreatic surface in numerical modeling of critical section in the left abutment of dam, long term stability of downstream in different situation were calculated. The conditions were changed by increasing the saturation zone and the time which saturation zone stay through the downstream body