A faunistic study on digger wasps of Iran (Hymenoptera)

Abstract: This paper deals with distribution data of 53 species of Iranian digger wasps from 27 genera and three families, Ampulicidae (single species), Crabronidae (28 species, 16 genera) and Sphecidae (24 species, 9 genera). Eight species are new records for the fauna of Iran: Bembix diversipes F. Morawitz, 1889, Cerceris quadrifasciatus (Panzer, 1799), Lestica (Lestica) subterranea (Fabricius, 1775) (Crabronidae), Ammophila sabulosa sabulosa (Linnaeus, 1758), Podalonia tydei tydei (Le Guillou, 1841), Prionyx viduatus viduatus (Christ, 1791), Sceliphron (Sceliphron) spirifex (Linnaeus, 1758) and Sphex (Sphex) flavipennis Fabricius, 1793 (Sphecidae

The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on anxiety and depression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS)

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a stressful event in life and anxiety and depression are common in these patients. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) may help and reduce mood disorders in patients with MS. In this regard, the present study is carried out aiming to evaluate the effect of MBSR on anxiety and depression in women with MS.METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental study with a control group with the statistical population including all women with MS in Iran MS Society. 30 patients were selected and classified in two groups randomly. The test group participated in MBSR training program for 8 sessions and the control group did not receive this treatment. All patients in the two groups completed depression and anxiety scales before and after the intervention and the data were analyzed by the SPSS software.RESULTS: The results showed that the two groups were different in the scores of anxiety and depression scales after the intervention (P < 0.001).CONCLUSION: MBSR could reduce anxiety and depression in patients with MS

The Effects of Lipopolysaccharide on Positive Reinforcement in Rats

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial endotoxin which has potent immune activating properties, has been widely used to study the effects of neuroinflammation in animal models. Previous studies have demonstrated that LPS increases the stress response, reduces operant responding, and causes anhedonia and anorexia in rats. Most of these studies have demonstrated the behavioural effects of LPS through decreases in palatable solution consumption or self-administration of pleasurable electrical brain stimulation (EBS), however a more detailed study exploring the differences between appetitive and consummatory behaviours is needed to truly understand the impact of neuroinflammation on food-motivated behaviour. The current study injected 23 male Long Evans rats with either LPS (200 μg/kg; n = 8), scopolamine hydrobromide (SH; 1 mg/kg; n = 7) or a saline control (0.9% saline; n = 8), and assessed bar pressing performance under an FR-1 schedule in a Skinner box. Measures on latency time to begin bar pressing (LT), rate of responding (RR), horizontal movements (HM), and vertical movements (VM) were collected during a 14 min test day session, incremented in 2 min time blocks. Additionally, the number of total bar presses (TBP) was recorded during baseline and testing sessions. The study’s hypothesis that LPS-injected rats would display impaired response to positive reinforcements in the Skinner box was supported; LPS rats underperformed the saline control in all bar pressing measures, including LT, RR, and TBP. However, decreases in LPS rats’ HM and VM suggest that reduction in bar pressing is not solely due to reduced motivation. Future research should further examine the mechanism of LPS effects on appetitive behaviour, and attempt to isolate deficits in locomotor behaviour from reduced food intake

Individual Differences in Impulsivity and Mesocorticolimbic Connectivity Strength in Pre-adolescence

Individual differences in pre-adolescent impulsivity, or the preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards, has been related to a multitude of outcomes measured later in life, such as physical and psychological health, substance dependence, financial well-being, academic achievement, social adjustment, and criminal behaviour. The mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway (MCLP), a neural circuitry involved in reward motivated behaviours and decision-making, has been extensively linked to the delay discounting task, an effective tool for quantifying trait impulsivity. While previous research has demonstrated a negative correlation between the structural connectivity strength of the right dorsolateral prefrontal tract and the functional activity of striatum throughout development, the differences in tract strength within the MCLP and the relation to interindividual differences in impulsive behaviour in pre-adolescence has been understudied. The current study hypothesized that MCLP white fiber tract strength is related to interindividual differences of trait impulsivity in participants aged 9 to 12 years old. A probabilistic tractography approach, where every seed region voxel is sampled 1000 times for streamlines to the target of interest, was used to assess tract connectivity in a 58 X 58 whole-brain matrix. After correcting for multiple comparisons, the results demonstrated no significant correlations between white matter connectivity and individual differences in the delay discounting task. Given the small sample size and univariate approach, this large scale analysis was not sufficiently powered to detect any relationship between white matter and impulsivity. Future studies should apply further steps, such as correction for susceptibility induced distortions, to the constructed pipeline and investigate white matter differences with a variety of tensor metrics, such as fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity

Effectiveness of emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills training on coping strategies, emotion regulation, and perceived stress in prisoners

Background: this study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills training on coping strategies, emotion regulation, and perceived stress in prisoners Method:The esearch method of current study was semi experimental method in form of pretest and posttest with the control group.statistical population consisted of 200 prisoners in Fooman Prison in Iran; of individual who had inclusion criteria, 30 members were selected using convenient sampling method then assigned to two experimental and control groups (n=15 in each group). They were match base on education level and age. Experimental group received 12 sessions teaching of emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills, while control group were waiting. Both groups filled in coping responses, emotion regulation, and perceived stress reduction questionnaires at baseline and after treatment. Data were analyzed using SPSS21 Software.Results: Emotion regulation and distress tolerance skill training could affect improvement of coping strategies, emotion regulation, and perceived stress reduction in prisoners (P<0.001).Conclusion: Emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills led to improved emotion regulation, coping strategies, and reduced use of emotion-focused coping strategies and decreased perceived stress in prisoners. So we could introduce this approach for emotion regulation in prisoners.

The men as victims of domestic violence, and the role of demographic variables: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the prevalence of spouse abuse against men and the demographic variables affecting it in Savojbolagh County, Iran.METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study on all married men living in Savojbolagh County. The study population consisted of men employed in rural and urban healthcare centers as well as governmental and private companies in this province; 292 participants completed the demographic form and Man Abuse Questionnaire. This questionnaire assesses the different forms of abuse such as emotional, physical, sexual, neglect, and verbal abuse. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation method in SPSS Software.RESULTS: The majority of victims had experienced minor abuse (11.6%) including emotional abuse (15.8%), verbal abuse (13.7%), active aggression and sexual abuse (10.3%), and passive aggression and domination (9.2%). Moreover, 6.2% of the participants had experienced medium rate of abuse including passive aggression (8.6%), active aggression and sexual abuse (7.2%), domination (5.5%), verbal abuse (3.8%), and emotional abuse (3.1%). The remaining 1% had experienced severe abuse the most common forms of which were verbal abuse and domination (1.4%) and emotional abuse (1.0%). The highest frequency of spouse abuse occurred in the first 5 years of marriage among laborers. Moreover, there is a reverse relationship between increasing age of men, marriage duration, and education level and man abuse. However, man abuse had a positive relationship with low income.CONCLUSION: The most prevalent form of violence by women against men in Iran included emotional abuse, verbal abuse, behavioral aggression, and sexual abuse with a severity rate of low to medium. Higher age of men, higher education level, longer marriage duration, sufficient income, and suitable age gap were factors that prevented women’s violence against men

Checklists of Cucujidae, Laemophloeidae, and Silvanidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) from Iran

The Iranian fauna of Cucujidae, Laemophloeidae, and Silvanidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) are summarized in this paper. In total 2 species of Cucujidae (1 genus: Pediacus Shuckard), 6 species of Laemophloeidae (3 genera: Cryptolestes Ganglbauer, Laemophloeus Dejean, and Placonotus MacLeay) and 7 species of Silvanidae (6 genera: Uleiota Latreille, Psammoecus Latreille, Ahasverus Gozis, Nausibius Lentz, Oryzaephilus Ganglbauer, Psammoecus Latreille, and Silvanus Latreille) are listed in this paper. Synonymies and distribution data are given

Checklists of Cucujidae, Laemophloeidae, and Silvanidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) from Iran

The Iranian fauna of Cucujidae, Laemophloeidae, and Silvanidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) are summarized in this paper. In total 2 species of Cucujidae (1 genus: Pediacus Shuckard), 6 species of Laemophloeidae (3 genera: Cryptolestes Ganglbauer, Laemophloeus Dejean, and Placonotus MacLeay) and 7 species of Silvanidae (6 genera: Uleiota Latreille, Psammoecus Latreille, Ahasverus Gozis, Nausibius Lentz, Oryzaephilus Ganglbauer, Psammoecus Latreille, and Silvanus Latreille) are listed in this paper. Synonymies and distribution data are given

Investigating the parameters affecting the sensitivity of a protein nanopore sensor

In the last three decades nanopore sensing has emerged as a powerful technique for DNA sequencing and bio-molecular sensing. One of the great appeals of this technique is that it usually does not require any labeling or chemical modification. Additionally, its ability to examine a single molecule in real time is a rare feature which is not achievable with most of other techniques. In recent years, great efforts have been made to design a nanopore sensor for sampling peptide-protein and protein- protein interaction. To pave the way for designing a high-throughput wearable nanopore sensor, we will investigate a few of the parameters that can potentially influence the sensitivity and reproducibility of a sensor and ultimately the obtained results. The first parameter to consider is the cellular crowded environment. Although, cellular crowding is known to have significant implications in the kinetics and equilibrium of biopolymer interactions, it has been poorly investigated in nanopore sensing. Here, we show that the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as an inert molecule affects the polypeptide-protein interaction. We provide an experimental evidence showing that less partitioning PEG above a critical value amplifies the association rate constant and reduces the dissociation rate constant. Our data is consistent with the lower diffusion rate and enhanced depletion-attraction force between a polypeptide and transmembrane protein pore at an elevated crowding concentration. The second factor to investigate, is how the structural design of a nanopore sensor can affect its reproducibility and sensitivity. In the designed sensor, which is capable of sampling a biomolecule of interest outside a nanopore, a folded protein is genetically attached to the transmembrane protein. Therefore, the first question is, how far this protein must be positioned to remain in the sensing region of a nanopore and how it alters the conformational state of the sensor. The second question is, how one can control the orientation of the folded receptor domain, so that it remains accessible to the solution. We experimentally address these questions in chapter 3