Pre-agricultural plant management in the uplands of the central Zagros: the archaeobotanical evidence from Sheikh-e Abad

Prior to the emergence of agriculture in southwest Asia, sedentarising human communities were experimenting with a diverse range of wild plant species over a prolonged period. In some cases, this involved the cultivation of species that would go on to be domesticated and form the foundation of future agricultural economies. However, many forms of plant use did not follow this trajectory, and in multiple places farming was only taken up later as an established ‘package’. In this paper, we present new archaeobotanical evidence from the Early Neolithic site of Sheikh-e Abad in the central Zagros of western Iran. Sheikh-e Abad is unique in being the only settlement known to date within southwest Asia that lies at an altitude above 1000m and which has occupation spanning the agricultural transition. Thus, it provides a rare opportunity to examine pre-agricultural plant management strategies in an upland zone. Our analyses of the plant remains from Sheikh-e Abad suggest that from its earliest occupation inhabitants were unconsciously ‘auditioning’ a suite of locally available wild grasses which ultimately were never domesticated. We discuss the possible reasons for this from a socio-ecological perspective, considering both the biology and ecology of the plant species in question, as well as the ways in which they were potentially managed

Largest ancient fortress of South-West Asia and the western world?:Recent fieldwork at Sasanian Qaleh Iraj at Pishva, Iran

The article presents recent works at Qale Iraj, near Varamin, Iran. My short contribution is on the Middle Persian ostraka found at the site

Mydan Mishan: A Newly Found Parthian Bas-Relief in the Alvand Range, Hamadan, Western Iran

Hamadan province in western Iran has always been of particular archaeological significance mainly because of its administrative centre Ecbatana, modern Hamadan. In 2005 a bas-relief dating to the Parthian period was found in the southern highlands of Alvand, in the Yakhchal valley. Recently, a second relief, very similar to the Yakhchal one, has been found at Mydan Mishan. This relief depicts a person lying on a klinè with his legs stretched out and resting his left elbow on a cushion. The figure holds a flowerlike object in his right hand and what looks like a goblet or a drinking bowl in his left hand. A comparison with other similar examples such as the relief of Heracles at Behistun and the Elymaean rock carvings of Tang-e Sarvak seems to suggest that the figure represented could be a Parthian high-ranking officer, a noble or a dignitary in a banqueting scene

Deep skin wound healing potential of lavender essential oil and licorice extract in a nanoemulsion form: Biochemical, histopathological and gene expression evidences

Cutaneous wound healing is one of the public health interests. This study aimed to investigate the effects of nanoemulsion cream containing lavender essential oil and licorice extract on the healing of deep skin wound in a rat model. Eighty-five male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups including untreated defects as negative control and defects treated with vehicle ointment, lavender essential oil and licorice extract in emulsion and nanoemulsion forms, and phenytoin 1 as the positive control with an excisional wound on the dorsal neck of each rat. On days 2, 7 and 14 oxidative stress factors were evaluated in wound tissue homogenates. The expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), and type I and type III collagen genes were evaluated. Also, wound tissue samples were processed for Hematoxylin & Eosin and Masson-Trichrome staining. Nanoemulsion reduced the wound area more than other groups significantly. Real-time PCR data demonstrated that nanoemulsion and phenytoin groups have shown the best result in increasing TGF-β1, Type I and type III collagen genes expression compared to the other groups. Reduction in lipid peroxidation level and increasing in SOD and GPx activity was also significant in the nanoemulsion and phenytoin groups. The formation of granular tissue likewise the appearance of collagen in nanoemulsion and phenytoin groups were faster than the other groups. Nanoemulsion cream containing lavender essential oil and licorice extract exhibited a promising wound healing potential towards the excisional wound model in rats. © 2020 Tissue Viability Societ

One-pot and gram-scale synthesis of biodegradable polyglycerols under ambient conditions: nanocarriers for intradermal drug delivery

Hyperbranched polyglycerols (hPGs) have a variety of biomedical applications due to their unique physicochemical properties such as biocompatibility and multi-functionality. However, their lack of biodegradability under physiological conditions hampers their in vivo applications. Therefore, the development of straightforward methods for the synthesis of biodegradable hyperbranched polyglycerols is of great importance. In this work, caprolactone segments were incorporated into the backbone of polyglycerols by a one-pot, ring-opening copolymerization of glycidol and ε-caprolactone under ambient conditions. While the synthesized polyglycerols were susceptible to enzymatic cleavage, they were stable under neutral and acidic conditions. In spite of their high cellular uptake that was proven by laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), the MTT assay did not show a significant toxicity against HaCaT cells up to 1000 μg ml(−1). The biodegradability and biocompatibility of the synthesized polymers together with their ability to form nanoparticles in aqueous solutions and loading of hydrophobic guest molecules encourage us to evaluate their application as intradermal delivery systems. Ex vivo skin penetration tests showed that the synthesized polymers enhanced the Nile red penetration into the skin upon enzymatic degradation. While polymers stayed at the superficial stratum corneum, the released cargo penetrated into the deeper layers of the skin

Neuroprotective effects of Onion (Allium cepa) Ethanolic Extract on Animal Model of Parkinson's Disease Induced by 6-hydroxydopamine: A behavioral, biochemical, and histological study

Objectives: Parkinson�s disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Oxidative stress plays an important role in PD pathophysiology. Onion has antioxidant properties. In an experimental study, we have evaluated the effects of onion ethanolic extract (OEE) on animal models of Parkinson disease (PD) in male rats. Methods: Studied groups were sham group, Parkinson�s group (Parkinson rats without treatment), and three treatment groups including Parkinson rats that treated with OEE at 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day. Animal model of PD was induced by injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the right substantia nigra. The administration of all the extracts were started 14 days before the surgery and continued daily for seven days after surgery. Learning and memory were evaluated by a Morris water maze. In addition, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations and histological parameters (density of neurons) were determined by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and Nissl staining, respectively. Results: Our results showed that 6-OHDA led to cognitive dysfunction, increased MDA and neuronal damage compared sham group. However, the administration of OEE was improved cognitive dysfunction, decreased MDA and prevented neuronal damage in animal model of PD. Conclusion: The onion could be a new nutrition strategy and essential part of the food diet for preventing PD. © Copyright 2020 by Gazi University Medical Facult

Modeling land susceptibility to wind erosion hazards using LASSO regression and graph convolutional networks

Predicting land susceptibility to wind erosion is necessary to mitigate the negative impacts of erosion on soil fertility, ecosystems, and human health. This study is the first attempt to model wind erosion hazards through the application of a novel approach, the graph convolutional networks (GCNs), as deep learning models with Monte Carlo dropout. This approach is applied to Semnan Province in arid central Iran, an area vulnerable to dust storms and climate change. We mapped 15 potential factors controlling wind erosion, including climatic variables, soil characteristics, lithology, vegetation cover, land use, and a digital elevation model (DEM), and then applied the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression to discriminate the most important factors. We constructed a predictive model by randomly selecting 70% and 30% of the pixels, as training and validation datasets, respectively, focusing on locations with severe wind erosion on the inventory map. The current LASSO regression identified eight out of the 15 features (four soil property categories, vegetation cover, land use, wind speed, and evaporation) as the most important factors controlling wind erosion in Semnan Province. These factors were adopted into the GCN model, which estimated that 15.5%, 19.8%, 33.2%, and 31.4% of the total area is characterized by low, moderate, high, and very high susceptibility to wind erosion, respectively. The area under curve (AUC) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) of game theory were applied to assess the performance and interpretability of GCN output, respectively. The AUC values for training and validation datasets were estimated at 97.2% and 97.25%, respectively, indicating excellent model prediction. SHAP values ranged between −0.3 and 0.4, while SHAP analyses revealed that the coarse clastic component, vegetation cover, and land use were the most effective features of the GCN output. Our results suggest that this novel suite of methods is highly recommended for future spatial prediction of wind erosion hazards in other arid environments around the globe

Anionic Dendritic Polyglycerol for Protein Purification and Delipidation

Membrane proteins are important biomolecular targets in drug discovery. Different membrane mimetics and purification strategies have been developed; however, investigating membrane proteins in their native environment remains challenging. Here, we introduce an anionic, dendritic polyglycerol sulfate (dPGS-PCL) to membrane protein research. dPGS-PCL enables the purification of soluble, protein-containing membranes. We examine the utility of dPGS-PCL to study membrane protein delipidation and function in detail. Our data show that protein yields and delipidation outcomes depend on the properties of both membrane mimetics and membranes. This allows us to re-evaluate the importance of mildly delipidating detergents for the purification of functional membrane proteins. In addition to bacterial membrane proteins, dPGS-PCL enables the purification of a functional G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCRs). We anticipate that dPGS-PCL will enable the discovery of custom-made membrane mimetics and purification protocols for future applications in membrane protein research