Growth performance, hematology and immunological parameters of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, fed with diets containing different levels of vitamin E and folic acid

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary levels of vitamins E (25, 30 and 35 mg kg^-1), Folic Acid (1.5, 2 and 2.5 mg kg^-1) and their combination on the growth performance, hematological and immunological parameters of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. Each diet was fed to rainbow trout in triplicate to apparent satiation four times daily for 8 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, the final body weight (FBW), total length (TL), feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR) and survival rate were significantly affected by treatments and the fish fed with the diet containing 35 mg kg^-1 vitamin E plus 2.5 mg kg^-1 of folic acid had higher values than those fish fed with the other diets. The results also indicated that hematocrit (Ht), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were significantly influenced by the treatments. Lysozyme and immunoglobulin (IgM) concentrations were significantly influenced by the dietary treatments, fish fed with the diet supplemented with 30 mg kg^-1 of vitamin E plus 2 mg kg^-1 of folic acid and unsupplemented diet had higher concentrations than those fish fed with the other diets. The findings of this study suggested that trout requires 35 mg kg^-1 vitamin E and 2.5 mg kg^-1 folic acid for it’s normal growth and physiology

Investigating the role of organizational happiness inteachers’ occupational burnout

The present paper studies the impact of organizational happiness on teachers’ occupational burnout. This research employs a descriptive-correlational method. The statistical population is consisted of all 530 elementary school teachers in the city of Kuhdasht. Using Krejcie and Morgan table, sample size is determined to be 226. In order to collect the required data, the Oxford Happiness questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaire have been used. In order to analyze the data and examine the hypotheses, descriptive statistic indices including mean and standard deviation as well as inferential statistics such as Pearson’s correlation test have been used. The results indicate that the total scale of organizational happiness and the components of self-concept, life satisfaction, mental preparation, aesthetic emotion, self-efficacy, and hopefulness have a negative and significant relationship with occupational burnout. This implies that as teachers’ self-concept, life satisfaction, mental preparation, aesthetic emotion, self-efficacy, and hopefulness improve, their occupational burnout decreases.Keywords: happiness, occupational burnout, teacher

Tularemia and Plague Survey in Rodents in Earthquake Zones in Southeastern Iran

OBJECTIVES: Earthquakes are one the most common natural disasters that lead to increased mortality and morbidity from transmissible diseases, partially because the rodents displaced by an earthquake can lead to an increased rate of disease transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of plague and tularemia in rodents in the earthquake zones in southeastern Iran. METHODS: In April 2013, a research team was dispatched to explore the possible presence of diseases in rodents displaced by a recent earthquake magnitude 7.7 around the cities of Khash and Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Rodents were trapped near and in the earthquake zone, in a location where an outbreak of tularemia was reported in 2007. Rodent serums were tested for a serological survey using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: In the 13 areas that were studied, nine rodents were caught over a total of 200 trap-days. Forty-eight fleas and 10 ticks were obtained from the rodents. The ticks were from the Hyalomma genus and the fleas were from the Xenopsylla genus. All the trapped rodents were Tatera indica. Serological results were negative for plague, but the serum agglutination test was positive for tularemia in one of the rodents. Tatera indica has never been previously documented to be involved in the transmission of tularemia. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence of the plague cycle was found in the rodents of the area, but evidence was found of tularemia infection in rodents, as demonstrated by a positive serological test for tularemia in one rodent

Magnetized cosmological model with variable deceleration parameter

In this paper, we have derived the field equations in an extended theory of gravity in an anisotropic space time background and in the presence of magnetic field. The physical and geometrical parameters of the models are determined with respect to the Hubble parameter using some algebraic approaches. A time varying scale factor has been introduced to analyze the behavior of the model. From some diagnostic approach, we found that the model behaves as $\Lambda_{CDM}$ model at late time of cosmic evolution.Comment: Accepted version, 9 pages, 15 figures

Plant glutathione S-transferase classification, structure and evolution

Glutathione S-transferases are multifunctional proteins involved in diverse intracellular events such as primary and secondary metabolisms, stress metabolism, herbicide detoxification and plant protection against ozone damages, heavy metals and xenobiotics. The plant glutathione S-transferase superfamily have been subdivided into eight classes. Phi, tau, zeta, theta, lambda, dehydroascorbate reductase and tetrachlorohydroquinone dehalogenase classes are soluble and one class is microsomal. Glutathione S-transferases are mostly soluble cytoplasmic enzymes. To date, the crystal structures of over 200 soluble glutathione S-transferases, present in plants, animals and bacteria have been resolved. The structures of glutathione S-transferase influence its function. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that all soluble glutathione S-transferases have arisen from an ancient progenitor gene, through both convergent and divergent pathways.Key words: Glutathione S-transferases (GST), classification, structure, evolution, phylogenetic analysis, xenobiotics

Coronary slow flow: Benign or ominous?

Objective: Coronary slow flow phenomenon has been arbitrarily defined as delayed coronary blood flow in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. The present study sought to investigate the clinical features, natural history, and outcomes of affected patients. Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 217 consecutive patients who had undergone coronary angiography and showed features of coronary slow flow phenomenon were evaluated for demographic and coronary risk factor profile, as well as clinical outcomes, at baseline and following treatment. Results: The study population consisted of 165 (76) males and 52 (24) females. The mean age of patients was 52.6±10 years. Mean ejection fraction was 48.2±5.4, 39.3 had diabetes, 43.3 had hypertension, 49.8 was a cigarette smoker, 41.9 had dyslipidemia, and 15 had a familial history of cardiac disease. Forty-nine percent was detected to have abnormal hsCRP levels. The most prevalent presenting complaint was atypical chest pain. Fifty-four percent of patients had slow blood flow in all three vessels. Thirty-six people had undergone repeat coronary angiography in a follow-up period of 5-7 years due to persisting or worsening clinical symptoms, of whom 6 (16.6) showed significant coronary artery stenosis. Eight (22.2) had mild CAD, and the rest still showed coronary slow flow without significant stenosis. The most common complaint during follow-up and after initiation of medical therapy was nonanginal chest pain. Conclusion: Patients with coronary slow flow phenomenon are predisposed to atherosclerosis and obstructive coronary artery disease. Therefore, this pathology should not be considered as a totally benign condition. Primary and secondary cardiovasculature preventive measures should be constituted and seem worthwhile in this patient population. © Copyright 2015 by Turkish Society of Cardiology

Detection of high-frequency oscillations by hybrid depth electrodes in standard clinical intracranial EEG recordings

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) have been proposed as a novel marker for epileptogenic tissue, spurring tremendous research interest into the characterization of these transient events. A wealth of continuously recorded intracranial electroencephalographic (iEEG) data is currently available from patients undergoing invasive monitoring for the surgical treatment of epilepsy. In contrast to data recorded on research-customized recording systems, data from clinical acquisition systems remain an underutilized resource for HFO detection in most centers. The effective and reliable use of this clinically obtained data would be an important advance in the ongoing study of HFOs and their relationship to ictogenesis. The diagnostic utility of HFOs ultimately will be limited by the ability of clinicians to detect these brief, sporadic, and low amplitude events in an electrically noisy clinical environment. Indeed, one of the most significant factors limiting the use of such clinical recordings for research purposes is their low signal to noise ratio, especially in the higher frequency bands. In order to investigate the presence of HFOs in clinical data, we first obtained continuous intracranial recordings in a typical clinical environment using a commercially available, commonly utilized data acquisition system and "off the shelf" hybrid macro-/micro-depth electrodes. These data were then inspected for the presence of HFOs using semi-automated methods and expert manual review. With targeted removal of noise frequency content, HFOs were detected on both macro- and micro-contacts, and preferentially localized to seizure onset zones. HFOs detected by the offline, semi-automated method were also validated in the clinical viewer, demonstrating that (1) this clinical system allows for the visualization of HFOs and (2) with effective signal processing, clinical recordings can yield valuable information for offline analysis. © 2014 Kondylis, Wozny, Lipski, Popescu, DeStefino, Esmaeili, Raghu, Bagic and Richardson