The Effect of Herbal Essential Oil in Preservative Solution, on Quantitative, Vase Life, Bacteria-induced Stem Xylem Blockage of Lisianthus Var. Echo

In this study the effect of essential oil taken from medicinal plant as antibacterial components in preservative solution of Lisianthus var. Echo (Eustoma grandiflorum) was investigated. The test was done with application of preservative solution. Cut flowers were treated with different concentrations of Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Spearmint (Mentha spicata) and Lavender (Lavandula officinalis) essential oil in addition to Sucrose 2.5%. The results showed that there was the longest time in vase life with Thyme in 50 ppm (15.6 days) and the control treatment showed the shortest vase life (11.6 days). Moreover, Thyme with 50 ppm had the highest effect on relative fresh weight and solution uptake. In addition, bacteria-induced stem xylem blockage, extracted from the end of stem, was cultured in NA medium culture with several concentrations of essential oil. The result showed that in pure concentration (100%) inhibition was completed and in various concentrations of essential oil the bacterial population was reduced

Sources of Canadian Economic Growth

We apply modern growth accounting based on the semi-endogenous growth theory of Jones (2002) to determine the sources of Canadian economic growth between 1981– 2013. This framework allows us to distinguish between transition dynamics and steadystate growth, and quantify their respective contributions. We find that over 80% of the total average growth rate of output per worker of 1.24 percentage points has been due to transitional factors. Among these, the bulk of the contribution is attributed to domestic human capital growth driven by educational attainment, and global research and development (R&D) intensity. These two factors have been the primary sources of Canadian economic growth. The growth in capital-output ratio contributed a small share of 0.14 percentage points suggesting a limited role of capital accumulation. The steady-state growth over is attributed to population growth indicating modest scale effects of about 16% of the total average growth. Our results highlight that the future of Canadian productivity growth and the standard of living are closely tied to sustained growth in both domestic human capital and global R&D intensity

Green synthesis of iron nanoparticles using Pistacia-atlantica leaf extract for enhanced removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution

The discharge of chromium-containing wastewater from various industries into aqueous environments is regarded as an important and challengeable matter due to its high toxicity. The application of conventional methods for eliminating this pollutant are often very expensive and difficult. Therefore, the adsorption process has been introduced as a desirable and effective method for removing chromium ions from aqueous media. In this research, iron nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) were synthesized using Pistacia-atlantica leaf extract as a reducing agent, then they were characterized by DLS, XRD, FT-IR, FESEM/EDS, and TEM techniques and its effectiveness to eliminate hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) from aqueous solutions was carried out. The capability of the batch adsorption procedure was assessed under different operational factors, such as initial pH, adsorbent dose and initial Cr (VI) concentration. Optimum adsorption conditions were determined at initial pH of 2, Cr (VI) concentration of 25 mg Lˉ¹ and adsorbent dose of 0.24 g Lˉ¹. Based on the obtained results, the highest removal efficiency (99.9%) by the adsorption process was occurred at pH of 2, concentration of 5 mg Lˉ¹ and 30 min of operational time. On the other hand, the results showed that the percentage of the pollutant elevated by increasing the contact time and amount of adsorbent dose, whereas that of was declined by increasing the initial concentration of Cr (VI). Besides, the experimental equilibrium data was evaluated by Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherm models, and the outcomes revealed conformity with the Langmuir isotherm model. The Cr (VI) adsorption utilizing Fe-NPs adhered to a pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Eventually, thermodynamic studies demonstrated that the adsorption of Cr (VI) onto the surface of the Fe-NPs is endothermic and spontaneous

Auditory electrical tinnitus suppression in patients with and without implants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of electrical tinnitus suppression in two groups of chronic severe tinnitus sufferers. Through standard tinnitus questionnaires, we compared the effectiveness of extratympanic and intratympanic auditory electrical stimulation (AES) by cochlear implants (CI) for the suppression or abolition of the perception of tinnitus and the decrease of its associated complaints. We made otolaryngological and comprehensive audiological assessment and also tinnitus measurement in each group of patients before and after AES and 50 days later. We investigated the dimensions of psychological complaints due to chronic and disabling tinnitus by means of the tinnitus questionnaire (TQ). The control examination during at least seven sessions (50 days) after AES in the group of patients without implants showed improvement in 20 of 32 patients (62.5); 12 (37.5) did not notice any change. In the comparative group of patients with implants, improvement occurred in 16 of 20 patients (75); during the switch-on of the speech processor, these patients reported significant attenuation or complete suppression of their tinnitus. Complete suppression of the tinnitus after CI was observed for 11 patients (55), and 5 patients (25) demonstrated significant attenuation of tinnitus. Nonsuppression of tinnitus was observed for only 4 patients (25). None of our patients was affected by an increment in the tinnitus owing to CI. The differences of means of scores in the standard TQ were significant in both groups of patients. A comparison of TQ score differences between patients with and without implants showed no significance. We concluded that AES is a useful and effective therapeutic intervention in patients with tinnitus. Extratympanic AES reduces the effects of the tinnitus but presents limitations, mainly owing to the short duration of the electrical residual inhibition of the tinnitus. CI is shown to be more efficient for the treatment of tinnitus, mainly because the electrical stimulation affects a wider area of the cochlea and is presented for longer sessions. Therefore, patients affected by incapacitating tinnitus should be considered for continuous use of electrical stimulation

Linear Sequential Circuit Approximation of Grain and Trivium Stream Ciphers

Grain and Trivium are two hardware oriented synchronous stream ciphers proposed as the simplest candidates to the ECRYPT Stream Cipher Project, both dealing with 80-bit secret keys. In this paper we apply the linear sequential circuit approximation method to evaluate the strength of these stream ciphers against distinguishing attack. In this approximation method which was initially introduced by Golic in 1994, linear models are effectively determined for autonomous finite-state machines. We derive linear functions of consecutive key-stream bits which are held with correlation coefficient of about 2^-63.7 and 2^-126 for Grain and Trivium ciphers, respectively. Then using the concept of so-called generating function, we turn them into linear functions with correlation coefficient of 2^-29 for Grain and 2^-72 for Trivium. It shows that the Grain output sequence can be distinguished from a purely random sequence, using about 2^58 bits of the output sequence with the same time complexity. However, our attempt fails to find a successful distinguisher for Trivium

Fertility sparing surgery in gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: A report of 4 cases

Background: Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is a curable disease that involves the development of malignant tumor in the woman after a normal or molar pregnancy. The position of surgery in GTN is not properly specified and is changing due to new chemotherapy protocols. However, the role of surgery is highlighted in chemotherapy-resistant GTN. Other indications of surgery in trophoblastic diseases are drug toxicity and uterine perforation. Based on the fact that most women in certain age tend to preserve fertility, this study reported 4 cases of successful treatment after fertility sparing surgery. Case: A hospital-based case-report study was carried out to investigate the role of surgery in 4 patients with GTN. In this study, acute complications, such as intraabdominal bleeding and liver dysfunction due to chemotherapy occurred in some patients. Surgery was performed and all cases underwent localized tumor removal while preserving the uterus. No hysterectomy surgery was performed. Conclusion: Surgery is supposed in specific cases of GTN, who desire preserving fertility. © 2016, Research and Clinical Center for Infertitlity. All rights reserved

The study of genetical differentiation of bisexual and parthenogenetic strains of Artemia urmiana by RAPD s method

The brine shrimp Artemia consists of a number of bisexual species and a large number of parthenogenetic forms, which collectively, inhabiting a wide range of hypersaline habitats. This research was carried out in order to study the genetic differentiation of Artemia urmiana and two parthenogenetic populations originated from surrounding lagoons of the Lake Urmia (Fesendoz, Saray village) and also to find the phylogenetic relationships of some Iranian Artemia (Qom, Arak, Golestan, and Shiraz) with a comparison to some foreign Artemia species (A. sinica, A. franciscana, A. parthenogenetica (Russia and Turkmenistan) using a molecular technique (PCRRAPD`s). Of a total number of 56 random primers (10 bp) survey, 29 and 26 oligonucleotides showed polymorphic patterns with highly reproducible bands in Artemia urmiana groups and Iranian Artemia groups.The highest percentage of polymorphic loci were in Artemia urmiana (P= 78.89 %) and in comparison with the other parthenogenetic forms, in parthenogenetic Artemia from Saray village (P= 59.8 %). The highest values of Shannon index were estimated in Artemia urmiana (I= 0.41), and in comparison with other parthenogenetic forms, in parthenogenetic Artemia from Saray village (I= 0.3). Analysis of molecular variance indicated that most variation were within populations (A. urmiana with parthenogenetic forms, FST= 0.35) and among populations (Iranian Artemia with foreign species, FST= 0.76). Genetic pattern was not in accordance to geographical distribution, which indicated the wide range of Artemia samples at different regions in Iran. UPGMA showed two distinct clusters in group I including A. urmiana with two parthenogenetic forms and four clusters in group II including Iranian Artemia with some foreign species. It is understood that two parthenogenetic populations (Fesendoz and Saray village) had close genetic relationship together with high value of heterozygosity in parthenogenetic Artemia from Saray village. Iranian Artemia (Qom, Arak, and Golestan) indicated close genetic relationships with A. parthenogenetica (Russia and Turkmenistan) with low values of heterozygosity. A sister group was generated including Shiraz and USA Artemia samples which attests a possible contamination of local water with A. franciscana. FST value revealed high genetic structuring at all studied groups. Besides, it is suggested that gene flow was not strong enough to prevent substantial genetic differentiation. Result could lead to a management programmes to use suitable Artemia strains with high genetic diversity, for culturing and establishment of gene bank of Artemia stocks in Lake Urmia

Molecular population genetic of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) and stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) using microsatellite markers

The fishery stocks of most commercial aquatic stocks in the world have shown declining trends in the past two decades. Several factors have been responsible for the decline of stocks the most important of which over fishing and over-exploitation, pollution, loss of natural habitats and natural spawning grounds, construction of dams and bridges across the important rivers which restrict the migratory routes of spawners, decrease in natural reproduction and rehabilitation of stocks through artificial breeding programs. Over-exploitation of stocks and pollution directly affect decreasing stocks in an ecosystem. Not differentiating between different populations and stocks of a species found distributed in an aquatic ecosystem is considered one of the main factors which causes the depletion of stocks in most ecosystems in the world. In most cases this is because genetic variations in aquatic stocks in the wild are not taken into consideration. Six species of sturgeons are found living in the Caspian Sea and its drainage basin which produce more than 85-90% of the world caviar. The Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) and the stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) are the main sturgeon species of the Caspian Sea. The Persian sturgeon is mainly found in the south Caspian Sea while the stellate sturgeon stocks are considered shared stocks by the five Caspian littoral states. Due to over fishing in the past two decades the legal catch figures for sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea dropped from 28500 tons in 1985 to less than 1500 tons in 2004. Similarly caviar production also dropped from 3000 tons to 110 tons in 2005. With regard to the severe reduction in sturgeon stocks it is necessary to take essential steps before these valuable species are totally wiped out. The fisheries management of the five Caspian littoral states should focus their efforts on identifying the different populations and stocks found in the Caspian Sea. Concerted measures should be taken to study the distribution and biomass of the different populations in order to develop a scientific solution for the sustainable use of these endangered species and to secure the long term conservation of sturgeon stocks. The aim of present study was to evaluate the genetic structure of the population of two species Acipenser persicus and Acipenser stellatus and to develop molecular markers to identify and differentiate different populations of these two species

Novel loss-of-function variants in CDC14A are associated with recessive sensorineural hearing loss in Iranian and Pakistani patients

CDC14A encodes the Cell Division Cycle 14A protein and has been associated with autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (DFNB32), as well as hearing impairment and infertile male syndrome (HIIMS) since 2016. To date, only nine variants have been associated in patients whose initial symptoms included moderate-to-profound hearing impairment. Exome analysis of Iranian and Pakistani probands who both showed bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss revealed a novel splice site variant (c.1421+2T>C, p.?) that disrupts the splice donor site and a novel frameshift variant (c.1041dup, p.Ser348Glnfs*2) in the gene CDC14A, respectively. To evaluate the pathogenicity of both loss-of-function variants, we analyzed the effects of both variants on the RNA-level. The splice variant was characterized using a minigene assay. Altered expression levels due to the c.1041dup variant were assessed using RT-qPCR. In summary, cDNA analysis confirmed that the c.1421+2T>C variant activates a cryptic splice site, resulting in a truncated transcript (c.1414_1421del, p.Val472Leufs*20) and the c.1041dup variant results in a defective transcript that is likely degraded by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. The present study functionally characterizes two variants and provides further confirmatory evidence that CDC14A is associated with a rare form of hereditary hearing loss

Psychometric evaluation of the postpartum specific anxiety scale in an Iranian population (PSAS-IR)

Background: Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders among mothers during the postpartum period, which can lead to maternal and infant physical and psychological consequences. The Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale (PSAS) predicts unique variance in postnatal outcomes over and above general anxiety tools. It has never been used in Iran and its validity and reliability have not been assessed either. Therefore, the present study aimed to translate and investigate the psychometric properties of the PSAS-IR. Methods: 510 women, from six weeks to six months postpartum, were selected through random sampling in 2020. After forward and back-translation, the face validity, content validity, and construct validity of PSAS (through confirmatory factor analysis) were examined. The reliability of the scale was assessed using both internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and test-retest stability methods. Results: CVI and CVR values of the PSAS tool were 0.89 and 0.88, respectively. The good fit indices confirmed the validity of four-factor structure. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Intra Correlation Coefficient (ICC) equaled 0.93 and 0.92, respectively. Conclusion: The Persian version of PSAS is a valid and reliable four-factor scale, it will improve the measurement of postpartum anxiety in an Iranian setting. This will improve the measurement of postpartum anxiety in an Iranian setting