Analysis of acoustic parameters in normal adults who speak Farsi at Zahedan City

Background and aim: Acoustic measurements have become substantial aspects of voice assessment during the last few decades and studies have established that normative data is necessary for acoustic analysis. Voice acoustic analysis including fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), and maximum phonation time (MPT) can now be easily recorded and analyzed using a computer. This study was designed to establish the normal acoustic analysis parameters in normal Iranian adults. Methods: This descriptive - analytical study was performed on 45 Iranian women and 45 Iranian men. We made use of Dr. Speech 4.0 software (Vocal Assessment subgroup) for recording and analyzing the acoustic samples under comfortable phonation. Each gender was divided equally into 3 age subgroups. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test to assess the differences between the 3 age groups for each gender. Student’s t-test was used to compare the overall mean value between genders. We used Mann-Whitney U test to analyze gender difference for each age range. Results: Fundamental frequency (F0) of vowel/a/ was calculated in both genders and it was higher in females (213.4±25.4 Hz) than in males (121.3±16.4 Hz) (P<0.05). Conversely, the value of MPT was greater in males (28.0±9.4 sec) than in females (22.6±7.6 sec) (P<0.05). No significant difference was found in average of SPL between females (77.8±5.5 dB (and male (77.5±5.5 dB). We found a significant difference in shimmer and Harmonics-to-noise ratio (H/N ratio) in male subgroup and other acoustic variables were not significantly different. Conclusions: It seems that the majority of voice characteristics of adults was relatively stable and would not change with aging up to 50. More caution should be considered for the usage of shimmer and HNR parameters to compare the voice quality

Molecular systematics of the genus Pseudocerastes (Ophidia: Viperidae) based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene

The false horned vipers of the genus Pseudocerastes consist of 3 species; all have been recorded in Iran. These include Pseudocerastes persicus, P. fieldi, and P. urarachnoides. Morphologically, the taxonomic border between P. fieldi and P. persicus is not as clear as that between P. urarachnoides and P. persicus or P. fieldi. Regarding the weak diagnostic characters differentiating P. fieldi from P. persicus and very robust characters separating P. urarachnoides from both, there may arise some uncertainty in the exact taxonomic status of P. urarachnoides and whether it should remain at the current specific level or be elevated to a distinct genus. Based on our sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, the taxonomic status of the 3 false horned vipers is confirmed. Although P. fieldi has equal genetic distance from P. persicus and P. urarachnoides, the spider-tailed viper is more closely related to P. persicus than P. fieldi. There are also some subdivisions among the populations of P. persicus in Iran

Mélanie Lallet, Libérées, délivrées ? Rapports de pouvoir animés

Les séries d’animation, si elles ont pu susciter des débats publics en France, constituent un objet d’étude sous-étudié et sous-évalué. Elles n’ont pas la légitimité du cinéma d’animation, et leur public-cible enfantin amène à des lectures superficielles de leur contenu. Après son premier ouvrage sur le sujet, Il était une fois… le genre : le féminin dans les séries animées (2014), Mélanie Lallet poursuit son travail sur un corpus plus étendu. Libérées, délivrées ? Rapports de pouvoir animés ..

The reproduction biology of Barbus esocinus in Dez dam reservoir

This study was carried out from April 1999 to March 2000 in Dez dam reservoir located at North Khouzestan province. From the total number of 607 specimen of collected fish, 267 and 64 were males and females respectively, and276 specimen were immature. Samples were caught by hooks and gill nets. Length range of females was 156-1350 mm and their weight range was 31.7-26500 g. Males ranged 183-1065mm in length and 48-12208g in weight. The males showed more ranges in length and weight comparing to females. The spawning period is very short and occurring in spring after flooding of the river and increase in the reservoir water level. This species is a total spawner and eggs are release in upstream regions and reservoir shallow waters on bottoms gravels. Spawning occurs in 24°C. Fecundity was intermediate. Sex ratio was 4.2:1.0 (male/female). Males show a faster maturation. According to the ratio of gut length to the body length, it seems to be an omnivorous species, but all samples were found to have fish in their stomachs (100%). Feeding intensity was higher in males. Annual growth is slow and asymptomatic length is more than 2m. Relative growth in weight is not in accordance with growth in length for various length groups, and relative growth in weight is increased with increasing of fish length. Growth of this species is positive allometric type. Various length groups were observed in examined specimens. It I seems that it has a longer reproductive life comparing to its pre-maturation life. Relative fatness is higher in females

Parental origin of the two additional haploid sets of chromosomes in an embryo with tetraploidy

We report on the molecular investigations performed on an embryo with tetraploidy, karyotype 92,XXXY. The embryo was spontaneously aborted after eight weeks of gestation. Molecular analyses were performed in order to determine the parental origin and mode of formation of the two additional haploid sets of chromosomes. Microsatellite markers mapping to pericentromeric chromosome regions were used. Our results show a maternal origin of one additional set of chromosomes most likely due to the incorporation of the polar body of meiosis I and a paternal origin of the second additional set of chromosomes most likely due to dispermy. The karyotype 92,XXXY is rather unusual, indeed the vast majority of cases with tetraploidy have the karyotypes 92,XXXX or 92,XXYY. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case with 92,XXXY for which molecular investigations have been performed

Homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction via flotation assistance for determination of trace amounts of manganese prior to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

86-92In the present study, homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction via flotation assistance method is described for preconcentration of trace amounts of Mn(II). 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) is used as a ligand. The enriched analyte in the floated organic phase has been determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In this work, low density organic solvent is used and there is no need of centrifugation. Several factors influencing the microextraction efficiency, such as pH, the amount of chelating agent, nature and volume of extraction and homogeneous solvents have been investigated and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the linear dynamic range is 1.0-500.0 ng L-1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998 and the detection limit of 0.1 ng L-1. The proposed method has been successfully applied for separation and determination of manganese in different water samples

Aboundance, diversity and distribution of ichthyoplanktons in creeks and coastal waters of Khouzestan Province

This study was carried out on Iranian coastal waters of Khouzestan province during 1995-98. Ichthyoplankton sampling was performed in order to determine its abundance, distribution and diversity. Monthly sampling was carried out from 12 fixed stations in Mahshar-Abadan creeks and 4 stations in west coasts of Khouzestan province waters, by a paired 500 micron Bongo net in oblique hauls from the bottom to the surface. Larvae of 21 families were identified in coastal waters. 16 families of fish larvae were also found in creeks. Most frequent larval families in the creeks were found to be Gobiidae (86%), Engraulidae (9.13%), Clupeidae (2.5%), and in west coasts, they were Gobiidae (49%), Engraulidae (14.5%) and Sciaenidae (7.8%). Other families were found to have a lower frequency and occured only in limited samples. There were distinct differences in fish families occured in two studied areas, although no significant differences were found in diversity of fish families there. The highest frequency of the larvae among most of the families was in March-August period. In the west coastal area, more than 50% of the total identified larvae occured in May, while in creeks, it was in April and June. Presence of larvae from different families showed significant differences. Grouping based on diversity and distribution by one way ANOVA showed the presence of two major spawning seasons in spring and autumn, plus two minor ones in summer and winter. Most of identified specimens were exclusive to neritic and intertidal zones, which live in soft clay substrate