Evaluation of Physicochemical and Antioxidant Properties of Pinus gerardiana Nuts and Oil

For optimal usage of new oil resources with high nutritional values, in this study, one chilgoza pine variety was provided, and assays of physicochemical characteristics of its nut such as moisture, ash, thousand nut weight, oil, protein, hull contents, density, pH and also physicochemical characteristics of its extracted oil by n-hexan solvent such as iodine values, saponification and unsaponification, peroxide, specific weight, acid values, moisture of oil, color (Lovibond) and fatty acid profile and extracted oil characteristics by cold press such as total polyphenols, tocophrols, carotenoids, chlorophylls, sterols, color (Hunterlab), DPPḢ and antioxidant were investigated. Then its effect as a natural antioxidant on rapeseed oil shelf life (without any antioxidant) was studied. The results indicated that chilgoza pine oil is belonged to linoleic-oleic group. Oil of chilgoza pine has α and γ tocopherols and there is no β and δ tocopherols on it. The oil of chilgoza pine, were mixed at two levels of 2% and 5% with rapeseed oil and these mixed were determined by peroxide, TBA and Rancimat indices during 0, 5, 10, 20 and 35 days and compared with control. Statistical results showed no antioxidant effect in shelf life of rapeseed oil at more days. This means that the chilgoza pine oil antioxidant compounds were not enough to prevent oxidative rancidity of rapeseed oil or maybe the antioxidant compounds of nuts were not migrated to oil

Intracellular ROS Protection Efficiency and Free Radical-Scavenging Activity of Curcumin

Curcumin has many pharmaceutical applications, many of which arise from its potent antioxidant properties. The present research examined the antioxidant activities of curcumin in polar solvents by a comparative study using ESR, reduction of ferric iron in aqueous medium and intracellular ROS/toxicity assays. ESR data indicated that the steric hindrance among adjacent big size groups within a galvinoxyl molecule limited the curcumin to scavenge galvinoxyl radicals effectively, while curcumin showed a powerful capacity for scavenging intracellular smaller oxidative molecules such as H2O2, HO•, ROO•. Cell viability and ROS assays demonstrated that curcumin was able to penetrate into the polar medium inside the cells and to protect them against the highly toxic and lethal effects of cumene hydroperoxide. Curcumin also showed good electron-transfer capability, with greater activity than trolox in aqueous solution. Curcumin can readily transfer electron or easily donate H-atom from two phenolic sites to scavenge free radicals. The excellent electron transfer capability of curcumin is because of its unique structure and different functional groups, including a β-diketone and several π electrons that have the capacity to conjugate between two phenyl rings. Therfore, since curcumin is inherently a lipophilic compound, because of its superb intracellular ROS scavenging activity, it can be used as an effective antioxidant for ROS protection within the polar cytoplasm

Transient Thermal Behavior of a Vertical Solar Storage Tank with a Mantle Heat Exchanger During No-Flow Operation

Transient thermal behavior of a vertical storage tank of a domestic solar heating system with a mantle heat exchanger has been investigated numerically in the charging mode. It is assumed that the tank is initially filled with uniform cold water. At an instant of time, the hot fluid from collector outlet is uniformly injected in the upper section of the mantle heat exchanger and after heat transfer with the fluid inside the tank, withdrawn from the bottom part of the heat exchanger. The conservation equations in the cylindrical coordinate and in axis-symmetric condition have been used according to the geometry under investigation. Governing equations have been discretized by employing the finite volume method and the SIMPLER algorithm has been used for coupling between momentum and pressure equations. The Low Reynolds Number (LRN) k −ω model is utilized for treating turbulence in the fluid. First, the transient thermal behavior of heat storage tank and the process of formation of thermal stratification in the heat storage tank were investigated. Then, the influence of Rayleigh number in the heat storage tank, Reynolds number in the mantle heat exchanger and vertical positioning of mantle on the flow and thermal fields and the formation of the thermal stratification was investigated. It is found that for higher values of Rayleigh number, a more suitable thermal stratification is established inside the tank. Also it is noticed that increasing the incoming fluid velocity through the mantle heat exchanger causes a faster formation of the thermal stratification. A superior thermal performance was achieved when the mantle heat exchanger is positioned at the middle height of the storage tank

Proton-Coupled Electron-Transfer Mechanism for the Radical Scavenging Activity of Cardiovascular Drug Dipyridamole

Dipyridamole (DIP) is a well-known pharmaceutical drug used as a coronary vasodilator and anti-platelet agent in clinics for treating several cardiovascular diseases. Primarily, the therapeutic effects of the drug are attributed to its antioxidant potency. In this research, we aim to declare the unknown antioxidant mechanism of DIP as well as its potent chain-breaking antioxidant activity in polar aqueous medium inside the cells, using different experimental methods and theoretical quantum calculations. Data demonstrated the higher antioxidant capacity of DIP against ROS and free radicals in polar cell's interior. DIP is capable of generating long living and noninvasive DIP• radicals in oxidant condition that leads to an effective “chain-breaking antioxidant” activity. Quantum computational data indicated that DIP antioxidant has more favorable ionization potential than trolox which means DIP has higher antioxidant activity. Also, data showed that the direct hydrogen-transfer is not a favorable process to construct DIP• because of high barrier energy, though electron-transfer process can more easily to produce DIP•+ with the lowest barrier energy. Altogether, the electron donating potency of DIP to reduce ferric ion, having the low anodic oxidation peak potential, producing long lived stable DIP• radicals and protecting myoblast cells from oxidation, proposed the excellent “chain-breaking antioxidant” potency via electron-transfer mechanism of this vasodilator DIP drug in polar aqueous medium

Guillian-Barre syndrome , Childhood, Epidemiology, Electrodiagnosis, Clinical features, East Azarbaijan

 ObjectiveThis study aims at determining the epidemiologic, presenting symptoms, clinical course and electrophysiologic features of childhood Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in the East Azarbaijan province over a period of five years.Materials & Methods All the patients, aged< 15 years, referred/admitted to Tabriz Children Hospital with GBS between January 2001 and December 2005 were investigated.ResultsOne hundred and twelve subjects were enrolled during this period. The average annual incidence rate was 2.21 per 100000 population of children agedConclusion The axonal type of GBS is a relatively common form of childhood GBS occurring in East Azerbaijan.

Herbal-based drugs for dry eye; treatment and adverse reaction

33-40Dry eye syndrome is one of the most common types of eye diseases. Due to the significant prevalence of the disease, there is an important need for treatment of dry eye in a simple but efficient way. Artificial tears are the most common agents used for treating dry eye but are not very useful. In recent years, the use of herbal remedies has attracted much attention, because the process of producing most herbal remedies is simple, inexpensive and has fewer side effects. In many clinical studies, the potential interactions between medicines and herbs have been demonstrated. According to reports, some herbal products have the potential to be used for the treatment of dry eye while the use of certain products can lead to this syndrome. In this review, we have listed some of the herbal drugs and components which can prevent or treat the dry eye or cause it

The Effect of Self-Control Skills Training with follow-up Through Virtual Group on reducing problematic mobile phone use

Background and Objectives:  Self-control has been conceptualized in a number of ways but generally refers to the active regulation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Theoretical and empirical work indicates that the ability to effective self-control has important and wide-ranging implications such as enacting positive behaviors that are conducive to longer-term goal attainment and inhibiting negative behaviors that undermine longer-term goal attainment. The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of self-control skills training on reducing problematic mobile phone use among male students of Farhangian University. Methods:The method of the study was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design. The population of the study consisted of all female students of Farhangian University of Sistan and Baluchestan province. The sample consisted of 60 individuals (30 in experimental group and 30 in control group) who had problematic mobile phone use and volunteered to participate in the experiment. The data gathering instrument was Genaro et al. scale of Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale (COS). This scale has no components. It has 21 questions on a 6-point Likert scale (never to forever). The sum of the scores of 21 questions determines the overall score of problematic mobile phone use. To implement the experimental design, first the Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale was implemented and after identifying the students who used Cell-Phone Over-Use, they participated in self-control skills training workshops. Findings: The results of the study showed that training self-control strategies on the problematic mobile phone use has a negative and significant effect on male students of Farhangian University of Zahedan. Also, there is a significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test for problematic mobile phone use in the follow-up group via the virtual network and the non-follow-up group via virtual network. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the training of self-control strategies and follow-up through the virtual group for students at the University of Farhangian will help to reduce problematic mobile phone use and move towards the general use of mobile phone. The results also showed that pursuing self-control skills training through virtual networks makes the effects of these trainings affect the behavior of mobile phone use for a longer period of time. Due to the fact that Cell-Phone Over-Use can affect the educational and learning activities of university students, it is recommended to university officials, educational and research planners to teach self-control skills and follow this Consider consecutive instruction in short-term university curricula.One of the most important limitations of this study was the tendency of students to pretend at the initial diagnosis through a questionnaire that they do not Cell-Phone Over-Use. The results of this research are useful and practical for university research and educational experts, university professors and students and all university educational planners.    ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2020 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

New report of two species of black fungus gnats (Dip.: Sciaridae) from Iran

A study on the arthropods associated with Agaricales macrofungi in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah during 2010-2011 led to the discovery of two black fungus gnat species of Corynoptera perpusilla Winnertz and Bradysia ocellaris (Comstock). Both sciarid species are here reported for the first time from Iran

Encapsulation of Barberry Fruit Extracts by Spray Drying and Liposome Entrapment

Barberry is a native Iranian plant including species Berberis integerrima and B. vulgaris. Barberry fruit is used for preparing sauces, jellies, carbonated drinks, candies, food colour powders, jams, marmalades, chocolates, juices, and nectars. They are used as a natural food colorant rich in anthocyanins instead of harmful artificial ones. They contain polyphenols and antioxidants that reduce damage from free radicals and prevent chronic diseases and cancers. Barberry fruit extracts were encapsulated in maltodextrin by spray drying and liposome entrapment. The sizes of spray dried particles were reported 1–20 μm by SEM. Dimensions of empty and extract loaded liposomes (B. vulgaris and B. integerrima) were 18–28, 37–51, and 51–77 nm, respectively, by FE-SEM. The moist diameter of liposomes measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS) method at day 0 and after 6 months at –18 °C were as follows; empty liposomes: 163.9±2.23 and 378.90±4.98, liposomes loaded with extracts: 135.2±2.04 and 160.90±2.19 (B. vulgaris) and 113.4±1.83 and 144.20±2.01 nm (B. integerrima). Evaluation of thermal-oxidative decomposition from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results at 0–45–90 days showed that the antioxidant activity and the onset temperature of the encapsulated extract was higher than the control. The extracts encapsulated in liposomes, especially B. integerrima extract, had better antioxidant properties