Effect of licorice root hydroalcoholic extract to improve the quality of fertility in hyperandrogenism- induced polycystic ovary syndrome by letrozole in mice.

زمینه و هدف: سندرم تخمدان پلی­کیستیک (PCOS) شایع­ترین اختلال غدد درون­ریز در زنان می­باشد. این سندرم با علایم افزایش هورمون­های آندروژنی، عدم تخمک­گذاری، ناباروری و چاقی مشخص می­گردد. مهم­ترین نشانه برای وجود تخمدان پلی­سیستیک، افزایش آندروژن­های خونی می­باشد. هدف از این تحقیق بررسی اثر عصاره هیدروالکلی ریشه شیرین بیان بر عوارض هایپرآندروژنیسم ایجاد شده توسط تخمدان پلی کیستیک تجربی بر توان باروری موش­های سوری ماده می­باشد. روش بررسی: در این بررسی، 84 قطعه موش سوری به 6 گروه تقسیم شدند: گروه­های کنترل، هایپرآندروژن، تیمار 1 mg/kg)150 (، تیمار 2 mg/kg)300 (، تیمار 3 mg/kg)450 ( و تجویز شیرین­بیان تنها با دوز mg/kg450 صورت گرفت. گروه­های هایپرآندروژن و تیمار 21 روز متوالی لتروزول با دوز mg/kg 2 لتروزول از طریق خوراکی دریافت کردند. گروه­های تیماری دو ساعت بعد عصاره شیرین­بیان با دوزهای یاد شده از طریق خوراکی دریافت کردند. بعد از پایان دوره درمان از هر گروه 10 قطعه موش به طور تصادفی برای انجام فرایند لقاح داخل آزمایشگاهی انتخاب شدند. در روند لقاح داخل آزمایشگاهی درصد اووسیت­ها، میزان لقاح و رویان و بلاستوسیست و توقف آن­ها بین گروه­های مختلف مقایسه شد. یافته ها: مقایسه نتایج در گروه­های مختلف نشان داد که در گروه هایپرآندروژن عوامل باروری موش­ها به شدت افت کرده و عصاره شیرین بیان توانسته اثرات محافظتی نسبی داشته باشد. این اثرات در گروه تیمار 2 بیشتر بود. نتیجه­گیری: نهایتاً می­توان نتیجه گرفت که اثرات سوء استفاده از لتروزول، پتانسیل کاهش توان باروری در جنس ماده را داشته و استفاده از عصاره هیدروالکلی شیرین­بیان با دوز مناسب، بعنوان یک آنتی­اکسیدانت تا حدودی می­تواند اثرات سوء هایپرآندروژنیسم ناشی از سندروم تخمدان پلی­کیستیک بر توان باروری موش ماده را بهبود بخشد

Cloning and expression of codon-optimized recombinant darbepoetin alfa in Leishmania tarentolae T7-TR

Darbepoetin alfa is an engineered and hyperglycosylated analog of recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) which is used as a drug in treating anemia in patients with chronic kidney failure and cancer. This study desribes the secretory expression of a codon-optimized recombinant form of darbepoetin alfa in Leishmania tarentolae T7-TR. Synthetic codon-optimized gene was amplified by PCR and cloned into the pLEXSY-I-blecherry3 vector. The resultant expression vector, pLEXSYDarbo, was purified, digested, and electroporated into the L. tarentolae. Expression of recombinant darbepoetin alfa was evaluated by ELISA, reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR), Western blotting, and biological activity. After codon optimization, codon adaptation index (CAI) of the gene raised from 0.50 to 0.99 and its GC content changed from 56 to 58. Expression analysis confirmed the presence of a protein band at 40 kDa. Furthermore, reticulocyte experiment results revealed that the activity of expressed darbepoetin alfa was similar to that of its equivalent expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. These data suggested that the codon optimization and expression in L. tarentolae host provided an efficient approach for high level expression of darbepoetin alfa. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Towards building a semantic formalization of (small) historical centres

Historical small urban centres are of increasing interest to different interacting fields such as architectural heritage protection and conservation, urban planning, disaster response, sustainable development and tourism. They are defined at different levels (international, national, regional), by various organizations and standards, incorporate numerous aspects (natural and built environment, infrastructures and open spaces, social, economic, and cultural processes, tangible and intangible heritage) and face various challenges (urbanization, globalization, mass tourism, climate change, etc.). However, their current specification within large-scale geospatial databases is similar to those of urban areas in a broad sense resulting in the loss of many aspects forming this multifaceted concept. The present study considers the available ontologies and data models, coming from various domains and having different granularities and levels of detail, to represent historical small urban centres information. The aim is to define the needs for extension and integration of them in order to develop a multidisciplinary, integrated semantic representation. Relevant conventions and other legislation documents, ontologies and standards for cultural heritage (CIDOC-CRM, CRMgeo, Getty Vocabularies), 3D city models (CityGML), building information models (IFC) and regional landscape plans are analysed to identify concepts, relations, and semantic features that could form a holistic semantic model of historical small urban centres

Influence of microstructure on synchrotron X-ray diffraction lattice strain measurement uncertainty

Accurate residual lattice strain measurements are highly dependent upon the precision of the diffraction peak location and the underlying microstructure suitability. The suitability of the microstructure is related to the requirement for valid powder diffraction sampling statistics and the associated number of appropriately orientated illuminated. In this work, these two sources of uncertainty are separated, and a method given for both the quantification of errors associated with insufficient grain sampling statistics and minimization of the total lattice strain measurement uncertainty. It is possible to reduce the total lattice strain measurement uncertainty by leveraging diffraction peak measurements made at multiple azimuthal angles. Lattice strain measurement data acquired during eight synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments, monochromatic and energy dispersive, has been assessed as per this approach, with microstructural suitability being seen to dominate total measurement uncertainty when the number of illuminated grains was <106. More than half of the studied experimental data fell into this category, with a severe underestimation of total strain measurement uncertainty being possible when microstructural suitability is not considered. To achieve a strain measurement uncertainty under 10−4, approximately 3×105 grains must be within the sampled gauge volume, with this value varying with the multiplicity of the family of lattice planes under study. Where additional azimuthally arrayed data are available an in-plane lattice strain tensor can be extracted. This improves overall strain measurement accuracy and an uncertainty under 10−4 can then be achieved with just 4×104 grains

DEVELOP A GIS-BASED CONTEXT-AWARE SENSOR NETWORK DEPLOYMENT ALGORITHM TO OPTIMIZE SENSOR COVERAGE IN AN URBAN AREA

Adequate coverage is an important issue in geosensor networks in order to fulfill the sensing applications in urban areas. GIS as well as Optimization methods are widely used to distribute geosensors in the network to achieve the desired level of coverage. Most of the algorithms applied in urban domain suffer from the lack of considering real environmental information. In this paper, the problem of placing sensors to get optimum coverage is studied by investigating the concept of urban contextual information in sensor network. Then, a local GIS-based context-aware framework of sensor network deployment optimization method is introduced. Obtained results of our algorithm under different working conditions and applications show the effectiveness of our approach

Potential of Iranian wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum) in breeding for drought tolerance

The vast genetic resources of wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum, hereafter WB) may hold unique assets for improving barley (H. vulgare ssp. vulgare) cultivars for drought stress. To evaluate genetic potential and characterization of variation among a diverse collection of barley and WB genotypes, mostly originated from Iran, a field experiment was performed under three moisture environments (control, mild and intense drought stress) during two years (2012–2014). Considerable variation was observed among the wild and cultivated genotypes for drought tolerance and agronomic traits. Principal component analysis (PCA) grouped genotypes studied into three groups (WB, two-row barley and sixrow barley groups). However, Iranian and foreign WB genotypes were not completely separated, showing a high variation within both gene pools. The high significance of genotype by environment interaction, confirms importance of using accurate target environments for drought stress breeding. A number of WB genotypes with the highest values of the number of tillers, number of seed per spike, seed weight, grain yield and yield stability index under stressed environments were identified as superior genotypes. Most of these genotypes originate from Iran, highlighting the importance of this germplasm in barley breeding

Comparison of antibacterial activities of Ircinia mutans extracts in two different seasons from Kish Island, Persian Gulf, Iran

Sponges, which constitute the phylum Porifera, are the most primitive of the multicellular animals, among all marine organisms screened. Marine sponges produce the largest number of structurally diversified natural products. In this study we investigated in vitro antimicrobial activity of Ircinia mutans collected from the Kish Island in the Persian Gulf against strains of bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 15224), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 25619), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 1764), and Bacillus subtilis spizizenii (ATCC 6633). Diethyl etter, methanol and aqueous extracts of sponge were evaluated by using the Bacterial Broth Dilution Method. The results showed that the aqueous extracts didn’t have any antibacterial activity. Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) of the winter diethyl etter extract was 2 mg/ml for E.coli and 20 mg/ml for P. aeruginosa, whereas the summer diethyl etter extract and both of methanol extracts did not show any activity. The MIC and MBC (Minimum Bacterial Concentration) of summer diethyl etter extracts were 2 mg/ml and 3mg/ml against S. aureus; and 5mg/ml and 10mg/ml when tested on B. subtilis. The MIC and MBC of winter diethyl etter extracts were measured as 1.5 mg/ml and 2mg/ml against S. aurous; and 5mg/ml and 10mg/ml when examined on B. subtilis. Summer and winter methanol and aqueous extracts of I. mutans did not show any activity against these bacteria. Therefore secondary metabolite solutions in diethyl etter contain components with antibacterial properties and can be used as antibiotics products

Measurement of strain evolution in overloaded roller bearings using time-of-flight neutron diffraction

Neutron diffraction is an established method for non-destructively characterising residual stress or observing in situ strain during external stimuli. Neutron based stroboscopic techniques have previously been introduced for measuring strains undergoing cyclic processes but have not been used for tribological applications. This work presents a novel approach for measuring the evolution of radial strain in a rotating bearing through part of the component's lifetime. A cylindrical roller bearing was pre-overloaded to increase the probability of damage within a reasonable experimental time and to help develop further understanding of the influence such events have on bearing life, notably for the application of wind turbine gearbox bearing failure. The stroboscopic neutron diffraction technique was successful in measuring time-resolved contact strain, with a significant increase in compressive radial strain being observed after a suspected failure had been detected using condition monitoring techniques, implemented for validating damage propagation. Cyclic contact strains associated with rolling contact fatigue were also evaluated using neutron diffraction

Distance-Training for image-based 3d modelling of archeological sites in remote regions

The impressive success of Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry (SfM) has spread out the application of image-based 3D reconstruction to a larger community. In the field of Archeological Heritage documentation, this has opened the possibility of training local people to accomplish photogrammetric data acquisition in those remote regions where the organization of 3D surveying missions from outside may be difficult, costly or even impossible. On one side, SfM along with low-cost cameras makes this solution viable. On the other, the achievement of high-quality photogrammetric outputs requires a correct image acquisition stage, being this the only stage that necessarily has to be accomplished locally. This paper starts from the analysis of the well-know "3×3 Rules" proposed in 1994 when photogrammetry with amateur camera was the state-of-The art approach and revises those guidelines to adapt to SfM. Three aspects of data acquisition are considered: geometry (control information, photogrammetric network), imaging (camera/lens selection and setup, illumination), and organization. These guidelines are compared to a real case study focused on Ziggurat Chogha Zanbil (Iran), where four blocks from ground stations and drone were collected with the purpose of 3D modelling

Assessment of subclinical left ventricular dysfunction in patients with chronic mitral regurgitation using torsional parameters described by tissue doppler imaging

Background: Left ventricular (LV) twist is due to oppositely directed apical and basal rotation and has been proposed as a sensitive marker of LV function. We sought to assess the impact of chronic pure mitral regurgitation (MR) on the torsional mechanics of the left human ventricle using tissue Doppler imaging. Methods: Nineteen severe MR patients with a normal LV ejection fraction and 16 non-MR controls underwent conventional echocardiography and apical and basal short-axis color Doppler myocardial imaging (CDMI). LV rotation at the apical and basal short-axis levels was calculated from the averaged tangential velocities of the septal and lateral regions, corrected for the LV radius over time. LV twist was defined as the difference in LV rotation between the two levels, and the LV twist and twisting/untwisting rate profiles were analyzed throughout the cardiac cycle. Results: LV twist and LV torsion were significantly lower in the MR group than in the non-MR group (10.38 ° ± 4.04 ° vs. 13.95 ° ± 4.27 °; p value = 0.020; and 1.29 ± 0.54 °/cm vs. 1.76 ± 0.56 °/cm; p value = 0.021, respectively), both suggesting incipient LV dysfunction in the MR group. Similarly, the untwisting rate was lower in the MR group (-79.74 ± 35.97 °/s vs.-110.96 ± 34.65 °/s; p value = 0.020), but there was statistically no significant difference in the LV twist rate. Conclusion: The evaluation of LV torsional parameters in MR patients with a normal LV ejection fraction suggests the potential role of these sensitive variables in assessing the early signs of ventricular dysfunction in asymptomatic patients